RAMM Learning
Resources /
Romans in Devon
Iron Age and Roman Life
in Exeter and Devon
Background notes for
Key Stage 2 Romans
in Devon workshops.
Royal Albert
Memorial Museum
Queen Street
Exeter EX4 3RX
Tel 01392 665858
Fax 01392 421252
Email RAMM@exeter.gov.uk
Web exeter.gov.uk/RAMM
© RAMM 2010
Unless otherwise stated © Exeter City Council
and Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter.
For educational purposes only.
RAMM Learning Resources : Romans in Devon
Contents
We have not included page numbers because if you manipulate this pack
electronically, the page numbers will change!
Introduction
Website
Where can I find the artefacts mentioned in these notes?
How do we know about the Romans in and around Exeter?
Detective work
What’s the evidence
Writing
Pictures
Aerial Photography
Ground Surveys
Archaeological finds or artefacts
Treasure!
Bits of buildings
Experimental archaeology
What’s History?
What survives in Devon and Exeter?
Materials and survival chances
Damp or Dry
Buried items
What materials were never there?
Are materials safe from decay once they have been dug up?
What happened when? A Timeline for Roman Devon and Exeter
What was the Roman Empire?
Who was living in Devon before the Romans arrived?
The Iron Age
The Dumnonii
What was everyday life like?
What were the Dumnonii like?
Did they fight all the time?
Special Artefacts
Making money or swapping things
‘Barbarians’?
The Roman Army arrives in Britain
Why did the Roman Army invade Britain?
One, two, three …. Jump!
The Second Legion
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RAMM Learning Resources : Romans in Devon
Who was in the legion in Exeter and Devon?
What did they fight with?
Roman Armour
Roman Soldiers’ kit
The Second Legion is coming!
What happened next?
Here they come!
How did the Romans invade Devon?
How did they build the fortress?
What did it look like?
How do we know the Second Legion was here?
What was life like for the Roman soldiers in Exeter?
The Boudican Revolt
A Soldier’s life at the Isca Fortress
Mining and quarrying
Roman roads
The postal service
Roman bathing
How to have a Roman style bath
Heating systems
Decoration
Religious belief
Dead soldiers
Holidays
How did the local Dumnonii people get on with the Roman Army?
A local market
What happened when the Second Legion left Isca?
What happened next?
What was in the town?
The new walls
Other buildings
Mosaics
Trade and industry
What’s missing?
Religious beliefs
Burial
What was it like to live in Isca Dumnoniorum?
Money
The Town Council
School
Reading, writing and doing sums
Roman words and numerals
What did they eat?
Take aways!
Unless otherwise stated, © Exeter City Council and Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter
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RAMM Learning Resources : Romans in Devon
Public loos
Oil lamps
Roman clothes
Roman make-up and hair styles
Real Roman people
Roman society
Roman villas
What happened to the Roman Empire?
Bibliography
Acknowledgements
Unless otherwise stated, © Exeter City Council and Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter
For educational purposes only
RAMM Learning Resources : Romans in Devon
Introduction
This information pack tells the background story of the Iron Age people and the
Roman invasion in Devon and (mainly) Exeter. It links this story with objects you
can see on display in the museum, or will handle as part of our Roman Life
workshops or can see on our Time Trail website.
It has been written with interested 10 year olds in mind, but we hope it can be
adopted and adapted for younger and older children.
We have consulted teachers in putting this pack together but we welcome
comments and suggestions that would improve it for you. Please let us know
any thoughts you may have by using the evaluation sheet on this disc. Please
post or email to:
Kate.Osborne@exeter.gov.uk
Kate Osborne, Access Officer
Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery
Queen Street, Exeter, EX4 3RX
Many thanks!
Website
The images in this pack are thumbnail images taken from our website
www.exeter.gov.uk/timetrail.
The website is navigable by selecting first a time period (eg Roman Fortress,
Roman Town) and then a theme (eg house and household).
You will then see thumbnail images. If you click on the image, a larger version
will appear, together with some information. You can download and print off
these images.
To help you we have put the route to the image in orange in the text. It is not a
direct link to the website however!
You can also travel around the Roman Bathhouse and its hypocaust system on a
short virtual reality tour!
Where can I find the artefacts?
In this pack some words have a * after them and some have a **.
*=
**=
there is a model or replica of this on display in the Royal Albert Memorial
Museum.
the original artefact is on display in the Royal Albert Memorial Museum.
Unless otherwise stated, © Exeter City Council and Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter
For educational purposes only
RAMM Learning Resources : Romans in Devon
How do we know about the Romans in and around Exeter?
Many people are fascinated by people from the past, like the Romans. They set
out to find out all they can about them. What do they do to find out about Roman
people and Roman life in Exeter and Devon?
Detective work!
People who lived in Roman times have left behind evidence of their lives.
Evidence gives us clues about Roman life.
People living in and around Exeter and Devon in Roman times did not set out to
leave evidence of their lives for us to find. Often what we find is the rubbish,
disused buildings and things they lost by mistake.
Archaeologists and historians have the fascinating job of finding the evidence.
They then use the evidence as clues to tell the story of how the people lived in
Roman Exeter.
What’s the evidence?
Writing
Very little was written about Britain by Romans who came here. Some people
wrote about Roman Britain but did not see it for themselves. Most books were
written for rich, well educated people who only wanted to know about exciting
things like conquests and battles. No one really wrote about everyday life in
Britain – it was just not interesting enough.
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RAMM Learning Resources : Romans in Devon
Clues to what everyday life was like have been found from other writing. Letters
to Roman soldiers written on small pieces of wood have been found in Roman
rubbish near Hadrian’s Wall. Roman people also had tombstones carved and
these can tell us all about the person who died. Unfortunately, there are no
surviving Roman letters or tombstones in Exeter or Devon. There were two
fragments of inscriptions built into the city wall, but they have not survived to the
present day.
Roman Tombstone from South Shields, Newcastle on Tyne
Pictures
Roman people painted pictures on walls (instead of wallpaper), carved sculptures
and tombstones and made pictures out of mosaic tiles. These show some
details of everyday life. Roman coins give us an idea of what Emperors might
have looked like (although they may be flattering rather than truthful).
Roman Fortress/regional and foreign trade/an aureus gold coin.
A very important set of pictures are those carved from stone on Trajan’s Column
in Rome. These carvings of the Roman Army and can tell us what Roman
armour, buildings and transport looked like, as well as many other things.
Aerial photography
Sometimes, if archaeologists fly over the countryside in a small aeroplane or
helicopter, they can see the remains of Roman sites and roads in Devon. They
are difficult to see when you are on the ground.
Unless otherwise stated, © Exeter City Council and Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter
For educational purposes only
RAMM Learning Resources : Romans in Devon
Roman Fortress/Form and growth of city/aerial view
Sometimes the sun casts shadows on lumps and bumps on the ground which
show where sites used to be.
Sometimes shapes show up because crops in fields grow better where ditches
and holes used to be because the soil is deeper there. The crops in deep soil
grow more thickly and taller than crops in more shallow soil. It is the contrast on
photographs between the darker, thicker crops and the paler, thinner crops which
show up patterns of buildings and roads.
Sometimes fields show ‘parch marks’. These are shapes of, for example,
buildings which show up because the soil above their buried walls is thinner.
Crops do not grow so well here and wilt more easily in hot weather.
Ground surveys
Ground surveys, or geophysical surveys, are where archaeologists measure
different properties of the ground using special equipment. Some measure
magnetism or water levels. Different levels of magnetism or water in the ground
show up as patterns on computer print outs. They show up things like walls and
rubbish pits.
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RAMM Learning Resources : Romans in Devon
Archaeological finds or artefacts.
These are objects found in the ground by archaeologists, people who very
carefully dig up (excavate) the ground. They also very carefully record exactly
what they have found and where they found it.
Roman Fortress/medicine and health/views of bath house excavation
Often archaeological digs happen when buildings are being demolished or new
roads being built like the A30. This provides a chance for archaeologists to dig
before building work begins. It means that they often only get to dig a tiny part
of a site and cannot uncover all the evidence that they would like to.
Pottery pieces** (sherds), coins**, iron nails, and bits of wooden items, for
example, are all ‘artefacts’ – they are the remains of objects made by people.
Archaeologists are also interested in animal bones, plants and even the remains
of tiny beetles**. Most artefacts go to museums where they are cared for and put
on display for people to see.
Unless otherwise stated, © Exeter City Council and Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter
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RAMM Learning Resources : Romans in Devon
Treasure!
Finding buried treasure is very rare. Sometimes we find coin hoards, or valuable
objects which people deliberately buried hoping to come back for it later but
never did. Sometimes we find things which were buried with people when they
died.
Roman Fortress/regional and foreign trade/hoard of coins
Bits of buildings
Usually archaeologists only find the very lower levels of walls in the ground.
These are called the foundations. Sometimes you cannot even see where the
doors were but foundations give us an idea of the shape of buildings.
Archaeologists usually draw the shape of buildings before they become built over
again or covered up with earth.
Archaeologists also find parts of Roman buildings like roof tiles, window glass,
wall plaster with paint on and mosaics (floors with patterns made from very small
pieces of stone and pottery).
Often groups of artefacts and bits of building are found together. Archaeologists
are good at spotting sets of artefacts and working out what period of history they
come from and what the site used to be. Roman sites can be identified
because they contain sets of artefacts which only Roman people made and used.
Today, when buildings are no longer useful, they are often deliberately
demolished and all the bricks and rubbish are taken away. In the past, when
buildings were no longer needed, they stayed there until people pinched bits of
them or they fell down and become part of the ground. Other buildings then get
built on top of them and when they fall down, they slowly become buried under
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RAMM Learning Resources : Romans in Devon
the ground. In this way layers are built up, like the chapter of a book. The
ground is like a history book.
Experimental archaeology
Some people specialise in trying to make copies of Roman things such as
clothes, food and weapons. They use clues from all the evidence to do this.
They also make sensible guesses. They learn things when experiments go
wrong as well as when they go right.
There is a very famous group of people called the Ermine Street Guard who
specialise in researching and seeing what it was like to be Roman soldiers.
Other groups like Legio Secunda try making Roman objects like coins and
pottery in the same way that they believe Roman people made them.
What’s history?
