0:00:04 > 0:00:09This is the story of how Britain came to be.
0:00:09 > 0:00:11Of how our land and its people
0:00:11 > 0:00:15were forged over thousands of years of ancient history.
0:00:21 > 0:00:25This Britain is a strange and alien world.
0:00:27 > 0:00:32A world that contains the epic story of our distant, prehistoric past.
0:00:33 > 0:00:35For hundreds of years,
0:00:35 > 0:00:41regional tribes had fought for the land of Iron Age Britain.
0:00:41 > 0:00:43It was the time of heroes, of champions,
0:00:43 > 0:00:45men who could wield swords.
0:00:45 > 0:00:50This was a world of powerful Celtic warriors,
0:00:50 > 0:00:54druids and kings,
0:00:54 > 0:00:58before Britain was torn apart by an even greater force -
0:00:58 > 0:01:01the Roman Army.
0:01:01 > 0:01:07These men were executed, and their heads were stuck on spikes.
0:01:07 > 0:01:10This was what would happen if you got in the way of Rome.
0:01:12 > 0:01:15Now the journey continues
0:01:15 > 0:01:19with the next chapter in our epic story,
0:01:19 > 0:01:21a time when our land was being re-created
0:01:21 > 0:01:25in the image of Rome itself.
0:01:25 > 0:01:30This isn't just an abstract depiction of gladiatorial combat.
0:01:30 > 0:01:32These people have names.
0:01:34 > 0:01:39And its people had to come to terms with a bewildering, new,
0:01:39 > 0:01:41and utterly modern world.
0:01:41 > 0:01:43This is science fiction.
0:02:01 > 0:02:04Britain, 200 AD.
0:02:05 > 0:02:08The brutal violence of the Roman military campaign
0:02:08 > 0:02:10was a distant memory.
0:02:10 > 0:02:13Apart from the lands of the Picts to the north,
0:02:13 > 0:02:16all this was a far-flung corner of empire.
0:02:17 > 0:02:20Roman garrisons and administrators
0:02:20 > 0:02:23ruling over a land of more than three million people.
0:02:24 > 0:02:27The roads, buildings and cities
0:02:27 > 0:02:29were established and impressive features
0:02:29 > 0:02:31in the landscape of Britain.
0:02:31 > 0:02:36People no longer felt that they had been invaded.
0:02:36 > 0:02:40Instead, they were part of the most impressive,
0:02:40 > 0:02:45the most technologically advanced empire the world had ever seen.
0:02:49 > 0:02:52Britain was being dragged from its ancient pre-historic past
0:02:52 > 0:02:56into a new and very modern world.
0:02:57 > 0:03:00A world in which you could, perhaps,
0:03:00 > 0:03:04be both British and Roman at the same time.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16Today, the relics of Roman Britain
0:03:16 > 0:03:19still lie buried right beneath our feet.
0:03:21 > 0:03:24Here in central London, construction work is uncovering fragments
0:03:24 > 0:03:30of a city that once stood here almost 2,000 years ago.
0:03:31 > 0:03:35This building is completely derelict, as you can see,
0:03:35 > 0:03:38and it's shortly going to be almost razed to the ground,
0:03:38 > 0:03:40and replaced by something new.
0:03:45 > 0:03:49But at the moment, there's just this brief window of time
0:03:49 > 0:03:52that archaeologists can take advantage of,
0:03:52 > 0:03:54and dig deep into the foundations.
0:03:56 > 0:03:59And what they're revealing deep down here
0:03:59 > 0:04:01is a rare glimpse of Roman London.
0:04:15 > 0:04:18Alison Telfer and her team
0:04:18 > 0:04:23are uncovering the preserved remains of streets and buildings.
0:04:24 > 0:04:26This is planned, urban development.
0:04:30 > 0:04:34Everything about this is amazing. It's so recognisable.
0:04:34 > 0:04:35This is Roman timber.
0:04:35 > 0:04:39Yes, and you can see the skill of the workmen who made this.
0:04:39 > 0:04:44The timber survived very well because of the damp conditions,
0:04:44 > 0:04:46and that's really helped preserve it.
0:04:50 > 0:04:53In just a few generations, Roman London had grown
0:04:53 > 0:04:56into Britain's most important trading town.
0:04:56 > 0:04:58What's being discovered here
0:04:58 > 0:05:03are some of the shops and workshops that stood right at its very heart.
0:05:03 > 0:05:05Is that a fence line there?
0:05:05 > 0:05:09It is a fence line dividing this building from the one over there,
0:05:09 > 0:05:12and then heading that way, there might have been shop frontages,
0:05:12 > 0:05:15and about 20 metres that way is probably the Roman road.
0:05:15 > 0:05:18When you use words like shop frontages,
0:05:18 > 0:05:21it suddenly sounds modern and recognisable.
0:05:21 > 0:05:23At the time it would have been.
0:05:23 > 0:05:26You could probably come and get your latest leather shoes here,
0:05:26 > 0:05:29maybe get them made to measure.
0:05:29 > 0:05:32It fascinates me that life down here is so vivid.
0:05:32 > 0:05:35Yes. It makes people real, doesn't it?
0:05:36 > 0:05:38Look at this.
0:05:38 > 0:05:41This is a bag of leather pieces that have been excavated from here.
0:05:41 > 0:05:44Now, how recognisable is that?
0:05:44 > 0:05:49That's the sole of a leather, Roman shoe.
0:05:49 > 0:05:55Look at that. And you can see on the sides, the holes for stitching.
0:05:55 > 0:05:59And even more interesting, in a way, given that we're in a workshop,
0:05:59 > 0:06:03is a piece like this, which is an offcut of leather.
0:06:03 > 0:06:05That's been cut from a larger piece
0:06:05 > 0:06:08during the shaping and the making of something,
0:06:08 > 0:06:11and it's a find like this that shows
0:06:11 > 0:06:13that shoes aren't just being sold from these premises.
0:06:13 > 0:06:16They're actually being made here.
0:06:16 > 0:06:19And it still smells ever so faintly of leather.
0:06:25 > 0:06:30As early as AD50, a bridge had been built across the River Thames,
0:06:30 > 0:06:33and London grew rapidly around it.
0:06:34 > 0:06:36This was a trading hub -
0:06:36 > 0:06:39the Thames connecting Britain to mainland Europe
0:06:39 > 0:06:43and the furthest reaches of the Roman world.
0:06:43 > 0:06:49Not only to France, Italy and Spain, but Africa and the Middle East.
0:06:49 > 0:06:53Nearly 2,000 years ago, all of this was green fields
0:06:53 > 0:06:55as far as the eye could see,
0:06:55 > 0:06:59because there were no Britons settled on either bank.
0:07:07 > 0:07:11This is the actual site of the very first bridge across the Thames,
0:07:11 > 0:07:14built by Romans in the first century AD.
0:07:14 > 0:07:18It would have taken its line across the Thames,
0:07:18 > 0:07:20parallel to modern London Bridge up there,
0:07:20 > 0:07:22and the settlement that grew up on either side,
0:07:22 > 0:07:24they called Londinium,
0:07:24 > 0:07:28a name that has such a profound and deep connection
0:07:28 > 0:07:30to the city we know today.
