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Over 2,000 years ago, the Romans
first arrived in Britain.

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Although that was way
back in the past, many clues still

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survive which tell us what life
was like during Roman times.

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From the remains of ancient
forts to the jewellery, letters

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and household items still being dug
up by archaeologists today.

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We can find out brilliant
details of what they ate,

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what their homes looked like
and even what they did for fun.

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And thanks to a book written all
those years ago by the famous

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Roman Commander, Julius Caesar,
we also know one reason why

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the Romans wanted to come to Britain
in the first place - they wanted

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to make use of the amazing natural
resources to be found here.

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Caesar wrote...

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"The Britons have a huge
number of cattle.

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"They use gold coins or iron
bars as their money,

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"and produce tin and iron."

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That description helps to
explain why Caesar

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and his army decided to pile over
here to Britain to try to invade.

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Rome wanted to get its hand on all
those British resources to

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make itself even richer.

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Back then, before the Romans
invaded, we didn't have one

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king or queen ruling over
the nation.

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Britain was made up of
different groups, or tribes,

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known as the Celts or native
Britons.

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We get an idea of what the native
Britons looked like thanks to

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a description of them in here.

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But do remember, of course,
they were Caesar's enemy,

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so his opinion might be
a little bit one-sided.

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"All Britons used woad to
dye their bodies a blue colour,

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"which makes them terrifying
when they are fighting in battle."

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The Celts also put
lime in their hair to make it stiff

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and thick, which made them
look even more ferocious.

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"They used their chariots in battle,

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"steering them in all directions
while hurling their weapons,

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"generally causing the enemy to
separate apart.

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"Then one of the warriors leaps
from the chariot and fights on foot."

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It was all just too much for Caesar.
He invaded the country twice,

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but he never actually managed
to take over.

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That would have to wait
until 100 years later

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when the Emperor Claudius tried
again and this time, he succeeded.

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And that is how we became
part of the Roman Empire.

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'But what exactly was
the Roman Empire?'

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The Romans actually started out in
life as just a small tribe in Italy.

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They fought battles with local
people and took over their land.

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And then they wanted more,
so they could become super rich.

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Eventually, the Roman tribe grew
to be in charge of vast areas

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across Asia, Africa and Europe,

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including Britain.

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And all the land they controlled
came to be known

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as the Roman Empire.

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This is the great city of Rome,
in Italy.

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It was once the capital of the Roman
Empire

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and this is what it looks like
today.

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The remains of the town,
built thousands of years ago,

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are still there for us to see,
giving us

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great clues as to how the Romans
lived their lives.

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At the centre of ancient Rome
was the Forum - a big,

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open area where markets took place
and people heard the latest news,

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a bit like a modern-day
shopping centre.

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People living and working in Rome
worshipped at temples or visited

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the amphitheatres to watch animals
and gladiators fight to the death.

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The Romans believed in this
way of life so totally

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that they brought it right across
the Empire.

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The Romans didn't just
bring their way of life to Britain,

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they also brought their Roman-style
buildings too,

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creating whole new towns,
almost like mini versions of Rome.

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Many of the cities we live in today
were once Roman towns

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with Roman names.

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The town of Corinium Dobunnorum

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is now modern-day Cirencester.

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This is what Cirencester
looks like today.

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The people living in these new Roman
towns had to obey Roman laws

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and pay money to the Roman Empire,
known as taxes.

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But it wasn't all bad.

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Wealthy people
and those with important jobs

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lived in posh Roman houses
known as villas,

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with new types of decoration
and sophisticated technology.

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It's still possible to see
some of the clever technology

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they had in Roman houses.

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In this museum in Cirencester,

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there's an example of Roman
underfloor heating.

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It's called a hypocaust
and it's a brilliant idea,

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cos we all know how chilly it can
get here in Britain.

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Now, this is how it worked.

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The floor was built on top of these
piles of tiles and then,

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down in that little hole there,
a fire would be lit.