History is the stories about the past we create using evidence. We put together
stories and explanations of what we think happened. We work out what we think
happened by looking at the evidence and asking questions about it. Different
people can create different stories about how Roman people live using the same
evidence. Who is telling the ‘truth’? We will never know for sure because we
were not there. We need to use evidence carefully and be clear when we are
making things up or guessing.
We need to remember that some people left behind things that might seem more
exciting to us. A Roman sword might look more exciting than a little piece of
pottery. But both are important for telling us about different ways of life.
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RAMM Learning Resources : Romans in Devon
What survives in Devon and Exeter?
Not everything buried in the ground survives. It depends what materials objects
are made of and where they are buried. There is a lot of luck involved.
This means archaeologists only find some objects - those that have survived
many years in the ground. They do not find everything that was once there. This
means we do not know everything about Roman life in Exeter and Devon.
•
•
•
Some materials are tough and survive almost anywhere.
Some materials survive only if the ground is very wet indeed
(waterlogged) like ponds or completely dried out (like deserts).
Exeter and Devon are never completely dry! Waterlogging sometimes
occurs, but not always.
It also depends on what kind of soil things are buried in. Very acid soil will
dissolve some items like bone. We have acid soils in Devon.
Here is a table which shows what is more likely to survive in Exeter and Devon.
Most materials originally come from animals and plants (organic materials) or
rocks and minerals (inorganic material). As a general rule materials from
inorganic sources last longer than organic materials, but it depends on what
conditions they are buried in.
Material
Stone/rock
Pottery
Bronze, silver, gold,
lead, brass
Iron
Organic or Inorganic
Inorganic
inorganic
inorganic
Glass
Bone
Leather
Wood
Plants
Cloth, hair, wool
Flesh
inorganic
organic
organic
organic
organic
organic
organic
inorganic
Survival Chances
Survives well
Survives well
Survives well, these do not
rust, but they do tarnish
Ok if waterlogged, otherwise
rusts
Ok if not waterlogged
Ok if not waterlogged
Ok if waterlogged
Ok if waterlogged
Not really unless seeds
Not really
no
Damp or dry?
Too much water in the atmosphere causes some metals to react with oxygen in
the air and to corrode which shows up as rust or tarnish.
Too much water causes organic materials (which already contain water) to swell
and fall apart. Warm wet conditions cause mould and fungi to grow on organic
materials.
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RAMM Learning Resources : Romans in Devon
Too little water causes organic materials to shrink as water evaporates from
them. They become very fragile.
Buried items
Being buried in the earth for hundreds of thousands of years often alters objects
beyond recognition. This is because soils usually contain oxygen, water, salts
and acids which react chemically with some materials.
Metals such as copper, tin, iron and bronze develop crusts which obscure their
surfaces. Gold and silver react far less and may still appear shiny even after
thousands of years underground.
Pottery that has been fired to a high temperature, such as porcelain (the Romans
didn’t have this), may remain almost unchanged, as may hard stone, such as
granite. However, low-fired earthenware pottery and porous stone, such as
sandstone, absorb water from the ground and react with the dissolved salts in the
water.
Organic materials, such as wood and textiles are most likely to decompose
completely. Not only do these materials suffer from chemical reactions but they
also fall victim to bacterial and mini-beasts that live in the soil.
What materials were never there? The Romans in Exeter and Devon did not
have:
Plastic
Stainless steel
Paper
Rubber
Tarmac
How do we know this? Because archaeologists never find these materials
amongst Roman archaeological sites and we know from written sources that
other people invented them later on.
Are materials safe from decay once they have been dug up?
No! There are still lots of ways in which archaeological finds can be damaged:
•
Light – light rots organic materials, it fades coloured textiles and wood and
its heat can split and dry organic materials.
•
Dust and dirt – polluted air (including from cigarette smoke), dirt on
people’s hands, flakes of skin, salts and grit can all stick to organic
material. Once stuck they can then attract moisture and then maybe
insects looking for food!
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RAMM Learning Resources : Romans in Devon
•
Insects – moths, woodworm and carpet beetle are some of the minibeasts that eat archaeological collections! They like textiles and wood.
•
Sticky little fingers – every time fingers touch a surface, they leave traces
of acids and oils that come from pores in the skin. One fingerprint will not
harm an object but with frequent touching, the oils and acids may damage
objects. That’s why curators often wear white cotton gloves to handle
objects.
•
Accidents – dropping a pot will break it. This often happens when an old
pot is picked up by its handle. The point where a handle joins a pot is
always a weak spot. When fragile objects are not handled carefully, they
can be chipped, bent, torn and damaged in other ways. When handling
real Roman objects, always treat them carefully.
At the Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery there is a Conservation
Laboratory where a team of people care for objects that need putting back
together or cleaning or objects which need someone to help stop them corroding.
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RAMM Learning Resources : Romans in Devon
What happened when? A Timeline for Roman Devon and Exeter
Roman Empire
54 and 55BC Julius Caesar lands in Britain for
first time but does not conquer
55BC Julius Caesar makes second visit to
Britain.
AD 41 Claudius becomes Emperor
Roman Devon and Exeter
Iron Age people living and farming in Devon
since around 700 BC. Dumnonii is the
name given to people living in Devon and
Cornwall by the Romans.
AD 43 Roman Army invasion begins at
Richborough in Kent
AD 44 or 45 Roman Legion II Augusta reaches
Dorset
AD54 Emperor Claudius dies
AD60 Boudicca, Queen of the Iceni tribe in the
East of Britain, leads a revolt against the
Romans. The Romans defeat her.
AD 116/7 The Roman Empire is at its biggest
and best!
AD 122-128 Emperor Hadrian has Hadrian’s
Wall built in northern Britain.
AD 198 soldiers allowed to marry whilst serving
AD 325 Christianity given legal status as
religion of Roman Empire
AD337 onwards, rival Emperors fight for power,
hostile tribes attack Roman frontiers
AD 410 no Roman legions left in Britain,
AD 476 The Roman Empire falls when the last
Emperor, Romulus Augustus resigns.
AD50-55 Roman Legion II Augusta
reaches South Devon
About AD55 Roman Legion II Augusta
build a fortress in Exeter
AD 60 Second Legion Augusta fail to
provide help to other legions fighting
Boudicca.
AD 75 Roman Legion II Augusta leaves
Exeter . The Roman town, Isca
Dumnoniorum starts to develop.
AD 100 Exeter public baths built.
About AD 180’s/200’s Isca Dumnoniorum
develops further with new stone walls– the
ones you can see today
About AD 360 town starts to shrink
About AD 410 town being abandoned
About AD 450 town site is now a cemetery
5th century to 9th century just a few pottery
sherds found. Town rubble either removed
or overgrown and becomes new ground
surface.
th
16 century to today, More and more
thinking about whether the Romans came to
th
Devon. First one or two finds, then in 20
century, first excavations. Fortress remains
first discovered in 1971.
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RAMM Learning Resources : Romans in Devon
What was the Roman Empire?
The Roman Empire was a huge area made up of land conquered by the Roman
army for the Roman Emperors (the men who ruled the empire). The capital city
was Rome which was where the Emperors mostly lived.
Between around 500BC and AD40, Rome had conquered all the lands around
the Mediterranean as well as what is now France and Germany. It was the
greatest power in the world.
The Roman Empire at around AD100
The Empire expanded because the Roman Army conquered every tribe (or
groups of people living in the land) it met. It was unbeatable because it was the
first well organised, disciplined and paid army in the world.
As the Empire grew, it included more and more people, roads, buildings,
resources and soldiers. It needed more and more things to keep it going. The
Roman Army kept conquering new tribes and sent their corn back to Rome,
made use of their natural resources and used some of their people as slaves to
do all the hard work.
‘Conquered’ does not always mean killing everyone in battles, or making them all
into slaves or burning down their houses and crops. It often meant getting
people to agree that the Romans were in charge and that the tribe would be on
the Roman’s side if their neighbours fought them. In return, they got to keep their
Chief and their houses. Conquering peacefully also cost less than fighting
battles.
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RAMM Learning Resources : Romans in Devon
Britain was on the very edge of the world for the Romans.
Devon and Exeter were on the very, very edge of the world for the Romans!
Julius Caesar tried to conquer Britain in 55BC. He did not really succeed
because he did not have the time to organise it properly. He never reached
Devon, but he did make contact with some tribes in the country.
It was another 97 years before the Roman Army came back to Britain.
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RAMM Learning Resources : Romans in Devon
Who was living in Devon before the Romans arrived?
Devon had people in it for hundreds of thousands of years before the Romans.
First there were people who lived in caves and hunted wild animals. The range
of wild animals they might have hunted included deer, bison, elephant, woolly
rhinoceros, ox, jaguars, wolf, lion, sabre-toothed tigers, hyenas and woolly
mammoths. They had stone tools and weapons like spears with flint arrowheads
to hunt with. They also gathered wild fruits and nuts and caught fish.
They began to live in tents and to move around the land to hunt animals, fish and
gather nuts and berries. They had stone tools to hunt and build homes with.
They then began to live in houses, grow crops and look after farm animals. They
had stone tools to farm with.
They then began to make bronze tools and weapons.
They then began to make iron tools and weapons about 2,800 years ago.
Prehistory/crafts and industries /pictures of tools
The Iron Age
When the Roman army arrived, Britain (or Britannia as the Romans called it) was
divided up into tribes,each with their own land and sometimes Chiefs in charge.
Because these tribes used iron tools, this period in history is known as the Iron
Age. It lasts from around 700BC up until when the Romans arrived.
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RAMM Learning Resources : Romans in Devon
Map of tribes in Britain
The evidence we have for Iron Age people mainly comes from artefacts and
archaeological sites. Some of them were also written about by Roman writers,
which is how we know their names.
The Dumnonii
The tribe living in Devon and Cornwall was called the Dumnonii (say it Dum-nonee-ee).
What was everyday life like?
The Dumnonii were very good farmers. They lived all over Devon and in
Cornwall.
They lived in round houses with walls made of clay, animal dung and large tree
twigs (wattle and daub)*. The houses had thatched roofs which overhung the
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RAMM Learning Resources : Romans in Devon
walls to keep the rain off them. Archaeologists know that the houses were round
because they find round trenches in the ground. These were caused by rain
dripping off the roof and by trenches where walls used to be. Sometimes they
find circular stone wall foundations. Nothing else has been left behind.