0:07:38 > 0:07:41The Roman city of London was built on two hills -
0:07:41 > 0:07:44Cornhill and Ludgate Hill.
0:07:44 > 0:07:48By around 200 AD, it stretched all the way
0:07:48 > 0:07:51from where St Paul's Cathedral is today
0:07:51 > 0:07:53to the site of the Tower of London.
0:07:53 > 0:07:56It was home to maybe 40,000 people,
0:07:56 > 0:07:59and it was Britain's very first metropolis.
0:08:05 > 0:08:09The growth of urban living wasn't only felt in the southeast.
0:08:12 > 0:08:14From Bath in the west,
0:08:14 > 0:08:16to York in the north,
0:08:18 > 0:08:21many early forts and garrison towns
0:08:21 > 0:08:26had evolved into civilian centres of government and commerce.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31The roads that had been built to transport troops
0:08:31 > 0:08:35were now carrying the latest goods to growing centres of population.
0:08:47 > 0:08:51Roman mass manufacturing was making decorative goods
0:08:51 > 0:08:55ever more accessible to the aspirant middle classes.
0:08:55 > 0:08:59Innovations such as glassware would have been a modern marvel.
0:09:01 > 0:09:02Look at that!
0:09:02 > 0:09:05Instant product!
0:09:05 > 0:09:08And it's so detailed, just from the clay mould.
0:09:10 > 0:09:13You've got the basis of mass production there, haven't you?
0:09:17 > 0:09:21Even the idea of windows was new to Britain.
0:09:21 > 0:09:25It's almost impossible for us to imagine a world without glass,
0:09:25 > 0:09:30but try and put yourself into the mind of an Iron Age Briton,
0:09:30 > 0:09:34for whom the world had only and always been glassless,
0:09:34 > 0:09:38and think of the impact for him of standing inside a building,
0:09:38 > 0:09:42and while being proof against the rain and the wind,
0:09:42 > 0:09:45to still be bathed in sunlight.
0:09:48 > 0:09:51And glass was far from the only modern marvel
0:09:51 > 0:09:53that came with the Romans.
0:09:53 > 0:09:55Look at this.
0:09:55 > 0:09:59This would have been a wonder.
0:09:59 > 0:10:04This is all that remains of a gigantic statue
0:10:04 > 0:10:05that stood 20-feet high.
0:10:05 > 0:10:08And it wouldn't have been green, either -
0:10:08 > 0:10:10the figure would have been painted gold -
0:10:10 > 0:10:12it would have been gilded.
0:10:13 > 0:10:18The native tribes had never before seen likenesses of human beings,
0:10:18 > 0:10:22but to see that these people were accompanied by golden giants,
0:10:22 > 0:10:24three times the size of a human being -
0:10:24 > 0:10:26what would that have said to you
0:10:26 > 0:10:28about what these people were capable of?
0:10:31 > 0:10:34And then look at this. So familiar.
0:10:34 > 0:10:38It's exactly what it looks like. It's a padlock.
0:10:38 > 0:10:40Here's the keyhole.
0:10:40 > 0:10:42This could well be the key that fits.
0:10:42 > 0:10:45It shows the way in which the Romans, quite literally,
0:10:45 > 0:10:46brought the modern world.
0:10:46 > 0:10:49They brought the future with them.
0:10:49 > 0:10:52This is science fiction.
0:10:58 > 0:11:02Of course, not everyone in Britain was so directly exposed
0:11:02 > 0:11:04to the wonders of Rome.
0:11:04 > 0:11:06Away from the heavily Romanised south,
0:11:06 > 0:11:09the impact of Roman culture would have been much less,
0:11:09 > 0:11:13but if you were living in one of the new urban centres,
0:11:13 > 0:11:15then the classical, civilised Roman world
0:11:15 > 0:11:18would have touched every part of your life.
0:11:18 > 0:11:22And it wouldn't necessarily have been threatening and foreign -
0:11:22 > 0:11:25it would have been exciting and seductive.
0:11:25 > 0:11:28But if the new urban centres weren't enough,
0:11:28 > 0:11:31the new commercial opportunities, the new technologies,
0:11:31 > 0:11:35then Rome had something else to offer the people for the first time.
0:11:35 > 0:11:39And that was mass entertainment,
0:11:39 > 0:11:41often on a truly massive scale.
0:11:51 > 0:11:56I'm cycling along a piece of invisible Roman Britain,
0:11:56 > 0:11:59because where I am now used to be a racetrack
0:11:59 > 0:12:04where charioteers would hurtle along, racing against one another.
0:12:11 > 0:12:14That's once around. Another six to go.
0:12:14 > 0:12:18Colchester was the first Roman retirement town,
0:12:18 > 0:12:21where old soldiers could settle with their own plots of land.
0:12:21 > 0:12:24Its racetrack, or circus,
0:12:24 > 0:12:27was discovered by archaeologist Philip Crummy.
0:12:27 > 0:12:31What we've found is the only circus known in Roman Britain.
0:12:31 > 0:12:34Comparing it to these modern buildings, it's colossal,
0:12:34 > 0:12:36even by modern standards.
0:12:36 > 0:12:40Look at this massive industrial unit there, and the circus dwarfs it.
0:12:40 > 0:12:43This is the largest Roman building that we know of in Britain.
0:12:43 > 0:12:47This is the real deal, this is a giant thing.
0:12:48 > 0:12:50Despite knowing its layout,
0:12:50 > 0:12:54only fragments of the original structure have ever been excavated.
0:12:55 > 0:12:57So it's half a kilometre long,
0:12:57 > 0:12:59and we're taking out just this slot here.
0:12:59 > 0:13:00That's right.
0:13:01 > 0:13:03Inches beneath the ground,
0:13:03 > 0:13:08evidence of building work still remains from the massive stadium.
0:13:08 > 0:13:10Right, let's fire this up.
0:13:19 > 0:13:211,800 years ago,
0:13:21 > 0:13:26Romans and Britons, rich and poor, citizens and slaves,
0:13:26 > 0:13:29would have shared in one of the greatest sporting spectacles
0:13:29 > 0:13:31of the ancient world -
0:13:33 > 0:13:34a chariot race.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41What you'd hear is the sound of the chariots
0:13:41 > 0:13:44going seven times round the central barrier,
0:13:44 > 0:13:47and the cheers of up to 15,000 people, yelling and screaming.
0:13:47 > 0:13:51- This was the modern equivalent of football.- Right.
0:13:51 > 0:13:55- So it's mass entertainment, almost on an industrial scale.- It is.
0:13:55 > 0:13:58This is where you come for a bit of excitement.
0:13:58 > 0:14:01So that's mortared masonry?
0:14:01 > 0:14:03Oh, yeah. Look at that.
0:14:06 > 0:14:09That's it, there. That mortar coming up there.
0:14:09 > 0:14:12- Oh, yeah.- The start of Roman stuff,
0:14:12 > 0:14:15Roman brick there.
0:14:18 > 0:14:21'These are the foundation remains
0:14:21 > 0:14:25'of one of the greatest stadiums in northern Europe.'
