The Romans in Britain
100BC to 450AD
The Romans in Britain
100BC to 450AD

Insights into Roman life, History, the Roman Military and how the Romans changed Britain

Introduction

Roman soldiers attacking art on Romans in Britain website The Romans in Britain... really, the history of Britain cannot be separated from the Romans. The Romans came to Britain nearly 2000 years ago and changed the country in a profound and moving way. On this site you can find a lot of information and learn about the history of the Romans in Britain and the changes that they brought. On this website, you will find information about the innovations that the Romans brought to Britain, the changes they made to everyday life and how, and why, they built the foundations of a new civilization throughout the land.

A Land Divided

Before the Romans came to Britain, the country was divided into a mess of tribes. Uncoordinated, and with no central governmental structure, the island was ruled by minor kings, each having a section of Britain that they controlled. These small kingdons frequently invaded their neighbors and this left the country in a permanent state of unease. Life was hard, it was unstable and it could be short. The Romans brought civilization and attempted to change this. Sometimes, the British peoples weren't too thrilled with the Roman rule and rebelled—usually though, this was suppressed.

Civilization

Roman Civilization... Then the Romans invaded in 43AD. and brought a new style of leadership. They built an effective road structure, towns, homes and made Britain into one of the wealthiest and most valuable provinces in the Roman Empire. Rome was THE powerhouse of the ancient world and where it went, it left change—some for the good, some for the bad. There was nothing that could stand up to the might of Rome—many tried, many even hurt Rome a bit, but in the end, they ALL submitted. The Romans came to Britain nearly 2000 years ago and changed the country in a profund and moving way. On this site you can find information and learn about Roman history in Britain.

For students: Roman history ISN'T just dusty, old, boring facts to remember; the Romans were every bit like modern people, from scandals to public spectacles and violence (try MMA fighting vs. the gladiators—in the case of the gladiators and the "games," people died, vs. just getting beat up). There was just as much politics (in this case, you could get killed) and of course, there was sex (you didn't think YOU and your generation invented that, did you?).

I'm sorry that school and most teachers have made history dry and boring—it's not actually, they just do a bad job of presenting it and politically-correct school administrators make them teach an agenda. Don't take their word for things... Don't accept someone else's version of history and life—be your own person! Look around... See what it was like for yourself.

Innovations and Changes

On this website, you can get an insight into the innovations that the Romans brought to the country, the changes they made to everyday life and how and why they built the foundations of a new civilization throughout the land.

Emperor Claudius, invader of Britain Before the Romans came to Britain, the country was divided into a mass of tribes. Uncoordinated, and with no proper governmental structure, the island was ruled by kings, each having a section of Britain that they controlled. There were frequent incursions into other territories, so the country was in a permanent state of unease.

Then the Romans invaded in 43AD. and brought a new style of leadership. They built an effective road structure, towns, homes and made Britain into one of the wealthiest and most valuable provinces in the Roman Empire.

Rome was THE powerhouse of the ancient world and where it went, it left change—some for the good, some for the bad. There was nothing that could stand up to the might of Rome—many tried, many even hurt Rome a bit, but in the end, they ALL submitted.

A note (and a request) about the RiB site

The site, as you can see, is a bit gaudy, but then the Romans were a bit gaudy :-) We're trying to impart that feeling... PLEASE, let us know your feelings on the site, it's structure and layout, fonts and in general, whatever you think we can make better: RiB Feedback Form.

Fonts, text and other Ephemera...

On this site we introduce and use some Roman fonts and along with that, we try to have appropriate art of each subject. Along with these things, we try to use a Roman style of colour. Unlike what you see on old movies, from what we now know, the Romans did not live in shining white marble buildings, they liked to paint their world and they liked it gaudy too. Statues were not white with sightless eyes... no, they painted their statues to reflect life and only now, can we use modern science to see those colours... We have a page on this Here.

How to use this site

Look around, read stuff — check out the information we have here — this is one of the most comprehensive websites about Roman-Britain that existing today. The site has been designed so that you can look up nearly any subject on British-Roman history. The site map page has a pretty good listing. And remember, there is no order in which to view the pages, just click on a topic in the menus and the relevant subjects are revealed. Where you see text-link that is blue, put the mouse pointer over it and you'll often get a small pop-up box about the link. If you see a dotted line under a word, that means there is a definition that will pop-up for you to read. The definitions is an on-going project (as is the whole site).

Privacy Policy...

Please give our privacy policy a look. We've updated it to TRY and get closer to compliying with the EU's newest rules. Sadly, this policy is very draconian and even the Europeans don't really understand it and the implications. This EU policy, the GDRP, is being researched as I write this. Also, the Socialist Republic of California has passed a new privacy law that is similar to the EU's but, of course, conflicts with it — you just can't seem to win (or even break even) with socialists. Our goal is the best site for our visitors — if that means we might have to have "cookies" to run the site, we will. If you don't want them, you might have to pay money or not visit.

Anyway, our privacy policy is located here