Prehistory/house and household/iron age round house
They probably had a fire burning in the middle of the huts for warmth, cooking
and light. They had one doorway, probably with an animal skin hung over it to
keep the wind out. We do not think they had windows. There were no loos –
they probably went outside. No furniture has been found except perhaps a bed,
so we think they either sat and slept on the floor or perhaps had wooden
furniture.
Inside an Iron Age hut
they did not live in towns in Devon but in small groups of huts with fences around
them.
They kept cattle, sheep, goats and pigs. These provided them with meat to eat,
milk and wool, leather, bones and horn for making things.
They grew wheat, barley, oats and rye. These cereals were stored in granaries
(buildings with their floors raised off the ground to keep the mice out and the wind
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moving underneath the grain to help dry it). They ground wheat on stone
querns* to make flour and baked bread with it. They also ate nuts, berries and
fruit. They were able to catch fish and oysters on the coast.
Iron Age quern
The top stone grinds grain into flour as it presses on to the lower stone.
iron age quern
They had iron tools such as sickles to cut down crops, and spears to hunt
animals with.
They made pottery** to eat off and drink from and to store food in. Their pottery
was usually black with patterns cut into the surface. It was made by hand.
There was no school! Children learned by watching what grown ups did.
They probably did not travel very far from home most of the time. There were
trackways but no major roads. We think most of their daily life happened in their
huts or fields, whether it was living, eating, making things or dying. We do not
think they had different buildings and places for different activities.
What were the Dumnonii like?
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The Roman General, Julius Caesar, said that the Iron Age men in Britain wore
their hair long, had moustaches and wore animal skins. He also said they
shaved their bodies, painted themselves blue in battle and looked a bit scary!
However, actual bodies found have included men who had no beard at all.
They wore warm, woven woolly clothes and leather shoes. We have not found
any clothes of Dumnonii people so we have to guess what they wore from
evidence found in other places. Some iron age bodies have been found in
waterlogged land and bits of their clothes survive. We know they could weave
stripes, checks and diamond-shaped patterns. They spun thread from wool
using spindle whorls** on sticks and wove cloth with the thread on looms with
clay loom weights and bone combs to push down the woven threads.
spindle whorl and spindle
Iron Age people did not live as long as we can do. Archaeologists can tell by
examining bodies found that most died before they reached 50 years old. Many
children died too. They did not have baths and things to keep themselves as
clean as we do or modern medicines. Scientists can tell from their bones that
they also had bad backs, bad teeth and stomach ache. Sometimes Iron Age
people buried their dead. However, archaeologists have not found very many
bodies. This may be because Iron Age people left them exposed in the open air
and waited for nature to rot away the bodies. Or it may be because the soil in
which they were buried has rotted the bodies away. Or archaeologists may not
have had the chance to look in the right places yet.
We are not sure what religious beliefs the Dumnonii had. Perhaps they had
many gods linked with nature. We know Roman writers wrote about Druids who
believed in the afterlife and made human sacrifices. But the Romans hated the
Druids because, they were powerful and had influence with the Iron Age people
and could make them go to war (against the Romans). The Romans did not
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accept Druids’ power over other iron age people and Roman writers may not
have told the truth about them.
Did they fight all the time?
Iron Age people did fight. Their warriors had iron swords and shields. However,
they may not have fought very often and probably spent most of the time
peacefully being farmers. If not, they could attack other tribes and capture
people from them and make them into their slaves. We do not know if the
Dumnonii did this.
Some tribes had chariots and horses which archaeologists have found. None
have been found in Devon or Exeter, except, perhaps, a tiny fragment called a
linch-pin that was found very recently at Loddiswell.
Iron age linch- pin replica.
Linch-pins were made of iron and were used to secure the wheels of chariots or
carts. The wheels were placed on the vehicle’s axle against an axle-block,
followed by a washer or ring. The pin shaft would then have been inserted
through the axle, keeping the wheel in place much like a modern split pin would
today.
The linch-pin is an important find as it is the only example known so far in Devon
of a piece of equipment which could almost certainly been part of a prehistoric
chariot or cart.
Iron Age people did build defences against their enemies. They dug ditches and
built ramparts around the tops of hills. We call them hillforts. They made your
tribe look very powerful. When other tribes looked like attacking your tribe, you
went into the hill fort and threw spears, arrows and slingshot** (small stones)
down on them from above.
Iron Age people must have been very well organised to have built them. They
take a lot of work to make. At first they built more smaller ones which were just
for defence or possibly for keeping cattle in. Then they built fewer larger ones
and started to live in them.
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Hembury is a large hillfort near Honiton. Smaller hillforts are at Milber Down,
near Newton Abbot and Clovelly Dykes in North Devon.
Special artefacts
Some iron age artefacts are beautiful and made from very expensive materials.
But they would not be any good for everyday use because they would break. For
example, some iron age shields are made of shiny bronze and decorated with
enamel and glass beads. These may have been for impressive ceremonies
rather than for fighting with.
Iron Age people were very clever at making and designing things. Sometimes
they copied ideas from other tribes they met, but they also made their own
designs. We think some of the richer people fastened their clothes with
brooches which were like beautiful safety pins and wore solid gold necklaces
called torcs. We think that the gold may sometimes have been melted down
from gold coins from the Roman Empire, as not much gold was found in Britain at
the time. Some had bead** necklaces.
Some of them had luxury items like bronze mirrors*. One has been found at
Holcombe near Lyme Regis. It has a little cat’s face on the handle and may have
been hung on a round house wall because it has a loop on the end of its handle.
bronze mirror
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RAMM Learning Resources : Romans in Devon
Some of them made human figures out of wood**. There is one in the museum
that was found at Kingsteignton. We do not know what he is for. He may be a
god to worship or he may be a toy.
wooden figure
Making money or swapping things
People trade things when they have something that someone else wants and
someone else has something they want. It’s like swapping things.
Most Iron Age tribes had their own land for animals, trees for fuel and building
materials and water for drinking. Some had metal in the ground they controlled
and could make tools and other artefacts from it. Some lived near the sea and
could take salt from the water. Some had fought other tribes and taken some of
them to be slaves. They could trade slaves, metal and salt for things they did not
have.
The Dumnonii may have used iron bars as valuable objects to trade. Julius
Caesar called them currency bars**. One of the best hoards of currency bars
was found in Devon. The iron bars could have been raw materials for tools or
weapons, or perhaps they were offerings to their gods. They may have been for
trading iron to places where they did not have any. We do not know.
Some tribes had coins. The Dumnonii did not – we think they used coins** that
their neighbours the Durotriges used. These coins have blobby shapes on them
but no writing. We think this is because the Durotriges did not read or write.
The coins were copied from other coins which had proper pictures of chariots
and horses. The copies were not exactly the same and as they became copied
in turn, the pictures kept getting less and less like chariots and horses and more
like blobs.
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RAMM Learning Resources : Romans in Devon
Durotrigian coins
Prehistory/regional and foreign trade/coins
‘Barbarians’?
The Romans thought that the Iron Age people in Britain were ‘barbarians’ – a
rude name for people who did not speak Latin (Roman language). They often
wrote only about the things they found funny or odd about the tribes they met.
Today we can see from the beautiful shields, jewellery and even everyday
pottery that Iron Age people were clever and hardworking people and no more
‘barbarian’ than the Romans.
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The Roman Army Arrives
Why did the Roman Army invade Britain?
The Roman Army invaded Britain because the new Roman Emperor called
Claudius needed a victory to convince the Roman people that he was a strong
Emperor. Britain also had valuable goods to help keep the huge Roman Empire
going such as iron, grain, silver, cattle, gold, dogs and slaves. Claudius
reckoned that once his army was there, the land could provide enough meat and
bread to enable them to stay and occupy the country. It was worth the Emperor
getting his army to cross the Channel to get there.
Some of the Iron Age tribes in Britain probably did not know they were about to
be invaded by the Roman Army, including the Dumnonii. But there were one or
two tribes who wanted the Roman Army to conquer neighbouring tribes who
were attacking them. This gave the Romans an excuse to invade.
Some tribes in the south east were quite keen on the Roman way of life and were
willing to become part of the Empire. They may have known more about Roman
life than the tribes living in the south west like the Dumnonii.
One, two, three…. Jump!
Because the soldiers felt they were on the edge of the world, they were afraid to
cross the sea. They were not used to choppy seas. One of the Emperor’s men
had to make them feel ashamed of themselves before they would sail across.
Across the English Channel sailed around 40,000 Roman soldiers. We think
they landed at Richborough in Kent in AD43 because there are the remains of a
huge arch which was the Romans’ ‘symbolic gateway to Britain’.
Please see the map of the tribes in Britain to see where we think the legions
went.
There were about 27 legions in the Empire in AD55 and 4 came to Britain. They
were:
•
•
•
•
The Second Legion
The Ninth Legion
The Fourteenth Legion
The Twentieth Legion
Legio II Augusta
Legio IX Hispana
Legio XIV Gemina (later called Martia Victrix)
Legio XX (later called Valeria Victrix)
Each legion had 5,000 Roman Citizen soldiers. There were also other soldiers
who were not citizens and who had been recruited from conquered tribes. They
were called ‘auxiliaries’. They had special skills such as cavalry, archery, sling
shot throwing and swimming in full armour.
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The Commander in charge of them all was Aulus Plautius, one of the Emperor’s
best Commanders. The Emperor even came over with elephants to frighten the
local tribes in the south east into submission. They had never seen elephants
before!
We do not know exactly where the legions went but we think that the following
happened:
•
•
•
•
The 20th went to Colchester in Essex and stayed there to build a fortress
and then an important Roman City
The 14th went marching across to Wales
The 9th went marching north towards Lincoln
The 2nd went marching west towards Dorset and then Devon.
The Second Legion
The Roman Army was a strong, fit, well trained, disciplined and paid army with
orders to follow. They practised battle moves and long marches.
Roman Fortress/dress and display/horse equipment
The Legion II Augusta was named after the Emperor Augustus. The soldiers
who came to Devon came from Italy, Spain, Germany and France. Very few
indeed were from Rome. They had been recruited as the army conquered their
land and they came from areas which had been part of the Empire for several
years.
It had its own emblems – the Capricorn (goat) and Pegasus (winged horse). The
Capricorn was Emperor Augustus’s birth sign and Pegasus was associated with
Zeus, the Greek God of War.