0:14:25 > 0:14:27Built under a car park.
0:14:28 > 0:14:30It's good, isn't it?
0:14:31 > 0:14:32But in Colchester,
0:14:32 > 0:14:36the racetrack wasn't the only mass entertainment on offer.
0:14:38 > 0:14:40People could also get a glimpse
0:14:40 > 0:14:43of some of the sporting superstars of the age -
0:14:45 > 0:14:47gladiators.
0:14:54 > 0:14:57This piece of pottery, this vase,
0:14:57 > 0:15:02encapsulates so much of what we think about the Roman world.
0:15:02 > 0:15:05It was found in Colchester, near the circus.
0:15:05 > 0:15:08It's widely regarded as one of the finest pieces
0:15:08 > 0:15:11of Roman period pottery ever found in northern Europe.
0:15:11 > 0:15:17These two men here are baiting what looks, to our eyes, like a dog,
0:15:17 > 0:15:19but it's actually a bear.
0:15:19 > 0:15:23And that is so much how we think about Roman sport,
0:15:23 > 0:15:25Roman entertainment,
0:15:25 > 0:15:29how it was all wound up in blood and cruelty.
0:15:29 > 0:15:32But it's not just animals
0:15:32 > 0:15:35that are on the receiving end of the violence.
0:15:35 > 0:15:39On this side of the vase are two gladiators.
0:15:40 > 0:15:45This one here is a class of gladiator called a Secutor.
0:15:45 > 0:15:51He has armour, a helmet, a shield and, classically, a sword.
0:15:51 > 0:15:55His opponent, however, is in all kinds of trouble.
0:15:55 > 0:16:01He should be armed with a net and a trident, but he's lost both.
0:16:01 > 0:16:03What makes this
0:16:03 > 0:16:05vase so fascinating
0:16:05 > 0:16:13is that this isn't an abstract notional depiction of gladiatorial combat.
0:16:13 > 0:16:15These people have names.
0:16:15 > 0:16:19Valentinus and Memnon.
0:16:19 > 0:16:23Now, Valentinus was an international superstar of his age.
0:16:23 > 0:16:29He was attached to a legion in Germany, so perhaps he was brought over
0:16:29 > 0:16:32to Colchester, to Britain, to the provinces,
0:16:32 > 0:16:35to entertain the locals here
0:16:35 > 0:16:39and give them a taste of European glamour.
0:16:40 > 0:16:44Nothing like this could have been seen, even conceived of
0:16:44 > 0:16:49by the native British tribes, not until they had contact with Rome.
0:17:01 > 0:17:05Ancient Britain had evolved gradually through thousands of years of prehistory.
0:17:08 > 0:17:14But in the centuries following the Roman invasion, the face of Britain was being transformed.
0:17:16 > 0:17:19And it was all part of a plan,
0:17:19 > 0:17:24to feed and bolster the economy of an increasingly bloated Roman empire.
0:17:28 > 0:17:30Look at this.
0:17:30 > 0:17:32A silver, Roman coin.
0:17:32 > 0:17:36It's got the head of the Emperor on one side. It's called a Denarius.
0:17:36 > 0:17:40In its day, it was worth around £100.
0:17:40 > 0:17:42And it was money and wealth like this
0:17:42 > 0:17:45that was key to the control of Britain.
0:17:46 > 0:17:52Across an empire of perhaps 80 million people,
0:17:52 > 0:17:57the Romans needed to keep resources circulating and coming towards them.
0:17:57 > 0:18:02So it's likely that Britain was taxed directly,
0:18:02 > 0:18:04the individuals, for the very first time.
0:18:04 > 0:18:08All the building, all the entertainments,
0:18:08 > 0:18:12the military forts, the roads, they all had to be paid for.
0:18:12 > 0:18:17So another coin, like this one, would have become a common sight.
0:18:17 > 0:18:21It's called an as, and it was the pound coin of its day.
0:18:21 > 0:18:26You can imagine it being handed over reluctantly by a worker from Londinium,
0:18:26 > 0:18:29to a Roman tax collector.
0:18:29 > 0:18:34It's usually the Roman military that gets all the attention, that has all the glamour.
0:18:34 > 0:18:38In truth, when it comes to controlling a province like Britannia,
0:18:38 > 0:18:41keeping control of its economy,
0:18:41 > 0:18:46then the secret lies in Roman bureaucracy, its civil service.
0:18:48 > 0:18:51London, the commercial gateway to Britain,
0:18:51 > 0:18:54also became its political nerve centre.
0:18:57 > 0:19:00At the heart of the city, the Roman administration
0:19:00 > 0:19:05built a base for government in the shape of a vast basilica.
0:19:05 > 0:19:10The one built here was three-stories high, so, an enormous building.
0:19:10 > 0:19:16In fact, it wouldn't have been much smaller than the building that's here on the side today.
0:19:16 > 0:19:22The Roman basilica, though, was part Court House, part Records Office, part Tax Office.
0:19:22 > 0:19:26So all in all, a frighteningly imposing structure.
0:19:29 > 0:19:35During the last 2,000 years, this ground has been built on over and over again.
0:19:35 > 0:19:40But amazingly, a fragment of the ancient basilica still survives,
0:19:40 > 0:19:42if you know where to look for it.
0:19:44 > 0:19:48You're not going to believe what is behind this door.
0:19:50 > 0:19:52Look at that.
0:19:53 > 0:19:58Unbelievable as it may seem, this is all that remains of what was once
0:19:58 > 0:20:02one of the largest, most impressive buildings of the Roman Empire.
0:20:02 > 0:20:06One of the largest things they ever built north of the Alps.
0:20:06 > 0:20:11It might have been a wonder of the Empire, it was certainly a wonder of ancient Roman Britain.
0:20:22 > 0:20:26In London, Rome had created a provincial capital.
0:20:26 > 0:20:30The capital of a single territory,
0:20:30 > 0:20:34the very idea of Britannia that endures to this day.
0:20:34 > 0:20:38What you've got here is the start of something quite new.
0:20:38 > 0:20:43Whereas Iron Age Britain was based around local, tribal power bases,
0:20:43 > 0:20:46the Romans had imposed a single unified political structure.
0:20:46 > 0:20:49Look at this, it's a tile,
0:20:49 > 0:20:55and it's stamped with the letters "PPBRLON", so it's from London.
0:20:55 > 0:20:57It's stamped by the Authority of the Procurator
0:20:57 > 0:21:00of the Province of Britannia.
0:21:00 > 0:21:05What you've got here is the very start of the idea of Britain
0:21:05 > 0:21:11as a separate country, a single unit, and it all starts with Rome.
0:21:15 > 0:21:21For Rome, though, Britannia was just one part of something even greater still -
0:21:21 > 0:21:25the Roman Empire itself.
0:21:25 > 0:21:30And just like today's cities, Roman towns were cultural melting pots.
0:21:32 > 0:21:38Not only between the people of Britain and Rome, but people from all its far-flung provinces.
0:21:43 > 0:21:48As far north as York, just 100 miles or so from Hadrian's Wall itself,
0:21:48 > 0:21:54inhabitants would still have felt very much part of an exotic, international world.