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The fire would push out hot air
and smoke under the ground, and up

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through these kind of clay tubes
that went through the hollow walls.

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There'd be slaves down there keeping
the fire going the whole time,

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so the house stayed warm.

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But they also constantly had to keep
a watch out that the fire

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didn't go out of control
and burn the whole house down.

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And in some villas, if you could
afford it, then you'd have

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had one of these beautiful things
called a mosaic on your floor.

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Now, mosaics are made up of lots
of tiny little bits of coloured

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stone, or sometimes glass,
and they usually tell a story.

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And the story that's being told here
is about a man called Orpheus,

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that's Orpheus in the middle there,

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and he's playing an instrument
called the lyre and,

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as he does so, he's charming
all of these animals around him.

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This one was actually found
200 years ago,

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very close to Cirencester.

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And isn't it fantastic to think
that, somewhere near you,

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there might still be a Roman mosaic
under the ground,

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just waiting to be discovered?

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Close on 2,000 years ago,
the Romans arrived in Britain.

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They ruled over our nation
for almost 400 years,

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bringing with them Roman soldiers
with deadly weaponry to build

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defensive walls and stone forts to
protect their new territory.

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We can still see the remains of some
of their building work today,

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including these stones, which
are all that's left of the famous

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Hadrian's Wall, which once stretched
right across Northern Britain.

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Built around 200 years after
they first arrived,

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the wall was protected by a number

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of specially built forts, like

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this one at Vindolanda, which were
heavily guarded by Roman soldiers.

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Hadrian's Wall marked
the northern frontier,

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the northernmost
point of the Roman Empire.

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And you mustn't forget that the
Roman Empire was massive.

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If you imagine you were
standing here,

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then you could travel 2,500
kilometres to the south,

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to the Sahara Desert, in Africa,

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and 4,000 kilometres to the
Middle East, to modern-day Iraq,

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and you'd still be in the Roman
Empire.

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Because the wall's so old,
a lot of it has crumbled away,

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and so, this is a copy,
or a replica.

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But it gives you a really good
impression of what it would

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have been like originally.

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Because, when it was first built,
Hadrian's Wall was

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almost as wide and almost as tall
as a double-decker bus.

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Even more impressive was
the massive Roman Army.

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This was divided into groups
called Legions,

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which were based right across the
Roman Empire, including Britain.

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Each one was made up of around 6,000
soldiers, known as Legionaries.

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The Legionaries didn't just
fight big battles,

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they had other jobs too

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and one of them was to collect money
called a tax

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to help pay for the work
of the Roman Empire.

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Now, as you can probably imagine,

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the locals were often not very
happy about that.

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They hadn't asked the Romans
here in the first place,

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so why should they pay them money?

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But did the Romans care?

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No, they did not.

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If you stepped out of line, then you
could have your head

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chopped off and it could be
stuck on the top of the fort walls,

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which is exactly what happened to
this poor lad here.

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The fort here, at Vindolanda,
was the home to 800 soldiers

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and their job was to guard the wall

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against people they described
as "barbarians".

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Now, for the Romans, barbarians were
local tribes who lived the

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other side of the wall in what's
now northern England and Scotland.

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But it wasn't the Legionaries who
guarded the wall.

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This was the job of auxiliary
soldiers who

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came from right across the Roman
Empire,

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places like Belgium, Spain, Greece
and even as far away as Africa.

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After 25 years working as an
auxiliary,

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you could become a Roman citizen.

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And when the soldiers
weren't on duty guarding the wall,

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they lived here with their families.

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These are their barracks and we can
still see their remains today.

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Barracks are soldiers' homes.

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These ones at Vindolanda used to
have two floors and an attic on top.

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This was the main
road in the middle

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and it would have been humming with
activity, with the soldiers coming

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out and washing themselves in the
morning and at the end of the day.

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That big building
that you can see at the end there,

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that was basically the posh bit.

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That was where the Centurions slept,
so they were the bosses

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keeping their eyes on all
the soldiers down here.