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Second legion emblems
Who was in the legion in Exeter and Devon?
5,000 legionary soldiers who were all Roman citizens. If you were born in Italy
you were a Roman citizen and had 3 names. Most people wanted to be a
citizen. It gave you legal rights and privileges.
You did not have to be born in Rome to be a Roman Citizen however. You could
become a Roman Citizen by doing something very important. For example, you
could serve in the army for 25 years. Soldiers who had been recruited into the
army from conquered tribes were not citizens but could become citizens when
they retired.
The 5,000 men in a legion were divided up like this:
•
8 men
= 1 contubernium
8 men could fit in a tent when the
army camped. These eight men
lived, ate, slept and fought
together
a century = 80, not 100 men
480 men
4,800 men
•
•
•
10 contubernia
6 centuries
10 cohorts
= 1 century
= 1 cohort
= 1 legion
•
•
•
•
plus around 120 cavalry and officers such as Centurions (1 per century),
6 Tribunes
1 Camp Prefect (in charge of the camp)
The Legate - the man in charge of the legion.
There were also about 15,000 auxiliary soldiers in Britain. We do not know how
many were in Devon.
Soldiers were aged between 17 and 23 when recruited and served in the army
for 25 years. Centurions could work for over 25 years if they wanted to.
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There was quite a mix of people. Ordinary soldiers and centurions were often
former farmers who were used to heavy work and working outdoors. The
Tribunes and Legate were from the rich and powerful aristocracy.
The legion brought lots of other people with it too. There would have been
servants, slaves, freedmen (ex-slaves), merchants, wives (of the officers who
could marry), children, entertainers and other friends of soldiers. They usually
had to look after themselves outside the camp or fortress in shacks called
canabae.
We know the name of one solider who was posted to Exeter. His name was
Lucius Julius Hipponicus and he scratched his name on a cup so everyone knew
it was his. Archaeologists found a fragment of his cup with his name on it**.
Soldiers also had personalised rings which they used to prove who they were**.
We do not know their names.
Roman Fortress/defence and warefare/sherd of samian cup
Roman Fortress/church and religion/soldiers ring
We know the names of some of the Roman Generals in Britain from books
written about Roman conquests . There were Aulus Plautius (AD43-47), P.
Ostorius Scapula (AD47-52) and A. Didius Gallus (AD52-57). We also know
that Vespasian was Commander of the Second Legion Augusta when they
arrived in Britain.
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What did they fight with?
Roman soldiers carried several weapons for fighting their enemies. They
included:
The pilum* (heavy javelin) which bent on impact so it could not be thrown back.
Soldiers carried it on their right sides.
Roman Legionary
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The scutum* (shield) which was rectangular and curved. It was made of thin
sheets of wood glued together which made it strong yet light. It was like
plywood! Soldiers formed a testudo (tortoise) with these to protect them when
undermining walls, climbing ramparts or coming under attack from spears, stones
ect. Testudos were like early tanks.
testudo formation
The Ermine Street Guard
demonstrate a testudo formation in Exeter.
The gladius* (sword). Soldiers wore this on their right side, whilst carrying their
shield on their left side. They used short, thrusting, stabbing movements.
Soldiers on horseback (cavalry) carried longer swords called Spatha.
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sword
The pugio (dagger)
Roman Fortress/defence and warfare/iron
dagger and modern reconstruction
Their swords were slung from a baldric*. Their daggers were hung from their
belts.
Roman armour
Roman soldiers wore well designed armour. There were three types of armour.
Most Roman soldiers used armour made of rings joined together called lorica
hamata. This is more comfortable for wearing, particularly when riding a horse.
lorica hamata
Some used armour made of pieces of iron or brass like fish scales called lorica
squamata.
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lorica squamata
The most famous type of Roman armour was made of larger strips of armour
which overlay each other now called lorica segmentata*. This armour was much
harder to pierce with a spear or sword than the others and was more flexible to
wear. Parts of this type of armour have been found in Exeter.
Roman Fortress/dress and display/legionary armour
All armour is quite heavy to wear!
Whole pieces of armour are very rarely found. There are none in Exeter and
Devon, but we do have some of the buckles and hooks which held it together**.
The soldiers also wore iron helmets*, or galae, with flaps to protect their ears,
neck and foreheads. There is an original one in Caerleon Museum. Almost
complete helmets like this are extremely rare:
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Cingula or belts* had aprons of leather straps with round metal pieces which may
have protected soldiers’ delicate parts and provided a marching rhythm sound as
the soldier marched.
Roman Fortress/dress and display/strap end
Centurions and some cavalrymen wore greaves to protect their lower legs.
Soldiers wore leather sandals (caligae)*, which were extremely comfortable and
also hard wearing because of the hobnails on the bottom. These could be
slippery on wet stones. Sometimes soldiers wore woolly socks (soccus).
They wore woollen or linen tunics (tunica) under their armour. We don’t know
what colour the tunics were, some people think they were red but others think
they were white.
Roman Fortress/dress and display/brooches
They wore woollen cloaks or a sagum in winter and woolly scarves (focale) to
protect their neck from rubbing against the armour. They also wore knee-length
breeches called brachae when cold, but this was not considered to be very
soldier-like!
Roman soldier’s kit
They also had to carry lots of kit. It included:
basket
chain
metal bottle for water
coins
saw
turfcutter
personal items
game dice
pickaxe
dish
rations for 3 days (biscuits, bacon, cheese, sour wine)
sickle
saucepan**
Roman Fortress/house and household/a pair of saucepans
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Some soldiers had special duties including carrying the legion’s standards.
Standards were tall poles with gold and silver symbols on them which soldiers
could recognise in battle. The legionary standard was the Eagle. Other
standards showed the wreaths and discs which symbolised victories won by the
legions or cohorts. They were guarded and also worshipped. Each century of
the legion had its own Signum standard, so in total there were at least 60
standards.
Century standard or signum and the Ermine Street Guard with signum and cornu
outside Exeter Cathedral (not Roman!)
There were also trumpet players. A Cornu* is a huge round C-shaped brass
horn, like a very long thin trumpet curled into a circle. It was used to sound
orders and could be heard above all the battle noises. The cornu would have
been a familiar sound in Exeter’s Roman fortress (as it sounded the hours of the
day).
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a cornu
The Second Legion is coming!
We think that the Second Legion Augusta marched west across the south of
Britain but there have not yet been enough archaeological digs to know very
much about what happened. We think that the Romans knew which tribal chiefs
and tribes were on their side. We think the Atrebates were friendly for example.
We do know that Suetonius, a Roman writer, wrote that Vespasian, Commander
of the Second Legion, “fought 30 battles, conquered two warlike tribes and
captured more than twenty hillforts besides the Isle of Wight”. We guess that
those hillforts were in Dorset because you can see some of them today with
evidence of battles and because Dorset is near to the Isle of Wight. But it might
be that one of the tribes was the Dumnonii. We must remember that Vespasian
became an Emperor, so Suetonius had to make him appear brave!
We also know from archaeological digs that the Romans conquered the
Durotrige’s tribe in Dorset. The Durotriges built a huge hill fort now called
Maiden Castle. It had enormous ditches to stop the enemy from reaching them
inside. But the Second Legion used ballista (arrows fired from machines) which
they fired into the hill fort and killed some Durotrigian people. Archaeological
digs have uncovered bodies with injuries to their skulls and backbones.
Supplies of food and weapons to keep the soldiers going were brought from the
Empire through harbours at Chichester, Poole, Seaton and Weymouth.
The Roman Army may have built a fort at the town now called Dorchester, but no
one has found it yet. They did build a fort at Hod Hill (in a corner of a
Durotrigian hill fort). They built small forts to keep an eye on the Durotriges.
They simply took land from them so they could build on it. They later built roads
to Dorchester.
The Second Legion then marched west towards Devon. We think the Roman in
charge of Britain, the Governor, Didius Gallus, had to do something which looked
impressive to the Emperor. So he marched the army down into Devon with the
aim of building a fortress, probably around AD50 – 55.
What happened next?
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Here they come!
Marching in a long line into Devon came thousands of soldiers in metal armour,
bristling with weapons, horses and military equiment. They made a lot of noise
as they marched.
We do not know if the Dumnonii knew they were coming. They may have found
out through trading with other people. They may have met Durotrigian people
fleeing the Romans.
The Roman Army may have thought that the Dumnonii would cause a lot of
trouble. After all, they had hillforts like the Durotriges.
The Dumnonii may not have had a single Chief that the Roman Army could talk
with to see if they wanted to accept Roman rule peacefully.
The Dumnonii may have thought that the Roman way of life would not suit them.
They did trade with people in France (already part of the Roman Empire) so they
may have known something about the amazing wealth and comfortable life of
some Romans, but they had not started to copy their way of life at all.
We do not know what the Dumnonii did. We do not know if they fought the
Roman Army, or surrendered peacefully, hoping that they could get on with their
lives. Some small stones (slingshot)** have been found at Hembury hillfort (but
they might be Roman). There is no evidence of battles like that at Maiden
Castle.
How did the Romans invade Devon?
The Romans usually invaded land by marching into it and setting up temporary
camps to protect themselves. Once they had conquered the tribe and taken over
their land, they then built forts (for smaller groups of soldiers to live in) and roads.
Sometimes they then moved on, but sometimes they stayed and built fortresses
for a whole legion to live in.
In Devon, archaeologists have found marching camps at Alverdiscott in North
Devon and North Tawton.
They built several forts includingTiverton, Okehampton, Bury Barton, Gittisham,
Axminster, Cullompton and Wiveliscombe in Somerset. A fort has also been
found in Nanstallon in Cornwall.
There are some Roman buildings inside Hembury hillfort. Sometimes they built
forts inside old hillforts. They may have thought it a useful lookout site, or they
may have wanted to stop the Dumnonii using it against them.
Fortlets (small forts or signal stations) were built at Stoke Hill and possibly Ide, on
the edge of Exeter, Broadbury on the edge of Dartmoor, Martinhoe and Old
Burrow in North Devon.
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This may mean that there was fighting or the need to keep an eye on the
Dumnonii. Or it may mean the soldiers just needed to keep in touch with each
other by signalling.
Different sized forts and fortlets probably meant the soldiers were being used in
many different sized groups, depending on what needed to be done. We do not
know exactly what they were doing though!