0:21:54 > 0:22:00This was about as far from Rome as you could get and still feel you were in a civilised city.
0:22:00 > 0:22:05But even this far north, you would still have been bumping into people from all corners of the Empire,
0:22:05 > 0:22:11people who were either from, or had their origins in Germany, France, the Middle East, even Africa.
0:22:14 > 0:22:18Here, languages would have been heard from across the Empire,
0:22:20 > 0:22:23but there was a common tongue -
0:22:23 > 0:22:24Latin.
0:22:25 > 0:22:30What made Latin special was that you couldn't just hear it, you could see it.
0:22:30 > 0:22:33Latin brought writing to Britain for the very first time.
0:22:33 > 0:22:36And that was a massive shift.
0:22:36 > 0:22:42It took us from the pre-historic world into a world of records, names and dates.
0:22:42 > 0:22:46The trouble is that so little remains of Britain at this time.
0:22:46 > 0:22:52Most of what we have are abbreviated memorial slabs, gateways, tomb stones and the like.
0:22:52 > 0:22:56So it's very difficult to know what ordinary people in Britain were writing about.
0:23:03 > 0:23:05A rare collection of wax tablets
0:23:05 > 0:23:09is revealing unique insights into ordinary life in Roman Britain.
0:23:09 > 0:23:12It's a most remarkable find for Roman Britain, because
0:23:12 > 0:23:15until this material came to light we had nothing like this,
0:23:15 > 0:23:17either from this period,
0:23:17 > 0:23:19or from the whole of the provincial era
0:23:19 > 0:23:21of Britain under the Roman Empire.
0:23:21 > 0:23:27The tablets were discovered at Hadrian's Wall in 1973,
0:23:27 > 0:23:32but it's only now that new imaging technology is able to decode them fully.
0:23:34 > 0:23:41These are private letters, written around 100 AD, and sent home from the very edge of Empire.
0:23:41 > 0:23:46We've got one tablet which mentions a price paid for a small quantity of pepper.
0:23:46 > 0:23:50We have another example in which a writer refers to someone
0:23:50 > 0:23:54he's trying to help, as a man who is a lover of literary culture.
0:23:54 > 0:24:00A really quite remarkable phrase to be using on the northern frontier of Britain at this time.
0:24:00 > 0:24:04These fragments reveal Britain on the cusp of a new age.
0:24:04 > 0:24:08The very beginnings of written history.
0:24:08 > 0:24:11For Britain itself, there were a large number in the pre-Roman period
0:24:11 > 0:24:16of different tribal units, different small kingdoms and fiefdoms
0:24:16 > 0:24:19and one of the things the Roman presence did was to bring them all
0:24:19 > 0:24:23under one political system, and that system was run in Latin.
0:24:27 > 0:24:34Latin language and widening literacy were yet more unifying forces across the Empire.
0:24:35 > 0:24:38If you had the chance, and you took the leap,
0:24:38 > 0:24:43regardless of the heritage that you carried with you from birth, you could be Roman.
0:24:48 > 0:24:54Even as far north as York, evidence can be found of the cultural mobility that came with Rome.
0:24:55 > 0:25:00The remains of a woman who died nearly 1,800 years ago.
0:25:05 > 0:25:08This is the skull of a young woman -
0:25:08 > 0:25:12when she died, she was around 22, 23 years old.
0:25:12 > 0:25:15She was buried with fantastic wealth -
0:25:15 > 0:25:19this is a few of the things that were alongside her in her grave.
0:25:19 > 0:25:24This is a necklace made of blue glass beads.
0:25:24 > 0:25:29The individual beads are so beautifully made -
0:25:29 > 0:25:31look at the way it allows the light through it.
0:25:31 > 0:25:34Anyone who saw this woman wearing it would have
0:25:34 > 0:25:39identified her as someone of status, someone with access to real money.
0:25:39 > 0:25:43But then the story takes a strange twist, because alongside her
0:25:43 > 0:25:47in the grave were bangles made of African elephant ivory.
0:25:47 > 0:25:52With beautiful turned decoration on it.
0:25:52 > 0:25:56Now, what on earth is an African ivory bangle
0:25:56 > 0:25:59doing in a grave in York?
0:26:02 > 0:26:05There are clues here in the skull itself.
0:26:05 > 0:26:10First of all, she has a broad and quite flattened forehead,
0:26:10 > 0:26:13which suggests someone of black African descent.
0:26:13 > 0:26:19But when we look at her nose, her nose is typical of a white European,
0:26:19 > 0:26:26so in this skull, we have the suggestion of someone of mixed race.
0:26:26 > 0:26:30And when her teeth were subjected to chemical analysis, it was found
0:26:30 > 0:26:33possible, even likely,
0:26:33 > 0:26:38that she grew up in North Africa, somewhere like Libya or Tunisia.
0:26:39 > 0:26:45Perhaps she is the wife or the daughter of a centurion posted to York.
0:26:45 > 0:26:51She's this - to our eyes - exotic figure, with this luxury jewellery,
0:26:51 > 0:26:55these luxury items, and yet, in Roman York,
0:26:55 > 0:26:59when she walked around the streets, she wouldn't have been so very unusual.
0:27:06 > 0:27:09To be a Roman wasn't about where you were born.
0:27:09 > 0:27:13But about how you lived, how you dressed,
0:27:13 > 0:27:17how you spoke, the values you held.
0:27:17 > 0:27:20There was a sense that within the Roman Empire
0:27:20 > 0:27:27you could make your own way, you weren't necessarily bound or handicapped by your ancestral class.
0:27:27 > 0:27:31And whatever barriers Rome did put up, colour wasn't one of them.
0:27:33 > 0:27:38But was it possible to be both Roman and British at the same time?
0:27:38 > 0:27:41Or, 200 years after the invasion,
0:27:41 > 0:27:44did that distinction even matter any more?
0:27:53 > 0:27:59In Celtic Britain, tribal identity had always been central to who you were.
0:27:59 > 0:28:02Now, under Rome, who and what you were
0:28:02 > 0:28:08seemed to be becoming more of a choice, or a matter of circumstance.
0:28:08 > 0:28:11You could either act as a Roman, or not.
0:28:11 > 0:28:15You could either live an urban life, or not.
0:28:15 > 0:28:18And that's aside from class -
0:28:18 > 0:28:22whether you were wealthy and powerful, or a trader or craftsman,
0:28:22 > 0:28:25or at the bottom, a slave.
0:28:25 > 0:28:29Or even more grim than that, a slave's slave.
0:28:29 > 0:28:30Think of that.
0:28:32 > 0:28:37Despite the growth of Roman towns, most of the population of Britain remained rural.
0:28:38 > 0:28:44But even out here, the influence of Rome was unmistakeable.
0:28:44 > 0:28:47The modern Roman ways weren't restricted to the townsfolk.
0:28:47 > 0:28:52As a Roman citizen, you could own land with proper legal title
0:28:52 > 0:28:56which meant that it could be bought, sold, and inherited.
0:28:56 > 0:29:03And in the southeast, amongst the very rich, that was to lead to something truly spectacular.
0:29:04 > 0:29:09Rich agricultural estates, surrounding big country houses.
