Masarykova Univerzita V Brně Pedagogická
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MASARYKOVAUNIVERZITAV BRNĚ PEDAGOGICKÁFAKULTA Bakalářská práce Brno2008 LenkaSchormová MASARYKOVAUNIVERZITAV BRNĚ PEDAGOGICKÁFAKULTA KATEDRA ANGLICKÉHO JAZYKA A LITERATURY Roman Culture and its Impact on British Society Bakalářská práce Brno2008 Vedoucíbakalářsképráce: Vypracovala: Mgr.ZdeněkJaník,M.A.LenkaSchormová Prohlašuji, že jsembakalářskoupráci zpracovalasamostatně apoužilajen pramenyuvedenév seznamuliteratury. Souhlasím, abymáprácebylauloženanaMasarykověuniverzitě v Brně vknihovně Pedagogické fakultyazpřístupněnake studijním účelům. …............................ podpis Iwouldlike tothank tomy supervisor Mgr.Zdeněk Janík, M.A.forall his valuable commentsandhelpful suggestions throughoutmywork. Contents Introduction .............................................................................................................6 1.General Background ...........................................................................................8 1.1. Pre-RomanBritain .............................................................................................8 1.1.1.TheCelticCulture ..................................................................................9 1.1.2.TheReligion ...........................................................................................10 1.1.3.TheWarfare ...........................................................................................11 1.1.4.TheLanguage .........................................................................................12 1.2.RomanBackground...........................................................................................13 1.2.1.RomanColonial Policy ..........................................................................13 1.2.2.CursusRomanumorthePoliticalCareerinRome ................................14 1.2.3.RomanMilitaryUnits ............................................................................16 2.MilitaryandCivilArchitecture ofRomanBritain ..........................................17 2.1.MilitaryArchitecture .........................................................................................18 2.1.1.Camps .......................................................................................................18 2.1.2.Forts .........................................................................................................19 2.2.TheHadrian´sWall ...........................................................................................20 2.3.CivilArchitecture ..............................................................................................22 2.3.1.TheHypocaust .........................................................................................23 2.3.2.TheBath ...................................................................................................24 3.RomanRoadsandUrbanization .......................................................................25 3.1.TheRoadSystem ..............................................................................................25 3.1.1.TheConstructionofaRoad....................................................................26 3.1.2.ServicesaroundtheRoads ......................................................................26 3.1.3.KeyRoutes ..............................................................................................27 3.2.UrbanizationofBritain .....................................................................................28 3.2.1.RomanTowns ..........................................................................................28 -4 3.2.2.TheCountryside .......................................................................................31 3.2.3.LondiniumandAquaeSulis .....................................................................32 4.Theeverydaylife in RomanBritain ..................................................................33 4.1.Religion.............................................................................................................33 4.1.1.TheEarlyBeginningsofChristianity ......................................................34 4.2.TradeandMoney..............................................................................................35 4.3.TheIndustry ......................................................................................................36 4.4.LeisureTime .....................................................................................................38 4.5.Fashion..............................................................................................................40 4.6.TheArt ..............................................................................................................40 Conclusion ................................................................................................................42 Bibliography ............................................................................................................44 InternetResources ..................................................................................................46 Summary ..................................................................................................................47 -5 Introduction “Yet we shall be looking at a period of some five centuries, as long a stretchof time as from the Wars of Roses to the present day.This is the age not only for whichwe first have contemporary or near contemporary writtensources –initself amatter of crucial historical relevance –but for the greater part of whichBritain was absorbedintoan empire based on the Mediterranean and subject to the direct ipact of classical culture.“ (Salway1984:3) The first centuryBC brought many changes tothe Romanrepublic.Startingwiththe First triumvirate in60BC the pact of Gaius Iulius Caesar,Marcus Licinius Crassus and Gnaeus Pompeius affected the policy of the Roman state and implicitly caused the transformation of the Republic into the Empire. On the other hand, this pact enabled Caesar his campaigninGalia which brought him a fame of the conqueror of whole area and which also led to not very succesful attempts to forayinto Britain.In the period between70BC and40AD the Romanempire enlargedits area almost three times andit was just a beginningof the expansionduringwhichRome ruledover almost a half of Europe,AsiaMinorandthe NorthernAfrica. We cannot consider Britain as an absolutely isolated part of Europe. The fact that Britishtribes supportedGauls fightingagainst Caesar,as well as the coinage evidence, approve the contact andthe trade amongst the islandandthe continent.The culture of late IronAge inBritainwas ona quite highlevel andinsome ways evenRomans could have learnt from the British Celts. However, the Roman conquest brought to Britain manychanges.The Romanculture affectedthe life of the Celts in every aspect,starting from the political andeconomical changes andcontinuingto new methods inbuilding, introduction of new gods (later even Christianity) and at last but not least Latin language influencedEnglishvocabularyalot. Myinterest inthis topic comes from mystudyof Latin at the grammar school.Roman erudition is one of the roots of European culture and it affected the development of modern Europe in many aspects. The Roman policy of colonies was a very clever instrument for rulingover sucha great territory. Bygivingthe power intothe hands of local chiefs,whowere oftenbrought up inRome, theymanaged,inthe time of their greatest expansion,toholdthe control over the the area of 5,000,000km 2.Romanarmy, inthat time the best organisedandequippedone,seizedthe new territories bybuilding -6 the systems of forts andtowns andalsobyintroducingthe Romanstandardof livingto local people.Inthe beginningofthefirstcenturyADeventhe peopleoutofItalygained the status of Roman citizens and were theoretically given the power to influence the situation in Rome. It is very interesting to follow the changes in Europe and as the history lessons often more deal with the political changes than the culturals ones, I wouldlike toexplore thechanges inthelifeofBritishCeltsaftertheRomanconquest. Because it is important tocompare the situaitonwiththe earlier period,the first part of the work is devoted to the brief description of the pre-Roman era as well as to the explanation of the Roman colonial policy. The topic of the second part is the architecture and the innovations brought by Romans to Britain with the focus on the Hadrian´s wall where we can identify many of the typical Roman military buildings. The system of Roman roads also played very important role in the communication amongst the towns and camps as well as it provided quite comfortable trade routes. During the Roman rule over the Britain the first towns were built with the typical character of colonial settlement.The thirdpart deals withthe urbanarchitecture of the towns andvillas andwiththe importance of rebuildingof the Celtic fortifiedsettlements into those typical for Romans. The last part maps the aspects of everyday life as the religion,leisure time or arts of the Celts inthe context of Romanculture. The aim of my workistoprovideaclearvisionofthelifeinBritainduringthefourcenturiesofRoman dominion. -7 1.General Background The encounter of the RomanandCeltic civilisations created the bases for the birthof British culture as we know it today.Mixture of LatinandCeltic languages can be found inlocal names,manyof present cities grew onthe foundations of Romantowns,and probably not many people know, that old Roman roads are still used as the modern motorways. Folk music has its