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This is one of the three public loos

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that's been left here,
at Vindolanda.

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You'd have had 12 wooden
seats along here, you'd sit down,

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do your business
straight into the drain below,

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and probably have a chat with
some of your friends as you did so.

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And I know it looks a bit odd,
but that's because, in Roman

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times, people all used to go to the
loo at the same time together,

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so it wasn't very private.

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For the last 40 years,
archaeologists,

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who are really like detectives,

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have been digging carefully through
layers of soil,

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finding extraordinary
evidence of the lives

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of the soldiers who'd once lived
here.

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What we're looking for
are the little things

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that they dropped and left behind -

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shoes, writing tablets,

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little bits of weapons and armour.

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And like a detective, those
are the clues that we use to find

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out what the Roman people were doing
here all that time ago.

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And what's particularly special
about what's being found here?

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The undoubted highlight
from Vindolanda are the amazing

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writing tablets that we find.

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And these are tiny little
postcard-sized scraps of birch

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and alder wood that the Roman
soldiers had written

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to each other, and further afield,
with an old-fashioned iron pen that

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they'd dip into the ink and write
straight on top of the bits of wood.

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And, from those letters,

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we just have an enormous amount
of information about the Roman

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soldiers, but others as well,
and exactly what they thought

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about living right at the edge
of the Empire, on Hadrian's Wall.

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These letters are very fragile
and difficult to read,

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but special infrared photographs
of them show up the text,

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which has been written in the Roman
language - Latin.

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"The Britons do not protect
themselves by wearing armour..."

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"Farewell, my sister, my dearest
and most longed-for soul..."

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"I implore you not to allow me, an
innocent man from overseas,

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"to be beaten by rods..."

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"Make sure that you send me cash,
so that I may buy grain..."

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"I pray that you are enjoying
the best of fortune

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"and are in good health."

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The letters reveal the most
fantastic

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details about the soldiers' lives,
how they missed their friends

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and their families,
and the good wine back at home.

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But the main thing that they seem to
moan about is the freezing cold

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up here, in the north of England.

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Luckily, some of their mates
could send them supplies.

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"I have sent you some
pairs of socks from Satua,

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"two pairs of sandals
and two pairs of underpants.

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"I pray that you live
in the greatest of good fortune."

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Well, it's good to know that even
the Romans had to wear pants.

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The brilliant thing
about the discoveries here

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is that they don't just give
you the kind of

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official version of what life
was like in the Roman Army.

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The letters that were dug up here
were written by ordinary

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soldiers, men who were bothered
by what they had for dinner,

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how cold it was and whether or not
they had damp socks.

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So, these letters give us
a wonderful opportunity

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to read the actual words of the men
who lived here with their families,

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bringing their intriguing world
back to life.

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"Claudia Severa to her Lepidina.
Greetings.

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"On the 11th of September, sister,
the day I celebrate my birthday,

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"I send you this warm invitation
to make sure you come to ours.

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"I will enjoy the day
so much more if you are there.

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"Farewell, sister, my dearest soul,
as I hope to prosper and hail."

234
00:13:53,580 --> 00:13:59,060
It's incredible to think that this
invitation, almost 2,000 years

235
00:13:59,060 --> 00:14:03,900
old, was dug out of the ground at
this Roman fort here, at Vindolanda.

236
00:14:03,900 --> 00:14:07,780
It was written by the wife of one
of the camp commanders.

237
00:14:07,780 --> 00:14:10,860
Now, the fantastic
thing about it is it tells us

238
00:14:10,860 --> 00:14:14,060
that, at these Roman forts,
there weren't just male,

239
00:14:14,060 --> 00:14:18,220
muscly soldiers, there were also
women and children here too.

240
00:14:24,460 --> 00:14:26,700
This is a copy of that letter
and it tells us

241
00:14:26,700 --> 00:14:31,180
all kinds of useful things, that
the Romans wrote in Latin, that they

242
00:14:31,180 --> 00:14:35,620
celebrated birthday parties and that
the woman who wrote it was obviously

243
00:14:35,620 --> 00:14:38,980
rich enough to be educated,
in that she could read and write.