0:29:10 > 0:29:13The villas of southern England.
0:29:14 > 0:29:17To our eyes, this is incredibly ordinary,
0:29:17 > 0:29:19but it's as staggeringly modern
0:29:19 > 0:29:22as anything you would have seen in the Roman towns.
0:29:22 > 0:29:27These buildings were built on top of the foundations of the original building
0:29:27 > 0:29:30that stood here in the late Roman period, into the 300s.
0:29:30 > 0:29:36And it's representative of a kind of architecture that had never been seen in Britain before the Romans.
0:29:36 > 0:29:42You have to remember that Iron Age houses in Britain were round, single-room dwellings.
0:29:42 > 0:29:44They look ancient.
0:29:44 > 0:29:46But this is a house.
0:29:46 > 0:29:49You've got a rectangular floor plan,
0:29:49 > 0:29:52you've got separate rooms inside, there's even glass in the windows.
0:29:52 > 0:29:54This is the future.
0:29:54 > 0:29:56And wait till you see what's inside!
0:30:04 > 0:30:08No-one knows who owned this villa and its surrounding estate
0:30:08 > 0:30:11but we can be sure they were rich.
0:30:11 > 0:30:14And that they enjoyed a life of luxury.
0:30:14 > 0:30:20If this was my villa, this would have been the floor of my private dining room.
0:30:20 > 0:30:23It's luxurious and lavish in the extreme,
0:30:23 > 0:30:26it's a real show of status.
0:30:26 > 0:30:30My guests would have been arranged around the outside of this mosaic floor
0:30:30 > 0:30:34and it's covered in scenes of myth and Roman legend.
0:30:41 > 0:30:47My guests would have listened to the soft sounds of the water tinkling in the fountain,
0:30:47 > 0:30:51they'd have been drinking wine, celebrating the god Bacchus.
0:30:51 > 0:30:57Their eyes were probably drawn to the depictions of topless lady dancers.
0:30:57 > 0:30:59And maybe if it was a really special occasion,
0:30:59 > 0:31:02I'd have laid on real topless dancers, make it a real party.
0:31:02 > 0:31:07But in any event, this was and is a spectacular place.
0:31:11 > 0:31:13Now, as well as all the grandeur,
0:31:13 > 0:31:17this room affords us a glimpse of something else.
0:31:17 > 0:31:22Because at some point, this part of the floor has collapsed,
0:31:22 > 0:31:25revealing the underfloor central-heating system.
0:31:25 > 0:31:28It's called a hypocaust, which means "heat from below".
0:31:28 > 0:31:33And you can see in this void where all the vents...
0:31:33 > 0:31:36have been positioned to circulate the hot air
0:31:36 > 0:31:39and the heat comes from a purpose-built furnace
0:31:39 > 0:31:41on the other side of that wall.
0:31:41 > 0:31:44All the hot air is pushed through, makes the floor warm.
0:31:44 > 0:31:47So the whole interior is heated, very cosy.
0:31:48 > 0:31:51The big man, the owner of the estate,
0:31:51 > 0:31:54would've sat at that end of the room, in pride of place.
0:31:54 > 0:31:58He would've greeted his guests and visitors from there.
0:31:58 > 0:32:02And he would've been close by where that mosaic of Venus is
0:32:02 > 0:32:07and that is regarded as one of the very finest Roman mosaics anywhere in Britain.
0:32:15 > 0:32:20Any rich landowner would also have enjoyed a rich Roman diet -
0:32:20 > 0:32:24an aspect of life studied by Sally Grainger.
0:32:24 > 0:32:26We've got...
0:32:26 > 0:32:31- coriander and cumin, they are the dominant spices in curry today.- Yeah.
0:32:31 > 0:32:34- We've got lovage...- Lovage.
0:32:34 > 0:32:39It's very bitter - use too much of it, you make appalling food.
0:32:39 > 0:32:42We can then add some fish sauce. It's rather fundamental to Roman...
0:32:42 > 0:32:47- Fish sauce?- Yes. - That's quintessential Roman cuisine?- It is, it is.
0:32:47 > 0:32:49Oh, that's so potent.
0:32:49 > 0:32:52- Yeah, that's strong, whatever it is. - Yeah?
0:32:54 > 0:32:58- Lentils in wine.- Are lentils Roman?
0:32:58 > 0:33:04They are. They came to Britain in the first 20 years after the invasion, you'd find them on sale in London.
0:33:04 > 0:33:08So compared to the way that native Britons would have approached food,
0:33:08 > 0:33:13how much of a surprise would all this messing about with spices have been?
0:33:13 > 0:33:15A great surprise, because archaeologically,
0:33:15 > 0:33:20we have no evidence for use of spices in Britain.
0:33:20 > 0:33:25What they were doing is roasting a lot of meat and drinking a lot of beer and eating a lot of bread.
0:33:25 > 0:33:28But not actually developing a cuisine
0:33:28 > 0:33:30- and I don't think it comes until the Romans.- Right.
0:33:32 > 0:33:37The Romans wrote recipe books and created the first fine dining.
0:33:37 > 0:33:42Fruits from cultivated orchards of apples and cherries.
0:33:42 > 0:33:44New green vegetables -
0:33:44 > 0:33:47cabbages, leeks, and peas, as well as exotic herbs.
0:33:47 > 0:33:51Even modern staples like chicken begin with the Romans.
0:33:51 > 0:33:56For rich Britons, it was a culinary revolution.
0:33:56 > 0:33:58- Now we're going to flavour our pears. - OK.
0:33:58 > 0:34:02And we're going to also add...
0:34:02 > 0:34:04- the fish sauce.- The fish sauce? - The fish sauce.
0:34:04 > 0:34:08Goodness! Why?
0:34:08 > 0:34:10- Why ever do that? It's all going so well!- It works!
0:34:10 > 0:34:13- It sounds so wrong!- It works!
0:34:13 > 0:34:16I can't believe you put that in there! That just...
0:34:17 > 0:34:20Oh, it's like varnish!
0:34:20 > 0:34:23There we go.
0:34:25 > 0:34:30Fairly crunchy on the outside but on the inside, there, you can see it looks pretty...
0:34:30 > 0:34:35- At least, it's definitely cooked. - Very tender. It's falling off.
0:34:37 > 0:34:38- Mm.- Mm.
0:34:38 > 0:34:39- I must say...- It's good.
0:34:39 > 0:34:45- I must hold my hands up and say I can't taste fish sauce in that at all.- Course you can't.
0:34:45 > 0:34:48Somehow, all of this, the variety,
0:34:48 > 0:34:52the spices, the care, seems almost more civilising
0:34:52 > 0:34:57than so many other things the Romans are famous for.
0:34:57 > 0:35:02There's something about all this fine food that would be so pleasing to people,
0:35:02 > 0:35:05- it should lead to the betterment of society.- You'd think.
0:35:05 > 0:35:08The trouble is that we don't know how many people it affected...
0:35:08 > 0:35:10it's difficult to tell.
0:35:10 > 0:35:13City life and some of the big villas, yes.
0:35:13 > 0:35:20And I think as British natives became more Romanised and consumed more of this, it was great, it was wonderful.
