Heritage: Romans Conquering Europe
ARTICLES
Colchester: Britain’s First Roman City
The Romans: They Came, They Saw, They Conquered
Colchester is famous as a Roman town, but its origins pre-date the Romans. Two thousand years ago, much of the area surrounding Colchester was occupied by the Trinovantes tribe. Towards the end of the first century BC the Trinovantes created a settlement on the River Colne which became known as Camulodunum, meaning ‘Fortress of Camulos’, a Celtic war god.
The Romans were well aware of the growing importance of Camulodunum and referred...
Augusta Raurica: Off to Antiquity!
Why not embark on an exciting journey to an ancient city?
The Colonia Raurica in today’s Switzerland was founded in 44 BC and is the earliest colony settlement on the Rhine. The site developed into a cultural centre with fora, theatres, baths and temples. After a lot of damage had been caused by warfare during the 3rd century AD, the Roman army erected an impressive fort near present day Kaiseraugst on the Rhine. During the Early Middle Ages it evolved into a settlement that was the regio...
Roman Villas Revealing History
There are several reasons why the Romans invaded Britain in AD43, one of the major motivations was that Claudius had been recently installed as Emperor by the army following the assassination of Caligula, and needed a military victory to impress the Roman people and cement his position. South-East Britain was an attractive target. It had good agricultural land and valuable metal resources such as iron and lead.
Villas in Brading & Newport
On the Isle of Wight the first signs of social an...
Spain: The Roman Heritage in Aragon
Aragon, one of the 17 Spanish autonomic communities, is divided into three provinces, Zaragoza, Huesca and Teruel. However, in the Roman Age, this territory belonged first to the Hispania Citerior and later to the Provincia Tarraconensis. In addition, under Augustus’ empire, Hispania was divided into conventus iuridicus, i.e. administrative districts. The capital city of one of them was Caesaraugusta, the modern Zaragoza.
The main city from the time of Augustus was Caesaraugusta, a stra...
Walking the Roman Way
The Romans certainly appreciated dramatic scenery when they marched into northern Britain. As they advanced they set up defences against the local inhabitants (Picts) of Caledonia (Scotland) and indeed they had to on more than one occasion retreat back to the safety on the south side of Hadrian’s Wall.
This wall stretching from the west coast at Bowness on Solway to the east coast at Wallend was a major engineering undertaking but that was far from all they built. The Romans continued nor...