What the Romans Did for Us

Last updated

What the Romans Did for Us
WhatTheRomansDidForUs.jpg
Genre Documentary
Directed by Inge Samuels
Presented by Adam Hart-Davis
Composer Deborah Mollison
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of episodes6
Production
Producers
Editor Peter Parnham
Running time23 minutes
Release
Original network BBC Two
Original release6 November (2000-11-06) 
11 December 2000 (2000-12-11)

What the Romans Did for Us, is a 2000 BBC documentary series "looking at the innovations and inventions brought to Britain by the Romans". [1] The title of the programme is derived from the cult film Monty Python's Life of Brian , referencing the famous scene where the People's Front of Judea discuss (itself based on a Mishnaic discourse by Rabbi Shimon)[ citation needed ]"What have the Romans done for us?"

Contents

Production

In 2003, the series was re-edited into 10-minute sections for broadcast as programme fillers.

Reception

Awards

Nominated for Best Feature at the British Academy Television Awards 2001.

Episodes

The White Cliffs of Dover White cliffs of dover 09 2004.jpg
The White Cliffs of Dover

These are the White Cliffs of Dover, and this must have been the first bit of Britain that the Romans saw when they came to invade. In fact they came in force in about May of AD 43. That wasn’t the first time they had visited the islands because Julius Caesar had come over a hundred years earlier, but he only stayed for a few weeks. In AD 43 the Romans meant to stay.

Adam Hart-Davis

Episode one: Life of Luxury

After hundreds of years of occupation many generations of people in Britain had grown up surrounded by Roman culture, and after a long period of stability that culture was showing visible signs of wealth, success and good living.

Adam Hart-Davis

Episode two: Invasion

In this series I’m going to see what the Romans brought with them and what they left behind when finally they went home 400 years later. Why did they come? Well, partly for the glory, partly for the farmland, and for the minerals like copper, lead and gold, and simply to trade. We'll be returning to those things later in the series, but for the moment lets see how they established their first foothold.

Adam Hart-Davis

Episode three: Building Britain

Within 30 years of the invasion there were 60,000 Roman troops in Britain, they had come from some of the most advanced places in Europe, and to them this sort of settlement must have seemed primitive. This is the story of how they transformed the landscape and laid the foundations for the countryside and the cities that we have today.

Adam Hart-Davis

Episode four: Arteries of the Empire

When Britain became Roman the Britons gained access to the finest goods the Empire could offer. The Roman economy was fuelled by trade, but they had trouble meeting the demand for luxury goods like jewellery. What they needed was the raw materials, the ores, and that is one of the principal reasons that the Romans came to Britain and stayed here for 400 years, but this trade would have been impossible without their amazing network of roads.

Adam Hart-Davis

Episode five: Edge of Empire

The Roman Army took nearly 50 years to work their way up, through their new province, to what is now Scotland. But they never really conquered these northern tribes, and they remained a thorn in the flesh of Roman Britain. By about AD 120, the northern frontier ranged from Wallsend in the east, to Carlisle in the west, and the emperor Hadrian said, "Build a wall, and keep all the others out." This remains the best known frontier anywhere in the Roman world, and it's the perfect place from which to contemplate life at the edge of empire.

Adam Hart-Davis

Episode six: Ahead of Their Time

The Romans ruled Britain for nearly four hundred years. They brought with them all sorts of revolutionary new concepts, from the hot bath to the hamburger. In this programme, I'm going to look at some of their wackier technology, like the first robot, and the slot machine; inventions that were literally centuries ahead of their time.

Adam Hart-Davis

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman Britain</span> Britain under Roman rule (43 AD - c.410 AD)

Roman Britain was the territory that became the Roman Province of Britannia after the Roman conquest of Britain, consisting of a large part of the island of Great Britain. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vindolanda</span> Roman fort in Northern England

Vindolanda was a Roman auxiliary fort (castrum) just south of Hadrian's Wall in northern England, which it pre-dated. Archaeological excavations of the site show it was under Roman occupation from roughly 85 AD to 370 AD. Located near the modern village of Bardon Mill in Northumberland, it guarded the Stanegate, the Roman road from the River Tyne to the Solway Firth. It is noted for the Vindolanda tablets, a set of wooden leaf-tablets that were, at the time of their discovery, the oldest surviving handwritten documents in Britain.