0:35:20 > 0:35:24But it's always for people with wealth and leisure.
0:35:24 > 0:35:26And a slave cook!
0:35:26 > 0:35:28I can't do without one, myself!
0:35:39 > 0:35:42Rome might have transformed the lives of many people
0:35:42 > 0:35:46but it didn't transform everyone's, not by a long way.
0:35:47 > 0:35:50Of the 3-4 million people living in Britain,
0:35:50 > 0:35:55only a tiny fraction lived in towns - even fewer around villas.
0:35:57 > 0:36:02For over 90% of the population, for all Rome's apparent impact,
0:36:02 > 0:36:05life carried on much as it had always done.
0:36:10 > 0:36:14This is a living space up here, I think.
0:36:14 > 0:36:16Up these steps.
0:36:17 > 0:36:24They're very simple, massively built of stone, circular in shape, cellular in shape.
0:36:24 > 0:36:27You look at it and you can think or assume
0:36:27 > 0:36:35that it was built and lived in 1,000 years BC, during the Bronze Age,
0:36:35 > 0:36:42because the whole site resonates with everything you think of when you think about ancient Britain.
0:36:48 > 0:36:54In fact, this village was built right in the middle of the Roman period.
0:36:54 > 0:36:59In 200 AD, these very ancient-looking houses were brand-new.
0:36:59 > 0:37:06Away from the Roman centres, away from the towns and the forts,
0:37:06 > 0:37:12you would have had so much more choice about just how Roman you actually wanted to be.
0:37:12 > 0:37:17And so a village like Chysauster would be left behind
0:37:17 > 0:37:20as a kind of relic of ancient Britishness.
0:37:20 > 0:37:27A kind of passive resistance, if you like, to the centralised authority of the Roman empire.
0:37:30 > 0:37:37For many Iron Age Britons, ancient Celtic identity was even more important in death
0:37:37 > 0:37:39than in life.
0:37:45 > 0:37:50This is the skeleton of a man who was around...
0:37:50 > 0:37:5519, 20, 21 at the time of death.
0:37:55 > 0:38:00He was buried in a very particular way -
0:38:00 > 0:38:06he was buried in a crouched position, with the knees drawn up to the chest, like a baby in the womb.
0:38:08 > 0:38:14A Roman in death would have been laid out, lying flat.
0:38:14 > 0:38:20And furthermore, would have been buried far away from any settlement, in a dedicated cemetery.
0:38:23 > 0:38:27It's fascinating to speculate that while in life,
0:38:27 > 0:38:30this young man might have...
0:38:30 > 0:38:32taken that on certain aspects of Rome -
0:38:32 > 0:38:37he was using the same tableware, he might have worn a pendant,
0:38:37 > 0:38:40ate the Roman way but in death,
0:38:40 > 0:38:42he showed his true colours.
0:38:42 > 0:38:45In his heart and in the heart of the people
0:38:45 > 0:38:50who put him in the ground, he was no Roman, he was a Briton.
0:39:05 > 0:39:09Rome might have established Britannia as a single entity
0:39:09 > 0:39:14but behind the administration, this was a diverse, even fractured land.
0:39:17 > 0:39:22The urban hordes and their mass entertainments, the villa'd elite
0:39:22 > 0:39:26and all their luxuries, the serfs and slaves who worked for them...
0:39:27 > 0:39:31..and the lives of the countless thousands of self-sufficient farmers.
0:39:33 > 0:39:39And that's just counting the part of Britain that was actually under Roman control.
0:39:39 > 0:39:43We're talking about the territories that would one day be called England and Wales.
0:39:43 > 0:39:47Cos up here in Northumberland, beyond the edge of Empire,
0:39:47 > 0:39:50there was an awful lot of Britain that the Romans never did control.
0:39:54 > 0:40:00Ever since 136 AD, a defensive wall had stretched like a ribbon from coast to coast.
0:40:00 > 0:40:05From Carlisle to Newcastle, guarded by 40,000 Roman soldiers.
0:40:09 > 0:40:12This wall marked more than the limit of Empire.
0:40:12 > 0:40:16For Rome, it was the very edge of civilisation itself.
0:40:24 > 0:40:31Far beyond the wall, the Scottish Highlands still remained under the control of Celtic Iron Age tribes.
0:40:32 > 0:40:37Pictish peoples, who were as fiercely resistant to Roman rule as they'd ever been.
0:40:41 > 0:40:44And at the National Museum of Scotland,
0:40:44 > 0:40:47there's a relic of a proud and fiercely independent Britain.
0:40:56 > 0:41:03This fragment is the earliest, the oldest piece of tartan cloth ever found.
0:41:03 > 0:41:10And for us in the modern world, it's also a potent symbol of Scottishness.
0:41:10 > 0:41:15The people who made this, used this, wore this...
0:41:15 > 0:41:19had their own culture, customs and traditions.
0:41:25 > 0:41:29It wasn't by choice that Rome had drawn a line across Britain.
0:41:30 > 0:41:33It had tried to conquer Caledonia a number of times.
0:41:35 > 0:41:38But the Picts had repelled them again and again.
0:41:40 > 0:41:44The name "Picts" means "painted people"
0:41:44 > 0:41:48and when it came to battle, the warriors were in the habit of stripping off naked
0:41:48 > 0:41:53to reveal these tattoos or painted designs on their skin.
0:41:53 > 0:41:57The theory goes that they believed that the gods would look down upon them,
0:41:57 > 0:42:02see the designs and confer their protection upon them.
0:42:05 > 0:42:11The Picts generally avoided engaging the Roman army in set-piece battles,
0:42:11 > 0:42:14preferring instead to employ guerrilla tactics,
0:42:14 > 0:42:20striking fast and then disappearing into the forbidding landscape of mountains and forests.
0:42:20 > 0:42:23And you can easily see, in terrain like this,
0:42:23 > 0:42:27even a small group of lightly armed men, who understood this landscape,
0:42:27 > 0:42:34could use it to turn it to their advantage so that they could harass and even damage a much larger force.
0:42:37 > 0:42:41In the end, for the Romans, it simply wasn't worth the effort
0:42:41 > 0:42:45and the tribal lands of Scotland always remained unconquered.
0:42:48 > 0:42:51Even in second and third century AD, here in the north,
0:42:51 > 0:42:53the customs, the traditions,
0:42:53 > 0:42:58the lifestyle of ancient Iron Age Britain continued stubbornly beyond the reach of Empire.
0:43:05 > 0:43:10Rome still needed to make sure the Picts couldn't cause any trouble further south, though.
0:43:13 > 0:43:16And back in Edinburgh, there's evidence of how they managed
0:43:16 > 0:43:21the slightly friendlier tribes of southern Scotland and Northumberland.
0:43:25 > 0:43:26Look at this.
0:43:26 > 0:43:32It's a tiny part of a huge hoard of Roman silver that dates from around 400 AD.
0:43:32 > 0:43:37The whole horde, the whole collection would fill several museum cases.
0:43:40 > 0:43:44It's thought that all this was a massive bribe
0:43:44 > 0:43:48from the Romans to a local tribe called the Votadini.
