Celts and Romans, 2000 BC to 400 AD

Give some information about Britain before the arrival of the Celts.

- oldest human settlements discovered in Britain: around 800.000 years old
- remains of humans with fixed settlements: dating back 40.000 years
- while Ice Age: no isle, part of continent
-after Ice Age 10.000 BC : better living conditions (fertile land, warmer weather)

- c. 4000 BC: introduction of agriculture and establishment of settled communities through arable and livestock farming
=> "Neolithic Revolution"/ Neolithic Era
- traces: megalithic tombs (Stonehenge)

differences to nomadic lifestyle?
-settled, agricultured lifestyle
-requires given resources
-living with neighbors -> social capability improved
=> prosperous time

- Bronze Age: c. 2500 - c. 800 BC
- introduction of metalworking in bronze
-creation of an axe industry
- tin and copper needed for bronze
- biggest prehistoric copper mines in Wales: Britain as "tin isles"

- axe heads as good trading material
- sacred and worshipped: sky and nature (animals like wolves, snakes,...)

- Iron Age: c. 800 BC - c. 100 AD
- innovations were iron, but also horse-power was important (chariots)
- presence of horses used for riding on the Isles is well attested from 1000 BC
(Uffington White horse cut into chalk)

- in comparison to Rome/Egypt: Britain had no temples, no palaces, no large cities
- findings: cooking pots, pottery, human and animal bones

Who settled on the British Isles before the Romans came and how did these societies generally look alike?

- when the first Romans entered Britain: presence of a Celtic-speaking, iron-using society organized on a tribal pattern
- cultures shared a common culture with the Celts of continental Europe,
groups who crossed the Alps and defeated Rome in 390 BC

- Celts as the earliest group of ethnically and culturally identifiable
inhabitants of the Isles
Culture of the Celts:
- wars among themselves

- biggest achievement: iron (cheap, easy to make)
- defendable homes at hilltops
- clans bound loosely into tribes
- iron plow: agricultural win
- buried in holes in the ground

- Celtic languages: most lasting evidence => still survive in Wales, western part of Ireland and Scotland

Who were the Celts?
- linguistic group, not an ethnic or racial one, Celtic languages as
one of the main branches of the Indo-European linguistic family
- modern name from Greek "keltoi" ( = strangers)

war culture and religion:
- head cult: located personality in head and decapitated enemies (brought their heads as trophies)
- ritual murder: human sacrifices (burnt, drowned, hanged,...)

-Roman Conquest and later Anglo-Saxon colonization: erased nearly
all traces of Celtic cultures in the south and east of England, but not in
Ireland

- Celts in Ireland: static, traditional, oral culture, importance of kinship and local groups: no national identity as "Irish"
- Welsh society in pre-Roman period: heavily pastoral, like Irish society

. Britain around 40 AD: broad contrast between urbanized monarchical societies of the south and aast and the rural, tribal and aristocratic societies of Highland Britain (Scotland) and Ireland

- many (south) tribes contact to Romans before formal conquest
- trade: Roman luxury goods (wine) against
British grain, minerals, slaves

What was the impact of the Romans on the British Isles and its various
parts?

-Julius Caesar: two expeditions to Britain in 55 and 54 BC
-first: landed in Kent, was weakened by storm damage to the ships
-second: Caesar had troops: some tribes had to pay tribute to installed, local king => no tribute given after C. left (but gained prestige in Rome)

Roman invasion in 43 AD:
-Claudius in Britain 16 days, but in the next 30 years slow, constant conquest (piece by piece)
-but after the Roman invasion: the Celts still held the far greater part of the Isles (Romans only ~30%)

- various Celtic kingdoms lost their importance
- Southern England: most Romanised section of Britain (lowlands)
- in the North and West: Romans established only a military zone (Rom. vs. Celts), Ireland not conquered at all

-Romans built one culture to exploit the other
-brought government & intercommunical intercourse & economy
- oral culture hushed by Romans, no voice in this change

Impacts:
-Romans stimulated cultural and economical change
-added only a few percent to Britain's population => BUT! gained a lot of influence to culture
-imposed one culture upon another

-most important impact: Christianity
-opening up of Ireland to the Latin language and to the values of Rome through the coming of St. Patrick

-advantages of Christianity: more personal religion, promised better life in afterlife (more positive, less punishments through God)
- first half of the 4th century: "Golden Age" for Roman Britain (villas -> Roman model as idol)

-what's left: few roads, ruins, few genes, Latin names, Christianity, literacy
-created centralized economy

How did the Romans try to protect themselves from the hostile tribes in the north?

-invasion came to a stillstand in the desolate areas of what is now Scotland, where the Romans built Hadrian's Wall as a barrier against the Picts (tribes who lived there)

- Highland (Yorkshire etc.) never completely subdued
- required constant military presence
- construction of Hadrian's Wall as an indication of that
- Britain needed more military resources than any other province within the Roman Empire

Hadrian's Wall: split Britain nearly to half, military base, traffic control, in order to defend their provinces => military forts (settlements next to forts)
-most urban foundations in Roman Britain had a military origin

-letters: life in those forts boring, highlightless, no contact with natives
-control natives: convincing native elite that you're superior (money, gave them Roman names and architecture)
=> local leaders gained power, Romans trust and influence

-Rebellion of Boudicca (widow of an Iceni King) in 61 AD was brutally suppressed
-Iceni King split kingdom to half: Romans & Boudicca => Romans wanted it whole

-Boudicca was flogged & sisters raped
-Boudicca rebelled and killed herself afterwards
-Boudicca became icon of resistance

-great barbarian invasion in 367 AD: picts and Scots invaded Roman territories => imperial overstretch
- Romans expelled 409 AD, Britain fought against Saxon invaders, broke decisively with Roman rule
-end of the Western Roman Empire 476 AD