<i>What the Ancients Did for Us</i> British historical documentary television series

What the Ancients Did for Us is a 2005 BBC documentary series presented by Adam Hart-Davis that examines the impact of ancient civilizations on modern society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Magnis (Carvoran)</span> Roman fort in Northumberland, England

Magnis or Magna was a Roman fort on Hadrian's Wall in northern Britain. Its ruins are now known as Carvoran Roman Fort and are located near Carvoran, Northumberland, in northern England. It is thought to have been sited with reference to the Stanegate Roman road, before the building of Hadrian's Wall, to which it is not physically attached. In fact the Vallum ditch unusually goes north of the fort, separating it from the Wall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman military frontiers and fortifications</span> Part of a grand strategy of territorial defense in the Roman Empire

Roman military borders and fortifications were part of a grand strategy of territorial defense in the Roman Empire, although this is a matter of debate. By the early 2nd century, the Roman Empire had reached the peak of its territorial expansion and rather than constantly expanding their borders as earlier in the Empire and Republic, the Romans solidified their position by fortifying their strategic position with a series of fortifications and established lines of defense. Historian Adrian Goldsworthy argues that the Romans had reached the natural limits which their military traditions afforded them conquest over and that beyond the borders of the early-to-mid Empire lay peoples whose military traditions made them militarily unconquerable, despite many Roman battle victories. In particular, Goldsworthy argues that the cavalry-based warfare of the Parthians, Sarmatians and Persians presented a major challenge to the expansion of Rome's infantry-based armies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pons Aelius</span> Roman settlement in northern England

Pons Aelius, or Newcastle Roman Fort, was an auxiliary castra and small Roman settlement on Hadrian's Wall in the Roman province of Britannia Inferior, situated on the north bank of the River Tyne close to the centre of present-day Newcastle upon Tyne, and occupied between the 2nd and 4th centuries AD.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carrawburgh</span> Settlement in Northumberland, England

Carrawburgh is a settlement in Northumberland. In Roman times, it was the site of a 3+12-acre (1.5 ha) auxiliary fort on Hadrian's Wall called Brocolitia, Procolita, or Brocolita. This name is probably based on the Celtic name for the place, and one possible translation put forward is 'badger holes'. The fort there was a mile or so west of the Wall's northernmost point at Limestone Corner, and just over a mile west of the nearest milecastle, Milecastle 30. The fort either used the Wall itself as its northern rampart, or was built parallel to it but detached. It certainly postdates both the Wall and the vallum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vallum (Hadrian's Wall)</span>

The Vallum is a huge earthwork associated with Hadrian's Wall in England. Unique on any Roman frontier, it runs practically from coast to coast to the south of the wall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Milecastle 3</span>

Milecastle 3 (Ouseburn) was a milecastle of the Roman Hadrian's Wall. No remains exist, but it was thought to have been located at the junction of the A187 Byker Bridge and Stephen Street.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Milecastle 18</span>

Milecastle 18 (East Wallhouses) was a milecastle of the Roman Hadrian's Wall. It is located to the west of the settlement of East Wallhouses in Northumberland and is visible as a platform in the ground. The milecastle is of a unique construction, having a gateway associated with builders of the Legio II Augusta and a layout typical of the Legio VI Victrix or Legio XX Valeria Victrix. Historians have suggested that it may have been begun by men of one legion and finished by those of another. One of Milecastle 18's associated turrets shows evidence of being used as a workshop, possibly for the repair of shoes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aesica</span> Roman fort in Northumberland, England

Aesica was a Roman fort, one and a half miles north of the small town of Haltwhistle in Northumberland, England. It was the ninth fort on Hadrian's Wall, between Vercovicium (Housesteads) to the east and Magnis (Carvoran) to the west. Its purpose was to guard the Caw Gap, where the Haltwhistle Burn crosses the Wall. The B6318 Military Road passes about half a mile to the south of the fort.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hadrian's Wall</span> Defensive fortification in Roman Britain

Hadrian's Wall, also known as the Roman Wall, Picts' Wall, or Vallum Hadriani in Latin, is a former defensive fortification of the Roman province of Britannia, begun in AD 122 in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian. Running from Wallsend on the River Tyne in the east to Bowness-on-Solway in the west of what is now northern England, it was a stone wall with large ditches in front of it and behind it that crossed the whole width of the island. Soldiers were garrisoned along the line of the wall in large forts, smaller milecastles and intervening turrets. In addition to the wall's defensive military role, its gates may have been customs posts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scotland during the Roman Empire</span> Aspect of Scottish history

