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Roman Britain


Zama

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Hello to all

 

As this is my first post I thought I may start with opening a discussion on the Romans in Britain if I may ;)

 

I visit many Roman sites around the U.K. and study the history of roman rule in Britain, does any other members follow this aspect of the empire and have you been able to visit any roman sites ?

 

Zama

Edited by Zama
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Roman Britain is a long held interest of mine.

 

I grew up in Lincoln (Lindum Colonia) in a house over the basilica, with an intact Roman arch at the end of the street.

 

I know hadrian's Wall quite well. Have visited Bath several times, sites in London, various excavated villas, Dover, and many many other sites.

 

What are your particular interests Zama?

 

Oh, and a warm welcome to the UNRV fora.

 

Phil

Edited by phil25
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Definitely a favourite with me , if you switch to my blog entry ( here and msn also) you will see I am a keen observer of Roman sites , (especially the Wall). If you are familiarising yourself with the site controls you should be able to track down quite a number of British themed threads .If you cant , pm me and I will post you some links.

 

Welcome to UNRV.

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Welcome Zama,

 

 

 

You've come to the right place, there's quite a few Brits in this forum and as far as i know we all take a great interest in Roman Britain, i also have visited some of the afore mentioned Roman sites aswell as reading up on the subject aswell.

 

 

 

Hope you enjoy this forum. ;)

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;)

Hello to all

 

As this is my first post I thought I may start with opening a discussion on the Romans in Britain if I may :)

 

I visit many Roman sites around the U.K. and study the history of roman rule in Britain, does any other members follow this aspect of the empire and have you been able to visit any roman sites ?

 

Zama

 

Welcome, Zama (what a wonderful name!). I hope you enjoy your time on this quite brilliant Forum. I only joined myself a couple of months ago, and am hopelessly addicted.

 

I have to admit that I am shamefully ignorant about Roman Britain, but am attempting to do something about that. Hopefully you can join the array of experts on here and help to educate me.

 

While on this subject, could Pertinax, or one of our other erudite gentleman/ladies please enlighten me as to which 'tribe' I would have belonged to. I was born and bred in North Cheshire - hence, Cornovii, I think. But then, I was on the edge of Manchester, which comes under the Brigantes? Help - I am rootless! Any information would be gratefully received.

Edited by The Augusta
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To tell you the truth, the one reason I get a bit depressed about the Anglo focus when dealing with Roman history is due to the fact that so much significance is placed on Roman Britain(with good reason I suppose) meanwhile other provinces do not get much attention. I understand that similarly that Roman Spain for instance would be dominated by Spanish archeologists and historians, meanwhile Gaul is largely in the hands on the French. Yet still, something in me doubts the strength of Spanish or Italian historians for some reason... Worse still for my own province, Haimos/Balkans where serious scholarship is seriously lacking.

 

Beggars can't be choosers though...

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Thank you for the welcome ;)

 

My favourite roman site is Segontium in North Wales which I have visited many times!

 

I also like going to find the hill-forts dotted around the Welsh Marshes.

 

Although I have to go to work soon, I intend to post some reviews/information/photos on Roman sites in Britain as time permits :)

 

Kind Regards

 

Zama

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Hi Phil

 

To answer your question my particular area of roman history is British sites, in the future I may start a website dedicated to the Romans in Britain as there does not appear to be one ;)

 

Regards

 

Zama

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Hi Phil

 

To answer your question my particular area of roman history is British sites, in the future I may start a website dedicated to the Romans in Britain as there does not appear to be one ;)

 

Regards

 

Zama

 

I don't mean to dishearten but...

 

Roman Britain

Romans in Britain

 

Though, it's not as if there weren't other Roman sites on the web when we started UNRV, so there is always room for more.

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Between July 2001 and jan 2004 I lived in South Shields, Tyne and Wear. There was a Roman fort that I visited with the kid.

In jan 04 I moved to Benwell in the West end of Newcastle and on the housing estate next to mine there were 2 Roman gatehouses that had been preserved but council houses had been built around them!

 

Ironically I did not become interested in the Romans until I left the area and moved back to West Yorkshire. A place close to my home is called Castleford and, on the signs it says "Historic Roman Settlement". Occasionally I see a small group of men dressed as legionaires/centurions in the town but I'm not really into the dressing up part so I don't bother them.

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My favourite roman site is Segontium in North Wales which I have visited many times!

 

I also like going to find the hill-forts dotted around the Welsh Marshes.

 

Welcome to the forums Zama!

 

Here is a link to a website about the Romans in north Wales:

 

Kanovium Project

 

Here is another about the Roman Army in north Wales:

 

Roman Auxilia in North Wales

 

As for books about Roman Britain, the Guy de la Bedoyere book which has already been recommended is definately worth having. A Companion to Roman Britain , which might be out of print/ or out of date, has a good gazeteer of Roman sites in Britain. For books about Roman sites in Wales, Roman and Early Medieval Wales by Christopher J. Arnold abd Jeffery L. Davies might be good but rather too dense and academic for beginners.

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While on this subject, could Pertinax, or one of our other erudite gentleman/ladies please enlighten me as to which 'tribe' I would have belonged to. I was born and bred in North Cheshire - hence, Cornovii, I think. But then, I was on the edge of Manchester, which comes under the Brigantes? Help - I am rootless! Any information would be gratefully received.

 

Well, the celts tended to be a clanish lot, so you should technicaly call yourself a Cornovian (just think of it as your tribe expanding above the natural boundry of the river ;) ). But if you want to choose:

 

The Cornovii: people of the horn. Mainly a pastoral people, with salt works in the south; probably a big source of wealth, along with their cattle breeding. The fourth largest town in Roman Britain, Viroconium Cornoviorum (Wroxeter Shropshire) was where the unpleasant XIIII Gemina Martia Victrix was staitioned at one point.

 

The Bigantes: the people of Brigantia - equated with Athene/Minerva as a fertility/knowladge deity. Thought to be a confederation of lesser tribes (Carvetii and Parisii).They are rememberd most for Queen Cartimandua's handing over of Caratacus to Rome. Cartimandua's friendship with Rome staved off invasion, untill her ex-husband invaded the kingdom, and Agricola subjugated it directly to Roman rule.

 

The Choice is yours... :)

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Id add that the Carvetii would be considered to be outwith the Brigantes , in modern NW Cumbria (the fertile North Cumbrian plain) where they seem to have had a more settled agararian economy than the sheep/cattle chasing Brigantes. The Parisii were an interesting bunch whom the Brigantes yearned to "include" in their nation/confederation , they to seemed to have a more settled grain oriented agriculture.

 

Some Brigantine stuff here:

 

http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?showto...mp;hl=brigantes

 

more "general" work here:

 

http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?showto...mp;hl=brigantes

 

I echo DC's suggestions above, and yes the "Companion" is out of print im afraid , but grab it if you see it the Gazeteer is excellent.This title is also good for the NW:

 

http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=3722

and a couple of not-so-detailed maps here.

post-894-1162579803_thumb.jpg

post-894-1162579818_thumb.jpg

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