They also built roads. The biggest in Devon is the Fosseway which runs from
Exeter to Axminster , Ilchester, Cirencester and onwards to Lincoln. Roads like
this were essential for legions to stay in touch with each other. We do not know
which came first, the roads or the buildings. The soldiers may have marched the
route when they first arrived, then built the forts and fortress and constructed a
proper road when they felt they had the tribe under control and had more time for
building.
Map of forts in Devon to come
How did they build the Fortress?
The soldiers picked a site on a spur of land (a long thin hill) overlooking a river
and not too far from the sea. This was good for getting in supplies from the
empire. The site had good views (good for spotting the enemy if it planned to
attack) and good agricultural land to provide them with food. Food supply was
essential. This site is where the centre of Exeter is now. The Romans called it
Isca, the place by the river.
Roman Fortress/defence and warfare/aerial view of central Exeter
Roman Fortress/defence and warfare/reconstruction view of fortress
They then set to work to build a fortress. It will probably have taken 2 years to
build. The soldiers would have lived in a defended camp while they were
building the fortress. It would be the centre of the Roman defensive system of
roads, forts and fortlets in Devon. Together with the forts and fortlets, there was
a whole new set of buildings across the countryside.
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It was built to protect the soldiers from the local Dumnonii and provide them with
a base for patrolling the newly invaded territory. It was a place to live in,
exercise and practice fighting in winter. It was also the biggest set of buildings
that the Dumnonii had ever seen. It was meant to look frightening and make the
Dumnonii feel that the Romans were in charge. There is no evidence that the
Dumnonii ever attacked the fortress.
Until thirty years ago, nobody knew there was a fortress here. They knew there
had been a Roman town because of the name Exeter. Places ending in eter,
chester or cester are usually Roman. For example Dorchester, Chester,
Colchester, Cirencester, Gloucester. You can spot them on maps today. There
is also a Roman document called the Antonine Itinerary which lists many of the
Roman towns in Britain.
What did it look like?
Most Roman towns started as military forts. In Exeter it was not until
archaeologists found the buried remains of Roman baths that the first real
evidence for Exeter being a Roman fortress was discovered.
The fortress looked like this:
Size: It was 440m by 350m.
It had:
•
Ramparts made of squashed clay, 20 Roman feet wide
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•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
A timber palisade (fence) on top and a walkway for sentries
Four gates, one on each side.
Towers on the ramparts at exactly 100 Roman feet apart
Two ditches running round the outside – one huge one called a Punic
ditch which is a ditch you cannot escape from!
Roads 20 Roman feet wide
The Commander’s house
6 Tribunes’ house
Hospital
Barracks for soldiers to sleep in
Workshops for making and mending equipment
An HQ for the Commander with offices, meeting rooms, armoury,
treasure, standards shrine and tribunal (for calling all soldiers together and
hearing legal cases)
A very smart bath house with an aqueduct for getting water to it. The
aqueduct may have run at head height on stone arches.
Granaries for storing grain and other foodstuffs.
Archaeologists have not found any loos, but they may have been wooden seats
over holes dug into the ground by the edge of the rampart.
All of the buildings (except the bath house) were wooden.
Roman Fortress/defence and warfare/plan of fortress
Roman Fortress/defence and warfare/restored plan of fortress
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Roman Fortress/defence and warfare/reconstruction of defences
Roman Fortress/defence and warfare/ view of defensive ditches
Roman Fortress/defence and warfare/model of barrack block
Roman Fortress/defence and warfare/soldiers’ rooms
Most Roman fortresses looked like this. They were built to a plan so that soldiers
did not have to waste time thinking what their fortress should look like.
However, they did make some changes to make the most of the position they
were in. Archaeologists have not been able to dig the whole site at Exeter
because of modern buildings. They know the same buildings are roughly in the
same places in most Roman fortresses.
The Isca fortress was slightly smaller than many later fortresses.
Roman measurements:
• 1 digit
• 4 digits
• 4 palms
• 1 Roman foot
• 5 Roman feet
• 10 Roman feet
• 120 Roman feet
• 1,000 paces
= a finger
= a palm
= a Roman foot
= a pes
= 1 pace (a passus)
= 1 decempeda
= 1 actus
= 1 Roman mile
= 29.4 cm
= 1.47m
= 2.94m
= 35.28m
= 1,470m
We think all the soldiers lived there, although some of them may have been
posted out in the forts and fortlets, It was probably not too crowded inside the
fortress.
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RAMM Learning Resources : Romans in Devon
It is possible that the fortress had a supply base at what is now Topsham.
However the evidence for this is a few Roman pottery sherds and possibly a
Roman road led there, so archaeologists are not sure about this yet.
Where was the fortress?
Teachers: As long as the boundaries of the images below are the same size (as
they are at present) you should find that the little crosses overlay each other. If
you enlarge the images, make sure you enlarge each image by the same degree.
If you print the map on the left out on paper and the fortress outline on the right
out on transparent film, you can overlay the fortress onto the street map and see
exactly where it was in relation to today’s street plan.
How do we know the Second Legion was here?
There is one artefact which is very important indeed because it strongly suggests
that it was actually the Second Legion Augusta in Isca. Roman fortress
buildings had tiled roofs. One little piece of a tile (an antefix) has a dolphin shape
on it*. We know from written evidence that the Second legion later moved to
Caerleon. In Caerleon archaeologists have found a tile which is exactly the
same. It was made by an army tilemaker who made one in Isca and then
another in Caerleon – it must have been the same legion.
Roman Fortress/public buildings and works/fragments of antefixes
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Roman Fortress/crafts and industries/legionary baths
There are also lots of tiles in Caerleon which have the Second Augusta legion’s
stamp on them:
What was life like for the Roman soliders in Exeter?
Although we have no evidence for fighting with the Dumnonii, we do know that
life was not always easy for the Roman soldiers. They controlled the lands lived
in by the Durotriges (Dorset), Dumnonii (Devon and Cornwall) and the Dobunni
(Somerset). They also got called away to fight other tribes.
The Boudican Revolt
In AD 60, Queen Boudica of the Iceni tribe in the east of Britain had rebelled
against the Roman Army. The Iceni burnt down Colchester, the capital of Roman
Britain and a brand new Roman town, as well as Londinium (London) and
Verulamium (St Albans). They looked like winning.
The Roman Governor, Suetonius Paullinus had to collect soldiers to fight back.
The Roman historian Tacitus tells us that he asked the Second Legion in Devon
to come and help.
They never came.
Some archaeologists think that skeletons at a hillfort called South Cadbury in
Somerset mean that the legion may have been busy fighting another tribe. Other
archaeologists think the skeletons have nothing to do with the legion.
Tacitus says that Poenius Postumus, who was third in command, killed himself
because he failed to provide help. He fell on his sword, the Roman way to kill
yourself. But where had the Commander and second in Command of the legion
been? No one knows.
A soldier’s life at the Isca Fortress
The Second legion lived in their fortress at Isca for about twenty years.
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RAMM Learning Resources : Romans in Devon
There were regular duties to be done by soldiers. These included:
•
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•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Police work – the army was very like a police force once they had set up
the fortress.
Accompanying important officers and tax inspectors outside the fortress
Guarding the gates
Guarding the Standards
Lookout duty from watchtowers
Cleaning boots
Cleaning the loos
Cleaning the barracks
Cleaning the stables
Cleaning the bathhouse
Cleaning and repairing armour and weapons**
Collecting supplies
Digging drains
Building and repairing buildings.
Blacksmiths work making tools and weapons from Iron.
Baking bread
Moving grain and collecting fodder for horses.
Practice fighting
Parades and Drills on the parade ground.
Soldiers probably lived inside the fortress in winter but spent more time out in the
conquered lands and living in tents in temporary camps in summer.
The soldiers had other jobs too. The soldiers had many useful skills like wagon
mending, shoemaking, surveying and engineering.
Mining and quarrying
We think that the soldiers supervised silver and lead mining in the Mendips in
Somerset. There are lead ‘pigs’ (rectangular shaped lumps of lead) on display in
Bristol City Museum. Lead was important because unlike iron it does not rust in
the rain. It was used for things like making pipes for water supply. They also
organised tin and gold mining in Cornwall and iron mining on Exmoor. The
Emperor was keen to find gold, but Britain was rather disappointing as they never
found very much.
They quarried stone in the area around Rougemont Gardens in Exeter to build
stone buildings and purbeck marble in Dorset.
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Roman roads
Romans built roads in straight lines because that is the quickest and cheapest
way to get from one place to another. They only went around obstacles if they
could not go through them.
Roads in Devon were not paved like those in Roman Cities. Soldiers used
cheaper and more easily available local gravel and stones. Roads were made
up of four layers:
•
•
•
•
•
Pavement (or gravel rammed into earth in Devon) - pavimenti
Gravel - nucleus
Smaller stones - rudus
Large stones – statumen
They also had side ditches for drainage
Gravel layers allowed the road to drain rainwater, snow etc., so Roman roads
could be used everyday and in all weather.
Cross section of Roman road
The soldiers built roads so they could get around the newly conquered territories
quickly and keep control. Roads were also good for getting supplies to soldiers
and getting messages to the Emperor and other legions. They were good for
people trading goods and bringing buildings materials and animals to market.
Roads meant more goods started to reach Isca.
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Roman Fortress/defence and warfare/a fortress street
Some traded items came by sea and road such as wine, olive oil and dried fruit
from Spain, France and Turkey. These arrived in amphorae* * - large jars, the
equivalent of large plastic bottles or oil cans. Sometimes they have the name of
the landowner who made the contents or the name of the contents themselves
stamped on them.
Roman Fortress/regional and foreign trade/amphora handles with stamps
Roman Fortress/house and household/upper half of an amphora
Roman Fortress/house and household/carrot amphora
Roman Fortress/foreign and regional trade/mediterranian amphora
Samian pottery** (red-orange coloured pottery) was used right across the Roman
empire and was imported into Britain. Bowls, cups and dishes made from it were
used at mealtimes on the table. It was made in France (Gaul) but reached
Devon and Exeter. Samian ware is only found during the Roman period so
wherever it is found, we know Romans were around!
Roman Fortress/house and household/plain samian
Roman Fortress/house and household/decorated samian
Roman Fortress/foreign and regional trade/samian bowl
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Other pottery such as ‘Lyon Ware’ has also been found. The Roman army liked
Lyon ware.