0:43:48 > 0:43:53You can see how it's been crudely cut up with shears of some kind.
0:43:53 > 0:43:58Experts believe that before the Romans handed the silver over,
0:43:58 > 0:44:03they themselves cut it up so that it was only going across as scrap silver.
0:44:03 > 0:44:08Now, the Romans weren't bribing the Votadini because they had trouble with them.
0:44:08 > 0:44:13Rather, they were determined to keep that tribe on side
0:44:13 > 0:44:16because with the Votadini inside the tent, as it were,
0:44:16 > 0:44:21the Romans were free to concentrate their attentions on the tribes,
0:44:21 > 0:44:24the people further north in Scotland.
0:44:24 > 0:44:26People considered potentially more dangerous.
0:44:26 > 0:44:31It's about undermining inter-tribal allegiances.
0:44:31 > 0:44:35This is classic divide and conquer.
0:44:43 > 0:44:47Much of the success of Rome was down to the number of levels on which it operated.
0:44:47 > 0:44:50At first, military might could crush you.
0:44:51 > 0:44:55And then a finely tuned administration would control you.
0:44:58 > 0:45:04The trappings of Roman civilisation could seduce you and turn you Roman yourself.
0:45:04 > 0:45:10And if all that failed, well, the Empire could simply exclude you.
0:45:12 > 0:45:15When Rome came, it changed your land.
0:45:15 > 0:45:17It changed your entire way of life.
0:45:17 > 0:45:20But the Romans were used to dealing with culture clash.
0:45:20 > 0:45:25After all, they'd been doing it all across Europe, in parts of Africa and in the Middle East.
0:45:25 > 0:45:29But they were also past masters at dealing with something much more personal -
0:45:29 > 0:45:32religion and the clash of beliefs.
0:45:40 > 0:45:43Rome might have transformed the land of Britain
0:45:43 > 0:45:44and the lives of many of its people
0:45:44 > 0:45:48but religion was something else altogether.
0:45:48 > 0:45:52Ancient and heartfelt Celtic traditions and beliefs.
0:45:54 > 0:45:57Every tribe might have had its own set of gods,
0:45:57 > 0:46:03controlling a specific part of the countryside. Their hills, their woods, their rivers.
0:46:03 > 0:46:08And then between the individual tribes were the druids,
0:46:08 > 0:46:11the great priesthood of the Celtic world,
0:46:11 > 0:46:12trying to make sense of it all.
0:46:16 > 0:46:20The Romans worshipped very different gods - Jupiter and Mars,
0:46:20 > 0:46:23Apollo, god of the sun
0:46:23 > 0:46:26and Saturn, god of time.
0:46:26 > 0:46:32Powerful supernatural beings that held sway over the mortal world.
0:46:34 > 0:46:37The Romans had imposed all sorts of ideas on Britain.
0:46:37 > 0:46:41Would they impose their gods on the people as well?
0:46:55 > 0:47:01The city of Bath offers clues to how the Romans dealt with the most sensitive cultural invasion of all.
0:47:04 > 0:47:06Because it was here that a spring,
0:47:06 > 0:47:08producing a magical flow of hot water,
0:47:08 > 0:47:12was sacred, venerated by the Britons.
0:47:14 > 0:47:17As far as we can tell, the ancient Britons believed
0:47:17 > 0:47:21that this spring was the domain of a goddess called Sulis
0:47:21 > 0:47:24and she was all about wisdom and healing and insight.
0:47:24 > 0:47:29And she had to be appeased with gifts and offerings.
0:47:29 > 0:47:33When the Romans conquered Britain, they were presented with a choice.
0:47:33 > 0:47:37Either they could leave the local gods and goddesses alone
0:47:37 > 0:47:42or they could seek to obliterate goddesses like Sulis
0:47:42 > 0:47:45and replace them with their own Roman deities.
0:47:50 > 0:47:53The Romans found a pragmatic solution.
0:47:53 > 0:47:57Often, they chose one of their own Roman gods
0:47:57 > 0:48:01who seemed similar to the local British god and combined the two.
0:48:05 > 0:48:09This is a depiction of the Roman goddess Minerva
0:48:09 > 0:48:12but what's happening here is something very interesting.
0:48:12 > 0:48:16It's really about the union of two goddesses -
0:48:16 > 0:48:18one British and one Roman.
0:48:18 > 0:48:24The Roman goddess, Minerva, here, is all about healing and wisdom, particularly military wisdom.
0:48:24 > 0:48:29That made her the perfect partner for the British goddess, Sulis,
0:48:29 > 0:48:33who was responsible for a lot of the same areas of business.
0:48:33 > 0:48:36So what you've got here is a combination
0:48:36 > 0:48:42and when it came to naming the goddess of the spring here in Bath, they called her Sulis-Minerva.
0:48:49 > 0:48:53This combined deity inhabited the sacred spring
0:48:53 > 0:48:59and continued to attract acolytes, who communicated with the goddess Sulis-Minerva
0:48:59 > 0:49:04through mysterious lead tablets that give a rare insight into their beliefs.
0:49:06 > 0:49:12Classicist Roger Tomlin has been studying them for 25 years.
0:49:12 > 0:49:15Exactly what are these, Roger?
0:49:15 > 0:49:19In very crude terms, they're called curses.
0:49:19 > 0:49:21They're a specialised sort of curse.
0:49:21 > 0:49:23They're really letters written to the goddess,
0:49:23 > 0:49:27asking for ill health and misfortune to people who've done someone wrong.
0:49:27 > 0:49:29This one...
0:49:29 > 0:49:33is this woman, Basilia, who's lost her silver ring,
0:49:33 > 0:49:36tells the goddess, "I've lost my silver ring.
0:49:36 > 0:49:39"Curse the thief who did it.
0:49:39 > 0:49:40"The thief should lose his eyes.
0:49:40 > 0:49:43"He should have his intestines utterly eaten out."
0:49:43 > 0:49:47This wonderfully exotic phrase "intestinis ex comesus",
0:49:47 > 0:49:49"his intestines utterly eaten out" and so on.
0:49:49 > 0:49:52- This for the theft of a ring?- Yes.
0:49:52 > 0:49:54You couldn't be certain the ring's going to come back.
0:49:54 > 0:49:56You tend to overreact.
0:49:56 > 0:50:00If it was certain the ring was going to come back, you might say, "I'll give him dinner afterwards,"
0:50:00 > 0:50:04but there's always an element of uncertainty whether the god will react,
0:50:04 > 0:50:07so people come out with this horrific language.
0:50:07 > 0:50:09Also it's a bit like letting blood.
0:50:09 > 0:50:11It reduces the pressure a bit.
0:50:11 > 0:50:12Right. OK.
0:50:12 > 0:50:17This one is written backwards in a rather peculiar way.
0:50:17 > 0:50:21Each word is written backwards but the whole text isn't written backwards.
0:50:21 > 0:50:25It makes it a devil to read because you never know where the word is ending.
0:50:25 > 0:50:26And what's the logic?
0:50:26 > 0:50:31I suppose it's to encrypt the text, to make it personal between you and the goddess.
0:50:31 > 0:50:32No-one else can read it.