Scotland during the Roman Empire refers to the protohistorical period during which the Roman Empire interacted within the area of modern Scotland. Despite sporadic attempts at conquest and government between the 1st and 4th centuries AD, most of modern Scotland, inhabited by the Caledonians and the Maeatae, was not incorporated into the Roman Empire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antonine Wall</span> Defensive fortification in Roman Britain

The Antonine Wall, known to the Romans as Vallum Antonini, was a turf fortification on stone foundations, built by the Romans across what is now the Central Belt of Scotland, between the Firth of Clyde and the Firth of Forth. Built some twenty years after Hadrian's Wall to the south, and intended to supersede it, while it was garrisoned it was the northernmost frontier barrier of the Roman Empire. It spanned approximately 63 kilometres and was about 3 metres high and 5 metres wide. Lidar scans have been carried out to establish the length of the wall and the Roman distance units used. Security was bolstered by a deep ditch on the northern side. It is thought that there was a wooden palisade on top of the turf. The barrier was the second of two "great walls" created by the Romans in Great Britain in the second century AD. Its ruins are less evident than those of the better-known and longer Hadrian's Wall to the south, primarily because the turf and wood wall has largely weathered away, unlike its stone-built southern predecessor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Milecastle 5</span>

Milecastle 5 (Quarry House) was the first milecastle west of Pons Aelius fort of the Roman Hadrian's Wall. No remains exist of the milecastle, though its supposed position is at the junction of the A186 Westgate road and the B1311 Corporation Street. No remains currently exist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Milecastle 19</span>

Milecastle 19 (Matfen Piers) was a milecastle of the Roman Hadrian's Wall. Sited just to the east of the hamlet of Matfen Piers, the milecastle is today covered by the B6318 Military Road. The milecastle is notable for the discovery of an altar by Eric Birley in the 1930s. An inscription on the altar is one of the few dedications to a mother goddess found in Roman Britain, and was made by members of the First Cohort of Varduli from northern Spain. The presence of the Vardulians at this milecastle has led to debate amongst archaeologists over the origins of troops used to garrison the wall. A smaller altar was found at one of the two associated turrets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Milecastle 29</span>

Milecastle 29 (Tower Tye) was a milecastle of the Roman Hadrian's Wall. Its remains exist as a mutilated earth platform accentuated by deep robber-trenches around all sides, and are located beside the B6318 Military Road. Like Milecastles 9, 23, 25, and 51, a ditch has been identified around the Milecastle, and is still visible to a small extent. It has been postulated that this was as a result of the need for drainage on the site.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Limestone Corner</span>

Limestone Corner is an area of Hadrian's Wall at its most northerly point, in present-day northern England. It represents the most northerly point of the Roman Empire, outside the two periods during which the Antonine Wall was occupied by the Roman military. Other notable features at Limestone Corner are the wall ditch at this point, which was never completely excavated, a Roman camp and the site of Milecastle 30. Also present is a trig point. The B6318 Military Road also runs through Limestone Corner, as does the Military Way, serving Milecastle 30. The Military Way is visible on the ground at this point, the most eastern point where this is the case.

<i>Limes Britannicus</i>

The frontier of the Roman Empire in Britain is sometimes styled Limes Britannicus by authors for the boundaries, including fortifications and defensive ramparts, that were built to protect Roman Britain. These defences existed from the 1st to the 5th centuries AD and ran through the territory of present-day England, Scotland and Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman Cumbria</span> Area that used to lay on the north-west frontier of Roman Britain and the Roman Empire itself

Roman Cumbria was an area that lay on the north-west frontier of Roman Britain, and, indeed, of the Roman Empire itself.. Interest in the Roman occupation of the region lies in this frontier aspect: why did the Romans choose to occupy the north-west of England; why build a solid barrier in the north of the region ; why was the region so heavily militarised; to what extent were the native inhabitants "Romanised" compared to their compatriots in southern England?

References

  1. "What the Romans Did For Us". BBC Two. Retrieved 23 December 2012.