Roman Fortress/regional and foreign trade/Lyon cup and lamps
Roman Fortress/ regional and foreign trade/a Lyon ware cup
The soldiers also had glass cups
Roman Fortress/regional and foreign trade/two glass vessels
Roman Fortress/house and household/Topsham chariot race cup fragments
The soldiers also had locally made pottery such as mortaria (mixing bowls for
food), pots, cups and storage jars
Roman Fortress/house and household/rim of mortaria
They also brought their own potters with them.
Roman Fortress/house and household/fortress ware
In Exeter, archaeologists have found an important piece of sculpture of a bird**.
We think it is an Eagle. It might have stood on the ground beside the right leg of
a life-size statue of Jupiter or of an emperor looking like Jupiter (A Roman god).
It would probably have been in the headquarters building of the fortress. No one
has found the statue, but if it was a statue of the Emperor Nero, it may well have
been smashed up because he was so hated. This might be why we only have a
piece of the bird carving.
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Roman Fortress/church and religion/sculpture of bird
The Postal service
Not only did soldiers march along the roads, so did the Roman postal service the
Cursus Publicus. Men on horseback or in wagons brought the posts to
fortresses and other sites. The Cursus Publicus was only used for formal
business. There was also an informal postal system which meant soldiers could
receive presents from home. We know from letters that have survived that one
soldier was sent new pants and socks!
Roman bathing
Soldiers also needed to relax. At Isca they had the best baths around. The
remains of the bathhouse lie in front of Exeter Cathedral and are now buried
under grass.
Roman Fortress/public buildings and works/museum model of bathhouse
Keeping clean was part of the discipline for soldiers but a Roman military bath
house was not just for washing in. They were like leisure centres are today.
You met people, discussed business, gossiped, drank, ate and also had a very
good bath in Roman style.
How to have a Roman style bath
Having a bath Roman style meant doing the following:
•
Changing into sandals and towels in the Apodyterium, the changing
rooms.
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•
•
•
Visiting the frigidarium (cold bath), although we have no evidence for one
at Exeter.
Then visiting the tepidarium (warm bath)
Then visiting the caldarium (hot bath) with labra – hot water basins for
splashing your face. This would have been a really hot steam room like a
modern sauna. In here, soldiers sweated until they dripped with sweat
which drew all the dirt out of their skin.
See interactive tour of bathhouse! www.exeter.gov.uk/timetrail
They then massaged olive oil into their skin and scraped off the sweat and dirt
with a metal scoop or strigil**. (Some ladies collected the ‘scrapings’ from
gladiators and used it as perfume!). The Romans did not have soap.
Strigil and oil bottle
They would have finished by rubbing fresh oil into their skin.
Soldiers also had personal hygiene sets with ear scoops, tweezers, toothpick and
nailcleaner. Some Romans plucked their armpits.
Personal hygiene set
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Heating systems
The baths had underfloor heating. The floors were supported by piles of square
tiles (pilae)** and hot air circulated around the tiles and warmed the floors. Some
of the walls were built of hollow tiles and the hot air rose up these hollow walls
and warmed the whole building. They had 2 furnaces, burning wood, which
heated both the hot air and hot water for the bath.
See interactive tour of bathhouse!
Decoration
The floors had white and grey square tiles** and possibly looked like a chess
board.
There were mosaics**. Mosaics are floors (and also walls and ceilings) with
patterns and pictures made from small square pieces of tile, pottery and stone
(tessarae). Sometimes pebbles were used too.
Roman Fortress/public buildings and works/fragments of mosaic
Archaeologists only found a very tiny piece of mosaic in the bathhouse**. It is
not the best made mosaic but we think it is the earliest piece of multicoloured
mosaic found in Britain! It is very special.
Roman Fortress/public buildings and works/fragment of mosaic
It had windows with glass** and archaeologists think its walls were covered in
painted wall plaster, and a few fragments have been found.
Roman Fortress/public buildings and works/fragments of window glass
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Painted wall plaster was difficult to make. You had to paint the pictures whilst the
plaster was still wet. The plaster dried quite fast so you could not make mistakes
or stand back and think about what to do next!
Some walls were covered with purbeck marble, a shiny stone from Dorset. A few
pieces of this survive**.
The roof had roof tiles including some tiles with dolphins and faces**.
Roman Fortress/public buildings and works/fragments of antefixes
Roman-style roofs were made out of:
•
flat tiles (tegula) which overlapped each other
•
curved tiles (imbrex) which overlapped each other and the tegulae
•
flat, sometimes decorated tiles (antefix) which went along the edge of the
roof
Tiles from Caerleon Roman Legionary Museum showing tegula and imbrex tiles
The bathhouse also had a concrete curved roof – concrete was a new
introduction by the Romans and was certainly the first seen in Exeter.
There were also large jars (amphorae)** set in the floor. We think these may
have been for urinating in. Romans collected human urine for dyeing cloth.
It had a palaestra (an exercise space) where people probably watched cockerels
fighting – a favourite Roman entertainment.
Religious belief
Roman soldiers worshipped Rome, dead emperors and three special gods,
Jupiter, Juno and Minerva. (Much later, in the late second century, many later
soldiers liked to worship Mithras, a god who represented good winning over evil
with plenty of courage).
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Dead soldiers
Roman soldiers who died were buried outside the fort. They have found
cremations (ashes from human bodies which are burned rather than buried
whole) with artefacts in the ground such as bronze lamps** and small statues
and models**. Serving soldiers would be able to walk past and be reminded of
their comrades.
Roman Fortress/church and religion/a panther
Roman Fortress/church and religion/victory figurine
Roman Fortress/church and religion/a lamp
Holidays
Soldiers did have some days off, but they had to ask permission first and they did
not always get it.
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How did the local Dumnonii people get on with the Roman Army?
We don’t know!
It might have paid the soliders to get on well with local people. Local people
knew the land well and it would be easier to trade with them than to have to
organise raiding parties for food which might result in injured or killed soldiers.
We know the Dumnonii had to pay taxes, but they may have had to pay taxes to
their Chief before the Romans came. Most of the time they probably got on with
their lives as they did before the Romans came.
Some of them were recruited into the army as auxiliary soldiers. There is a
tombstone from Cologne in Germany of Aemilius son of Saenus who served in
the Classis Germanica (the Roman navy which was based on the River Rhine)
and was a citizen of Dumnonia. He was not a Roman Citizen because he does
not have 3 names. His tombstone says:
AEMILIO · SAE
NI·F·MIL·EX CLASSE
G·P·F·PL·EVHODI·N·CI
VI DVMNONIO AN
(broken away)
A local market
We think it likely that the fortress provided a place for a local market where
soldiers bought locally produced pottery – known as black burnished ware**
because it is black and shiny and grey ware because it is grey** There were
kilns outside the fortress. Archaeologists think that the black and grey pots were
used for cooking and storing things in.
Roman Fortress/house and household/group of black burnished ware
Sometimes when local people got on well with the Romans, they could make
quite a bit of money from the army. Soldiers needed food and drink and they
bought things locally as well as importing them from the rest of the empire.
They think that some Dumnonii started to settle around the outside of the fortress
in timber buildings. Perhaps they lived closely with the people who had arrived
with the army and who had also settled outside the fortress walls. It would make
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trading with the fortress much easy for the Dumnonii if they did not have to travel
far to reach the fortress where they could sell things.
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What happened when the Second Legion left Isca?
At various times in the AD60’s and 70’s, soldiers of the Second Legion were
probably ordered to go to Wales and the north of Britain to help conquer tribes
there.
In about AD 75, the Second Legion was ordered to leave Isca and march to
Caerleon in Wales. Another legion had been called back to the continent in AD
66 and the soldiers had to be rearranged. Most of them would have left then
and perhaps left a few behind in the fortress as a police force for Exeter.
A new fortress was then built in Caerleon in Wales and the legion moved there
and stayed until at least AD 275. (They may eventually have moved to Cardiff.
They were last heard of in Kent in the late 4th century.)
Some veteran (retired) soldiers probably stayed behind in Isca. Around 200
soldiers a year retired from a legion. Legionary soldiers were given land or
money. Auxilliary soldiers were given citizenship and the right to marry, but no
land or money. Soldiers had to put their pay in a savings bank for when they
retired.
The fortress buildings were pulled down. Wood was a valuable item and much of
the timber would have been used to build new buildings. The ditches silted up
quite quickly. The bathhouse was demolished and replaced by a Basilica which
is a Roman townhall.
What happened next?
Exeter must have been a quiet place after the legion left.
In AD77 a new Roman Governor called Agricola thought of some good ways to
get support from the Iron Age people. We know about Agricola because his
daughter’s husband was Tacitus (a Roman historian) and he made sure his
father in law’s successes were recorded!
Agricola decided to show local people how much nicer life could be if it was lived
as Roman people lived it . He supported the building of towns and the
introduction of Roman ideas into local people’s lives. From coins found in
Exeter, archaeologists think that buildings that show a town was growing up from
the old fortess were built in around AD79 to 80. The town was a way for the
Roman empire to maintain rule over the Dumnonii in a peaceful way. It would
have been lived in and run by Dumnonii but under Roman authority and laws.
It was known as Isca Dumnoniorum. In Latin (Roman language) words ending in
‘orum’ mean ‘of the’. So Dumnoniorum means ‘of the Dumnonii’. The full
meaning is ‘Isca, city of the Dumnonii’.
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At first it looked a bit like the fortress. It kept the grid street pattern and the clay
rampart. A much bigger ditch was dug. It was quite unusual for Roman towns
to be allowed to keep their defences. It may mean that the people living inside
the town were very loyal to the Emperor and were therefore allowed to keep the
walls. Or it may mean that the Dumnonii living outside the town still did not like
the Romans and the Dumnonii who had made friends with them and might still
attack them.
Roman town/growth of town/a Roman street
What was in the town?
The Basilica and Forum were the town centre, where people met and did
business.
The Basilica (archaeologists think) had offices, important meeting rooms and a
shrine for worshipping the gods. It was a bit like the Town Hall today.
Roman Town/public buildings and works/excavation of basilica
Roman Town/public buildings and works/steps up to basilica
Roman Town/public buildings and works/fragment of plaster
The Forum had an open square surrounded by columns and walkways and more
offices. There was a gravelled square which archaeologists think was the market
place.
A new bathhouse was built in a different place.
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Roman Town/public buildings and works/photograph of town baths during
excavation
An aqueduct was built to supply the centre of the city with water in around
AD100. Part of it was carried on a bridge and some of the supporting timbers
survived. It probably provided water for the baths. There were also wells.
Roman Town/public buildings and works/the city aqueduct
Roman Town/medicine and health/a timber lined well
Roman shops were simple rectangular buildings. There was often a shop at the
front and a workshop at the back. They were probably shuttered at night. Some
were lived in by their owners, others were run by slaves or tenants.
Houses. These probably had wattle and daub walls with timber frames and clay
and mosaic floors and were built very closely together. Their owners were using
samian pottery, so we know people were using Roman style things.
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The New Walls
By around AD180’s to 190’s the town had grown beyond the old fortress walls as
it became the best place to live if you wanted to live like a Roman. It was
quicker and easier to make money, buy things, pick up gossip and see the latest
fashions.
The old earth ramparts were falling down and holes had been made in parts of
them. A new stone wall was built. The area enclosed by the new wall was twoand-a-half times greater than before and included all the buildings that had been
outside the old clay ramparts. It was a big building job and may have taken
about 50 years to finish.
Roman Town/form and growth/reconstruction of new town
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Roman Town/defence and warfare/City Wall Quay Lane (2)
Roman Town/defence and warfare/rear wall
Roman Town/defence and warfare/reconstruction of South Gate
Roman Town/defence and warfare/wall at Paul Street
The stone wall is the one you can see today in Exeter. Not all the wall is Roman
because it is almost 2000 years old. It has needed a lot of repair and alteration
to keep it going. Some bits have been knocked down. You can still see where
most of it stood.
It was built in the following way:
• Make a bank to start with, from clay dug out of the ditch and household
rubbish.
• Put the foundations of the wall into the front of the bank.
• Build the wall up to full height
• Build up the bank behind the wall to make it stronger.
•
•
•
The wall was 6m high with a walkway and parapet.
The walls were 3.2m to 3.4m wide
It had four gates. Archaeologists did think there were five and you
can see five in the reconstruction drawing of the town. However,
they have changed their minds about the evidence and we do not
now think there was a gate giving access to the riverside, where
Exeter Quay is today.
The walls were built from volcanic rock quarried from where Rougemont Gardens
are today. The foundations and the core (the inside) of the wall were made from
purple coloured stones laid in a ‘herringbone’ pattern. You can still see these
original Romans parts of the wall today in Rougemont Gardens.
The outside of the wall was made with square blocks of stone – but beware!
Many of the blocks of stone you can see are replacements and not Roman!
Other buildings
The larger town meant more buildings were built. The street pattern was still a
grid. More buildings were made of stone and brick, rather than timber, wattle and
daub. Sometimes slate tiles from Ashburton were used on Isca and Topsham
buildings.
Roman Town/crafts and industries/slates from the Topsham bakehouse
Archaeologists think they have found part of a builder’s yard where mortar was
mixed and stone carved into shapes.
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Roman Town/house and household/wooden spade head
Mosaics
Some houses had hypocausts and mosaics. The biggest one found was in
Catherine Street in Exeter** which was a floor mosaic. Mosaics were made
locally from black, cream and brown square tiles (tesserae). These colours came
from tesserae made from stone. Red/orange coloured tesserae were made from
bits of pottery tile.
The floor was carefully laid with gravel then covered with mortar (a very tough
concrete). The tesserae were put into the mortar.
Sometimes mosaic makers made up parts of a mosaic in their workshops. They:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Made the tesserae into a pattern
If they made mistakes they could start again.
When they were happy with the pattern, they glued a piece of linen to the
top side of the tesserae with water soluable glue.
When it was dry they lifted up the pattern and took it along to the building
where the mosaic was to go. They put down the mortar and then placed
the tesserae and linen into the mortar.
They then poured water onto the linen and it came away leaving the
tesserae pattern in the mortar.
This was easier and quicker than putting tesserae straight into the ground.
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Roman Town/house and household/drawing of mosaic fragment
Roman Town/house and household/excavation of corridor mosaic
Roman Town/house and household/reconstruction of corridor mosaic
Roman Town/house and household/mosaic found in 1887
Roman Town/house and household/mosaic fragment from beside St Mary Major
Some town houses for well-off people were built. They had their own Romanstyle courtyards. Perhaps they had Roman style fountains or fishponds. We do
not know yet.
Archaeologists have even found a doodle on one piece of wall plaster which they
think says ‘Cave Canem’ - beware of the dog!
Over time shops and other buildings were knocked down, and rebuilt or
extended.
There was still plenty of space within the town. Some spaces were farmyards!
Archaeologists have found a feeding trough and bones which show cattle were
being killed. Some parts of the town may have looked a bit like a cattle ranch.
Roman Town/house and household/late Roman farmyard
Trade and industry
Archaeologists have found tiny bits of evidence for people making things with
bronze, iron, silver, slate, shale (a stone which is easy to carve) and bone. Some
pottery was made in the town, but not much.
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Roman Town/crafts and industries/metalworking
Roman Town/crafts and industries/tiles with paw prints
Most pottery was still black burnished ware brought in from Dorset and samian
ware. Amphorae were still used to bring wine and olive oil to the town.
Archaeologists have found an unusually large amount of pottery from France with
a pattern on it which looks like bath sponge. They are not sure why so much is
here.
They have also found other artefacts made from materials which you can only
get from other parts of Britain, such as jet**.
Roman Town/regional and foreign trade/carving of animal in jet
Roman Town/house and household/ceramique a l’eponge
What’s missing?
Archaeologists have not yet found any temples or an amphitheatre which some
other Roman towns have.
Religious beliefs
As long as the Dumnonii went along with the official Roman religions, they could
still believe in their own gods. Romans worshipped Rome, dead emperors and
three special gods, Jupiter, Juno and Minerva. There were other gods as well.
Often local gods became mixed up with Roman gods. At Bath, there is a
temple to Sulis Minerva. Sul is an iron age god and Minerva a Roman one.
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Archaeologists have found some evidence of who the Dumnonii living in Isca
worshipped. They have found small clay statues of Venus and Dea Nutrix**, the
goddess of new mums. Many years ago a set of small bronze statues of
Mercury, Apollo, Mars and Fortuna were found but unfortunately they
disappeared.
Roman Town/church and religion/figurine of Dea Nutrix
Roman Town/church and religion/Broadgate statuettes
Roman homes also had household gods, the lares, and a shrine for them in the
home.
There is one very important pottery sherd from a pot made in the fourth century
AD*. It has an early Christian symbol scratched on it (the Chi Ro). This may
mean that the person who scratched it on believed in Jesus Christ and was one
of the first people in Britain to do so.
Roman Town/church and religion/sherd with a Christian monogram
The Roman Emperors did not like Christians, Jews or Druids because they
thought they were a threat to the Romans’ power.
Burial
Romans were not usually allowed to bury people inside towns. But they were
allowed to bury children there. One child burial has been found at Exeter.
Sometimes children were buried with their toys. Perhaps the little mouse found
near the fortress was a child’s toy.
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Roman Town/house and household/a child burial
Roman Fortress/children and education/a model of a mouse
What was it like to live in Isca Dumnoniorum?
There was more to keeping peace with the Dumnonii than building towns. All
kinds of new things were introduced to Isca Dumnoniorum and other parts of
Britain where Roman rule became normal. We do not have very much evidence
for these changes but we know they happened in other places from evidence
found there. If new evidence is found, archaeologists may change their mind
about Roman life in Isca.
The Dumnonii did take on some Roman ways of doing things. We sometimes
call this romanisation. But they also continued doing some things the way they
always had, like farming. Dumnonii and Roman ways of doing things probably
mixed, rather than Roman ways taking over everything.
Money
Exchanging and bartering things (like swapping) still went on, but Roman coins
had started to be used by everyone. Roman soldiers had always used them.
They had the following system:
•
•
•
•
•
1 aureus (gold coin)
1 denarius (silver coin)**
1 sestertius (bronze coin)**
1 dupondius (bronze coin)**
1 as (copper coin)**
= 25 denarii
= 4 sesterii
= 2 dupondii
= 2 asses
= 4 quadrantes
Soldiers had earned 10 asses a day in Isca.
A bath cost one quarter of an as
Flour for a pound of bread cost 1 as.
And a bottle of cheap wine cost 1 as.
The Town Council
Capital towns like Isca had a town council (Ordo) with councillors (decuriones)
and 4 magistrates (2 duroviri judicundo and 2 duroviri aediles) who looked after
justice, public buildings and amenities, maintained the roads and collected taxes.
School
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There is no evidence for schools in Isca but Roman writers describe them. The
ideal Roman school pupil had a good memory, learnt with care, asked questions,
did not show off, was encouraged by praise, delighted by success and wept at
failure!
Schools were held in small rooms, shops or even a corner of the forum (in hot
countries) with only benches to sit on. Punishment by flogging often happened!
Reading, writing and doing sums
Wealthy people, traders and businessmen learned to read, write and speak Latin
and write in ‘cursive’ handwriting. There were people from all over the world
working and living in different parts of the Empire and using lots of different
language. Latin is what they used to make sure they all understood each other.
Cursive alphabet
They probably wrote on wax tablets. These were pieces of wood with wax on
them which you scratched with a pointed bronze or iron stick or stylus. You
could reuse them by re-melting the wax.
Stylus and wax tablet
We still use some Latin words today:
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Veto
Tutor
Omen
Ludo
Ego
am
pm
Amen
Etcetera
Via
I forbid
teacher
omen
game
self
ante meridian (morning)
post meridian (afternoon)
so be it
and the rest
by way of
Some words used today in European countries are based on Latin:
Latin
Aqua
Civis
Populus
Sal
Turris
Italian
acqua
cittadino
popolo
sale
torre
Spanish
agua
cuidadano
pueblo
sal
torre
English
aquatic
citizen
populace
saline
turret
means
water, watery
citizen
people
salt, salty
tower
Traders and businessmen learned to do sums in Roman numerals.
Roman numerals
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
VIII
IX
X
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
XX
XXX
XL
L
LX
LXX
LXXX
XC
C
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
D
=
500
M
=
1000
(the Romans did not use
M with other numbers)
How does the system work?
You do not usually have more than 3 of the same letters in a row.
8 is not written as IIIIIIII
90 is not written as XXXXXXXXX
This is because numbers would take far too long to write down.
The system worked like this:
You put a smaller number to the left of a larger number and it subtracts it.
You put a smaller number to the right of a larger number and it adds it on to that
number.
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8 = VIII
start with 5 (V)
now add 3 (III)
4 = IV
start with 5 (V)
now subtract 1 (I)
46 = XLVI
Start with 50 (L) and subtract 10 (X) = 40
Now add 6 (VI)
94 = XCIV
Start with 100 (C) and subtract 10 (X) = 90
Now add 4 (IV)
Multiplication becomes very difficult. That’s why the system is not used today.
What did they eat?
Some people cooked and ate new Roman recipes using ingredients not seen in
Britain before. The Romans introduced many new foods to Britain like carrots,
cabbage, spices and snails. However, they did not introduce pizza! This is
because they did not have tomatoes. They did not have potatoes, sugar or
coffee either. These foods come from America – which was not discovered until
hundreds of years later. They used honey to sweeten food.
Archaeologists have found some animal bones in Exeter. We know that people
living in Isca Dumnoniorum ate and drank:
• Beef and milk, cheese, butter (cows)
• Ham or pork (pigs)
• Mutton (sheep) and goats milk and wool for clothes
• Venison (deer)
• Duck, geese, pigeons, partridges
• Fish such as cod, bream, salmon and eel
• Oysters were a common food instead of being an expensive dish like
today! (we have the shells)
• Hazelnuts and plums (as the stones have been found)
• Wine and olive oil (because of the amphorae).
Some Roman recipes have survived but these tend to be for special occasions.
One Roman cook is called Apicius and some of his recipes have survived. He
used peacocks brains, bear meat, wild boar stuffed with live thrushes, dormice
with honey and poppy seeds and fattened snails.
More common was garum or fish sauce made from mackerel guts, vinegar,
parsley, wine and sweet herbs. It was used in savoury and sweet dishes.
Romanised people ate:
• Ientaculum – breakfast
• Prandium – lunch (midday)
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•
Cena – dinner (from 4 o’clock in the afternoon onwards!)
They had 3 course meals which we still have today.
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Gustatio – first course
Fercula – main courses
Menae segunda – dessert
Take aways!
They also had a lot of take away food bought from food shops and stalls in the
town. This was because kitchens in little houses quite often caught fire and were
then quite likely to set a town on fire. Meat in bread (like early beefburgers) was
popular.
But many people were too poor to afford special Roman food and ate bread and
bean broth with a bit of meat – as they had done before the Romans arrived.
Archaeologists have also found what they think is a baker’s oven.
Roman Town/crafts and industry/a bakery?
Public loos
Most towns had public loos. None have been found in Exeter but ones surviving
from other places show that there were stone seats over a running stream or
water supply. We are not sure what the Romans used for lavatory paper. They
may have used sponges on sticks dipped in vinegar – at least to wipe the seats
clean. Lots of people used the loos at the same time, side by side, men and
women. It was a good place to have a chat.
Oil lamps**. Romanised people used lots of small pottery lamps which burnt
olive oil. They either stood on tables or sat in metal lamp stands hanging from
the wall. Some have been found in Exeter.
Roman clothes
Togas were only worn occasionally in Britain, usually for special occasions. They
were rather difficult to move about in because they were made from huge
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amounts of fine woollen cloth. You had to keep your arms in place to stop it
falling off. Only men and boys wore these.
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Women wore long linen tunics under a slightly shorter woollen dress.
They often wore a cloak or mantle made of wool which wrapped around
their shoulders.
Very little evidence of underpants has been found anywhere. It is possible
leather ones were worn in and around the bathhouse.
We think some Roman ladies wore knee length red socks (soccus) made
from woollen cloth with a slot by their big toes for the thong of their
sandals to fit into.
They wore thick-soled leather sandals, a bit like leather flip flops, as well
as more robust shoes and ankle boots.
Richer women wore earrings, necklaces, bracelets and finger rings. Often
jewellery was made of bronze, but very rich people could afford gold and
pearls.
Men also wore linen tunics with a woollen gown over the top and a cloak on top
of that. They wore wool leggings and leather boots or sandals
Archaeologists have not found any evidence of clothes in Roman Exeter. The
material just has not survived. They have found brooches which fastened
clothes together. Some designs were a bit rude!
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Roman Town/dress and display/selection of Roman civil dress
Roman make-up and hair styles.
Romanised women wore make-up. They whitened their faces using chalk.
They drew round their eyes with eye liner made of soot and olive oil. Sometimes
squashed flies were used. They used red coloured earth to make their cheeks
look pink. Make-up showed that you were so rich you did not have to go to
work.
Some women wore wigs in the hairstyle of the latest Roman Empress. They may
have seen pictures of the Empress on coins in Exeter . They always wore their
hair up, held in place by bone pins. Sometimes they wore wigs because this was
easier than trying to arrange their hair into extremely complicated hairstyles.
They had perfumes made from rose petals, myrrh and spices which were
extremely expensive.
Teeth were cleaned using burnt eggshell and pumice stone.
Real Roman people
We do not have any evidence for individual Romans living in Isca.
Archaeologists have found a small marble head**, which may be a portrait of a
real man. But we do not know who he is.
Roman fortress/church and religion /marble head
Roman society
Roman society divided into three:
Roman Citizens – with privileges and legal rights
Provincials – non citizens – the Dumnonii would mostly have been provincials
Slaves - You were born a slave, or captured and made into one or turned into
one by Roman law.
Not all slaves were badly treated. Many ran their master’s businesses and were
almost family friends. An ex-slave was a freedman or woman. A grant of
freedom was called manumission
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Roman villas
The Romans also bought the idea of comfortable country living to local people
who wanted to take on the more luxurious way of Roman life and who had
enough land and had made enough money to do so. Roman farmhouses were
known as villas. Instead of a round house they had:
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Wattle and daub and sometimes stone walls
Tiled roofs
Windows with glass to let light in and keep rain out
Doors
Under floor heating systems
Decorated floors (mosaics)
Hot water and baths
Painted walls
Rooms, for the first time.
A small building with some rectangular rooms with a veranda has been found
near Topsham. Its square rooms make it feel Roman rather than Iron Age.
We know of three villas around Exeter and Devon. They have been found near
Crediton, Seaton and Holcombe. They were usually owned by local Iron Age
tribe Chiefs who had decided to get on with the Romans.
Roman Town/house and household/South Devon ware
This small number of villas may mean that most of the time the Dumnonii were
not interested in being Romans and just got on with their lives peacefully.
It may mean that the Roman officials thought Isca was the still on the edge of the
world and very few of them wanted to stay there long.
Or it may mean archaeologists have not found them yet!
In the end, the Dumnonii who lived near to the town came into contact with the
new Roman way of life. Historians start to call people ‘Romano-British’ rather
than Iron Age.
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What happened to the Roman Empire?
The Roman Empire began to get too big.
Hadrian’s Wall was built in north Britain between AD122 and 128 and another
one made of turf built even further north 40 years later. However, the later wall
was abandoned and the Roman Army retreated to Hadrian’s Wall. They had got
as far as they could.
There were not enough soldiers to get tribes who rebelled back under control.
Perhaps they rebelled because they were fed up with doing things the Roman
way.
Emperors killed each other so they could get to rule.
Tribes from outside the Roman Empire began to attack it, including Saxons who
were raiding Britain.
Some people buried their coins and silver and treasure in the hope that if things
got really bad, they could run away but come back later for their treasure.
Sometimes they never came back to collect it and we find it as buried treasure or
hoards.
By AD400 the last legion left Britain to go and fight somewhere the Emperor
thought was more important. In AD410 the Emperor Honorius sent a letter to
Britain saying that people there had to look after themselves.
We do not have evidence for exactly what happened in Isca Dumnoniorum.
Gradually all the new things that the Romans had introduced seemed to fall
apart. Archaeologists find fewer and fewer coins. The local people did not
seem to know how to keep things going when the Romans had left. Or perhaps
there just was not enough money to keep them going. Or perhaps there was
illness like plagues. Or perhaps there were not enough Romanised local people
to run things. Or perhaps they did not want to do things the Roman way any
more.
The country was raided by Saxons looking for land and slaves. Many people
were killed and gradually skills like glassmaking, road building and pottery
making were lost.
Important buildings like the basilica and forum were demolished by AD 450.
There must have been huge piles of rubble building up as town houses collapsed
because no one lived there.
In Exeter, archaeologists have found hardly anything from the fifth century to the
ninth century AD other than a few pieces of local pottery.
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So what did the Romans really do for us? Did they change life only for 400 years
or did the things they made and did last longer?
What do you think?
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RAMM Learning Resources : Romans in Devon
Bibliography
Paul T Bidwell Roman Exeter: Fortress and Town Exeter Museums 1980
(ed) R J Brewer The Second Augustan Legion and the Roman Military Machine
2002
Guy de la Bedoyere The Finds of Roman Britain 1989
Julian Bennett Towns in Roman Britain 1980
Peter Connolly The Roman Army 1975 (Excellent illustrations)
A T Croom Roman Clothing and Fashion 2002
John Edwards The Roman Cookery of Apicius 1984
Patrick Faas Around the Roman Table 2003
Simon James Ancient Rome Eyewitness Guides Dorling Kindersley in
association with the British Museum 1990
Simon James and Valerie Rigby Britain and the Celtic Iron Age 1997
(ed) Roger Kain and William Ravenhill Historical Atlas of SW England
Joan Liversidge Britain in the Roman Empire 1968
Tony McAleavy Life in Roman Britain English Heritage
Marian Woodman Food and Cooking in Roman Britain Corinium Museum
Philip Wilkinson What the Romans did for us (based on the TV series with Adam
Hart-Davis) 2000
Acknowledgements
John Allan, Curator of Antiquities, RAMM
Dr Valerie Maxfield, Professor of Archaeology, University of Exeter
Dr John Salvatore, Archaeologist English Heritage
Peter Weddell, Exeter Archaeological Field Unit
Bill Griffiths, Curator and Maggie Birchall Education Officer, Segedunum Roman
Fort Museum, North Sheilds
Jane Westfold, Experimental Archaeology student 2003, Exeter University
John Smith, Educational Archaeologist
Unless otherwise stated, © Exeter City Council and Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter
For educational purposes only