0:50:32 > 0:50:37That's why you fold these things up, you throw them into water, you put them into graves.
0:50:37 > 0:50:40They turn up in all sorts of places but particularly in this hot spring.
0:50:40 > 0:50:44It doesn't really sound like religion.
0:50:44 > 0:50:48It smacks more of an appeal to the authorities.
0:50:48 > 0:50:49It's almost like a...
0:50:49 > 0:50:55Trying to sue someone or seek legal redress rather than something to do with faith.
0:50:55 > 0:51:00I think there's a strong element of legalism. The Roman world is somewhat under-policed
0:51:00 > 0:51:05and if earthly authorities can't work, you appeal to a heavenly authority instead.
0:51:05 > 0:51:10And using the language you might well use in addressing your patron.
0:51:12 > 0:51:17Those healing pools and the temple to the combined gods of Sulis and Minerva
0:51:17 > 0:51:21are a good illustration of how to handle a clash between religions.
0:51:21 > 0:51:25And the twinning of gods would be tried again and again, all across Roman Britain.
0:51:25 > 0:51:30But that cosy religious relationship that had served the Roman Empire so well
0:51:30 > 0:51:34was about to be seriously disrupted.
0:51:44 > 0:51:48In the first century AD, far away in the Middle East,
0:51:48 > 0:51:54a new religious cult had started spreading that many Romans found absurd,
0:51:54 > 0:51:59because this religion demanded faith to just one god -
0:51:59 > 0:52:00a Christian God.
0:52:05 > 0:52:09Look at this dazzling collection.
0:52:09 > 0:52:13All of these spectacular items.
0:52:13 > 0:52:18The finest early Christian artefacts found anywhere in the Empire
0:52:18 > 0:52:20all come from Britain.
0:52:22 > 0:52:27Look at this magnificent, glorious, silver...
0:52:27 > 0:52:29cup, silver vessel.
0:52:29 > 0:52:34It's quite possible that it was made and used for the quintessential Christian act,
0:52:34 > 0:52:37that of turning wine into the blood of Christ,
0:52:37 > 0:52:39and if that's what this was for,
0:52:39 > 0:52:44then it's the earliest such vessel found anywhere in the world.
0:52:46 > 0:52:50But as Christianity expanded, it was outlawed
0:52:50 > 0:52:54and its followers had to practise in secret.
0:52:54 > 0:52:55Look at this piece.
0:52:55 > 0:52:59The symbol here is called the Chi Rho.
0:52:59 > 0:53:05It was like a secret sign that let early Christians recognise one another.
0:53:05 > 0:53:09Chi and Rho are the first two letters of Christ's name.
0:53:10 > 0:53:16Also within the symbol are the letters alpha and omega,
0:53:16 > 0:53:19showing that the person who used this or made this
0:53:19 > 0:53:24believed also that Christ was all-powerful, from first to last.
0:53:24 > 0:53:27Part of its popularity was the central tenet
0:53:27 > 0:53:31that anyone who believed in Christ would never die,
0:53:31 > 0:53:33would have everlasting life -
0:53:33 > 0:53:39even slaves, and that was a truly subversive thought.
0:53:40 > 0:53:45Despite the threat of persecution, there was no stopping such an enticing message.
0:53:45 > 0:53:52Nevertheless, it wasn't until AD 313 that Christianity was finally legalised.
0:53:52 > 0:53:57The Roman Emperor Constantine was sympathetic to Christianity
0:53:57 > 0:54:02and then there came a day when his army secured a key victory
0:54:02 > 0:54:07and while doing so, they had carried at their head a cross,
0:54:07 > 0:54:10a Christian cross, as a symbol to bring them good fortune.
0:54:11 > 0:54:14From that moment, Constantine decreed
0:54:14 > 0:54:19that Christianity would be tolerated throughout the Roman Empire.
0:54:21 > 0:54:24It was actually another political move.
0:54:24 > 0:54:27With Christianity within the fold,
0:54:27 > 0:54:29a religious hierarchy could be established,
0:54:29 > 0:54:31controlled by the state.
0:54:32 > 0:54:34Look at this ring.
0:54:34 > 0:54:38Like the plaque here, it has on it the Chi Rho symbol.
0:54:38 > 0:54:42Whoever wore this was obviously a Christian, a believer.
0:54:42 > 0:54:45He may even have been a bishop...
0:54:45 > 0:54:48in the country, while Christianity was spreading.
0:54:51 > 0:54:53Look at that. Beautiful.
0:54:55 > 0:54:57Christianity continued to flourish
0:54:57 > 0:55:03and in AD 391, it was the old pagan religions that were banned.
0:55:05 > 0:55:08The ancient spring of Sulis-Minerva was abandoned,
0:55:08 > 0:55:12left to become silted up and to overflow,
0:55:12 > 0:55:15its temples left to collapse.
0:55:15 > 0:55:20It was the end of yet another ancient prehistoric tradition.
0:55:33 > 0:55:34Tens of thousands of years ago,
0:55:34 > 0:55:37the first nomadic hunters came to Britain.
0:55:42 > 0:55:48Ever since, its people and the land they inhabited had been entwined.
0:55:53 > 0:55:55Mountains holding up the sky...
0:56:00 > 0:56:03..the seas that made our land an island...
0:56:05 > 0:56:12..and the sacred springs and rivers that were so central to ancient religious beliefs.
0:56:14 > 0:56:16All had shaped our history.
0:56:19 > 0:56:22But with Rome and the modern world it brought,
0:56:22 > 0:56:24a new world had been forged.
0:56:24 > 0:56:27Not of nature's making...
0:56:27 > 0:56:28but of man's.
0:56:37 > 0:56:42The rule of Rome couldn't and didn't last forever.
0:56:42 > 0:56:48By 410 AD, the Empire was collapsing and the Roman rule of Britain was at an end.
0:56:48 > 0:56:55The cities decayed and people in many ways returned to the rural lives of the past.
0:56:55 > 0:56:59But some of the ideas that had emerged under Rome couldn't be undone.
0:56:59 > 0:57:04Christianity, writing, the very idea of Britannia.
0:57:04 > 0:57:07Ideas that are still very much alive with us today.
0:57:10 > 0:57:14When the Romans arrived, we didn't just start a new chapter.
0:57:14 > 0:57:16We started a whole new story.
0:57:16 > 0:57:20One that would be written down in the history of our land.
0:57:20 > 0:57:25And when people look back 1,000 or 2,000 years from now,
0:57:25 > 0:57:31perhaps they'll see the beginning of our world in that sudden break with prehistory,
0:57:31 > 0:57:32in the coming of Rome.
0:57:38 > 0:57:42And here we are, occupying this fleeting moment of time,
0:57:42 > 0:57:48with our hopes and fears, pasts and futures, living our lives,
0:57:48 > 0:57:52just one more generation in a story that continues.
0:57:52 > 0:57:56The story of Britain and her peoples.
0:58:05 > 0:58:13If you want to follow in the footsteps of our ancestors, go to...
0:58:13 > 0:58:17to find out how to connect with ancient Britain in your area.
0:58:24 > 0:58:27Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:27 > 0:58:29E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk