Block 1

Question 1

Terms such as ‘Roman’ and ‘Romanitas’

Answer 1

Are open to constant change. Their meaning could have been different in the past. If there is something ‘Roman’ then there needs to be something ‘non-Roman

Question 2

What do we mean by ‘Roman’?

Answer 2

There is a tendency / danger to assume that everyone means the same thing when they use the term ‘Roman’ but in fact we should be alert to the possibiloty that we may all mean subtly different things.

Question 3

‘Roman’ can be defined in relation to the following criteria:

Answer 3

Chronology: anything that was produced and anyone who lived during a time when the specific location was under Roman rule
Britain -> 43 CE while Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior -> 197 BCE
Geography: any territory under Roman rule
Evidence: material culture, written sources, any types of evidence produced by people living in an area during Roman rule
Idenitiy: People who referred to themselves as Roman, possessd Roman citizenship or demonstrated a lifestyle associated with Roman ideas.

Question 4

Empires involve?

Answer 4

The domination of states + people usually extended over a wide area
The development of a system of provincial controle / gouvernment -> perhaps with provinces and subject rulers and a bureaucracy which enabled political and economic control at a local level
Some degree of political or economical unification but with cultural and ethnc diversity
Periods of growth and collaps

Question 5

The processes involved in and motivations for empire building include:

Answer 5

economic gain
the extension or maintenance of personal, dynastical of state power
maintaining security against neighbouring rivals or external enemies
possibly ideological or religious purposes

Question 6

How can the ways of thinking and examining the Roman empire be different?

Answer 6

The SCALE at which we examine the history of the Roman empire can give rise to a number of different interpretations of the significance and meaning of particular events. Different scale analysis are more appropriat for adressing some questions than they are for others

Question 7

What is the difference between senatorial and imperial provinces?

Answer 7

Senatorial provinces = older provinces, those nearer to the centrum (Rome), stable provinces without much unrest. Governed by a proconsul (senator of consular rank)
Imperial provinces = newer provinces, frontier provinces, need attention by the emperor an the army. Buffer zone between frontier region and secure senatorial provinces. Governed by Legatus Aucusti propraetore (also senator of consular rank)

Question 8

Provincial boundaries

Answer 8

Could and did change -> Important to remember when thinking about evidence from a certain province or particular site. A site might be the capital of a province at a certain date but not at other dates due to changes and reorganisation of provinces

Question 9

Viroconium, the local perspective, what can it tell us and what not?

Answer 9

What were objects doing at this site, what were they used for and what can they tell us about this part of the empire? -> Zooming in and out anc choosing a scale of analysis makes it possible to investigate different sorts of questions -> From very local experiences (Viroconum) to over arching trends and themes.

Question 10

What do maps tell us?

Answer 10

Drawing a map of the Roman empire is similarly based uponchoices like to tell the narrative of the Roman empire. What to include and exclude. It resultes in the presentation of ONE version of the past -> ‘Roman Britain’ or ‘Britain in the Roman Empire’

Question 11

‘The wall was to separate the Romans from the barbarians’

Answer 11

SHA + Inscriptions only deliver very weak evidence for the wall being a barrier between Romans and barbarians. SHA not really reliable source, Inscriptin text incomplete

Question 12

‘The wall was patroled by Roman soldier to watch for smugglers and bandits from the north’
points that indicate that the wall was a barrier:

Answer 12

There were regular watchtowers, forts and milecastles overseeing stretches of he wall, making it difficult to cross
The v-ditch would have prevented people approaching the wall except at designed points (milecastles, forts)
If you did get through, wou would have been traped between the wall and the vallum

Question 13

‘The wall was patroled by Roman soldier to watch for smugglers and bandits from the north’
ponts that indicate that the wall was not / more than a barrier:

Answer 13

The wall was narrowed, potentially diminidhing its strenght.
There were very regular openings in the wall at milecastles and forts.
Gateways into forts on both the north and the south side allowed people to pass through.
There were places where it was possible to cross the vallum

Question 14

‘a way to channelling + controlling people moving around either side’

Answer 14

No evidence for battles fought on or near the wall.
Archaeological evidence strongly points towards the wall functioning as a ,eams pf controlling + directing movement -> allowing people in AND out
Exacting tax on the movement of goods and people making it impossible for people to pass the wall without Roman regulation / using Roman gates.
The was DID defend Roman interests by ensuing thaz goods + people were taxed and monitored

Question 15

‘My girl’s in Tungria; I sleep alone’

Answer 15

Inscriptions + Vindolanda tablets and evidence suggest that people other than soldiers lived at the wall -> women, children, slaves, merchants, sellers, craftsmen. People form around the empire ended up at the wall (Syrian men dedicating tombstone to wife)
Vindolanda letter -> wifes and children of soldiers living INSIDE the fort. Further evidence for this 0 finds from Vindolanda -> small shoes, tablets with misspelled quotes from Virgil

Question 16

Hadrian’s Wall

Answer 16

Made of stone in the east and turf in the west
Entire lenght from Wallsend near Newcastle to the Solway coast.
Original 3 meters wide 4,5 meters high with parapet perhaps extending the height to a total of 5-6 meters
On the north side in front of the wall was a flat area ground separating it from a v-shaped ditch approximately 8-10 meters wide. Later narrowed.
Small fortlets and milecastles were positioned at regula intervals of 1 Roman mile. Between these were turrets equally spaced.
17 forts were built on the wall each with a series of gates to both sides of it.
On the south side of the wall was the vallum a deep flatt-bottomed ditch flanked by a mound on either side

Question 17

Important artefact showing fusion of Roman and native art?

Answer 17

Staffortshire Moorlands pan

Question 18

Important battle fought in Britain by Agricola. Tacitus tells of it.

Answer 18

Mons Graupius

Question 19

Agricola governor of Britain from…. to….?

Answer 19

77 CE - 85 CE

Question 20

Dates of Tacitus?

Answer 20

c.55 CE - c. 118 CE

Question 21

Aerial photography

Answer 21

Has been particularly useful in frontier regions. The banks and ditches of small farmstead and the the circular traces of roundhouses are much easier to spot from the air than they are at ground level -> shows structures otherwise difficult or impossible to see

Question 22

Geographical surveying

Answer 22

Looks below the ground + reveals features burried beneath which may have left absolutely no trace on the surface.

Question 23

Excavation

Answer 23

Oldest + also the most destructive archaeological techique. Modern excavation can be slow and laborious. Process designed to adress specific research questions. Labour intensive and expensive.

Question 24

What do the pits excavated at sites along the wall (Byker, Throckley and Wallsend) tell us?

Answer 24

Appear to be very similar to those described by Julius Caesar in relation to his siege of Alesia in 52 BCE. Placing sharp stakes in front of ramparts. The pattern seems to match the arrangement of pits found at Byker and if the interpretation of the excavators is correct, this pits would suggest that the wall may have had, at times, a more directly defensive purpose than sometimes thought

Question 25

archaeological plans

Answer 25

Plans of archaeological features are only interpretations of the remains that have been found. They are based upon someones interpretation of the evidence.

Question 26

Stratigraphy

Answer 26

The layers by which excavation is done. Excavation of soil layers in the reverse order to that in which they were laid down, starting with the most recent and slowly working back through time. The layers are known as the stratigraphy of sites.

Question 27

What can stratigarphy tell us?

Answer 27

It can help determine the chronological order or sequence in which artefacts or finds included with layers were deposited. As since earlier layers lay below more recent layers and the artefacts found in respective layers can be ‘dated’ according to this.

Question 28

How can artefacts be dated -> coins

Answer 28

The key to dating coins lies in the number of times an emperor has held ‘power of a tribune’ This was renewed every year. Coins found can also help dating other artefacts, if all coins date to as similar time then it is safe to assume that a structure could not have been built before the date of the coins as they would have not existed.

Question 29

How can artefacts be dated -> pottery

Answer 29

Many vessels are stamped with a maker’s mark which indicates who made it ans where
Terra sigillata stopped being imported from the continent in the 3rd century as the factories in Gaul closed down, so later Roman sites can often be detected by the absence of this otherwise very usual ceramic or the greater use of local versions of it.
Pottery is often a more valuable dating device than coins.

Question 30

Changes made on the wall

Answer 30

The wall was narrowed from 3 meters to 2 - 2,5 meters wide. Evidence -> at some places (Willowford) we can see that a narrower wall has been placed on the foundations prepared for a broader wall.
The decision was made to build the western part of the wall from turf rather than stone. Banks East turret was originally built on a section of the turf wall, which was soon replace by a ston wall. This suggests that the original plan was perhaps to build the whole wall from stone
Large forts were placed on the wall itself. At Great Chesters and Chesters, newly built milecastles ans sections of the wall were demolished to make way for these forts. This proves that the construction of these large wall forts represent a change in plan.
The vallum was constructed along the entire length of the south of the wall. (around 3 meters deep and 10 meters wide) Evidence -> the vallum skirts around the forts and thus must have been planed at the same time as the forts pr slightly after.

Question 31

Were native settlements common around the wall?

Answer 31

Aerial photography has revealed many native settlements in the area around the wall. However these all date to a construction in around 200 BCE, very few Roman artefacts have been found in these settlements. All of these settlements have been abandoned around 150 CE and were never reoccupied.

Question 32

Did the Romans want to establish a unoccupied zone around Hadrian’s Wall?

Answer 32

The native settlements north of the wall were abandoned approximately at the same time as the wall was constructed. At the same time, Roman style villa settlements were established to the south of the wall, much further to the north than usual in Britain. Thus the wall seems to have contributed to a decline in the native population to the north and to a more Roman lifestyle to the south of the wall.

Question 33

What was the soldiers ‘marriage ban’?

Answer 33

Soldiers were forbidden to take wives, marrie and there were no women allowed in the camps. The emperor Claudius granted soldiers the rights of married men since they could not have wives according to the law. -> evidence for the ‘marriage ban’

Question 34

Was the soldiers ‘marriage ban’ obeyed?

Answer 34

It is clear that commanders and officers were allowed to have wives and to live with them in the forts. The ban did not necessarily stop soldiers from forming marriage-type arrangements with women and producing children.
Hadrian -> although claiming that soldier’s marriage were contrary to military discipline, the children produced in such unions should be able to inherit from their fathers which was previously not the case.

Question 35

What evidences do we have for women and children in military forts?

Answer 35

Archaeologists have found womens and childrens shoes, brooches, rings, hairpins and beads in even the common soldier’s barracks. Vindolanda tablets.

Question 36

What is important to remember when examining these artefacts associated with women and children?

Answer 36

It might be tempting to attribute certain artefacts such as sewing needles or brooches, fingerrings and cooking equipment to women. But soldiers also needed to know how to use sewing needles in order to repair their kit, cloths and leather tents. Brooches might also have been used by men. And some soldiers from the eastern parts of the empire might have worn earrings and necklaces.
-> Important to know the context of evidence