244
00:14:38,980 --> 00:14:40,540
And it's really fantastic,

245
00:14:40,540 --> 00:14:43,540
cos most of this has been written
by a kind of official scribe,

246
00:14:43,540 --> 00:14:47,180
and then you've got her actual
handwriting here in the corner.

247
00:14:47,180 --> 00:14:52,340
And this is the oldest
handwriting of a woman from anywhere

248
00:14:52,340 --> 00:14:53,500
in the Western world.

249
00:14:55,940 --> 00:14:57,980
After the Romans took control
of Britain,

250
00:14:57,980 --> 00:14:59,980
with the exception of a few
religious roles,

251
00:14:59,980 --> 00:15:03,660
a woman's job was
pretty much to run the household.

252
00:15:05,140 --> 00:15:08,940
Of course, if you were rich,
you had slaves to help you clean,

253
00:15:08,940 --> 00:15:12,660
look after your children
and prepare and serve food.

254
00:15:12,660 --> 00:15:15,460
Before the Roman invasion,
the locals mainly ate

255
00:15:15,460 --> 00:15:20,540
a kind of porridge with either
vegetables or nuts or berries.

256
00:15:20,540 --> 00:15:23,260
But the Romans introduced all
kinds of different foods that,

257
00:15:23,260 --> 00:15:26,740
funny enough, we now think
of as being typically British,

258
00:15:26,740 --> 00:15:32,540
things like lettuce and cabbage
and apples and even peas.

259
00:15:32,540 --> 00:15:37,580
Now, when they had a banquet,
they really let rip.

260
00:15:37,580 --> 00:15:41,860
Then they'd eat roasted swans,
pig udders,

261
00:15:41,860 --> 00:15:44,980
dormice sprinkled with honey
or poppy seeds.

262
00:15:44,980 --> 00:15:49,060
They also used to eat a really
disgusting kind of fermented

263
00:15:49,060 --> 00:15:52,020
fish sauce -
there's actually some in here.

264
00:15:52,020 --> 00:15:55,940
Ooh! Even the smell makes me
want to gag.

265
00:15:55,940 --> 00:15:59,980
And if you did feel a bit queasy
or if you had tummy trouble,

266
00:15:59,980 --> 00:16:04,300
then the Romans recommended
pickled cabbage.

267
00:16:04,300 --> 00:16:05,380
Urgh!

268
00:16:06,860 --> 00:16:09,900
As well as eating new foods,
women in Britain, at this time,

269
00:16:09,900 --> 00:16:13,300
began to wear the latest trends
that the Romans had introduced to

270
00:16:13,300 --> 00:16:14,740
this country.

271
00:16:14,740 --> 00:16:18,980
We know this from looking
at statues, mosaics and paintings,

272
00:16:18,980 --> 00:16:21,620
but we can also get
clues from artefacts that have been

273
00:16:21,620 --> 00:16:24,340
excavated, like this shoe.

274
00:16:24,340 --> 00:16:29,420
This is such a beautiful little
piece. How old is this?

275
00:16:29,420 --> 00:16:34,140
This shoe is, actually,
almost 2,000 years old.

276
00:16:34,140 --> 00:16:36,300
It's a wonderful, wonderful piece.

277
00:16:36,300 --> 00:16:40,140
It's a lady's slipper,
probably used indoors, erm,

278
00:16:40,140 --> 00:16:44,620
and here and here, you can just make
out the stamps of the maker.

279
00:16:44,620 --> 00:16:46,300
Amazing. So it's like a branding...

280
00:16:46,300 --> 00:16:48,540
It is. ..like we'd have on a
trainer today. It is.

281
00:16:48,540 --> 00:16:52,420
But this is the kind of
very high fashion, sort of, piece.

282
00:16:52,420 --> 00:16:54,580
It would have been very expensive.

283
00:16:54,580 --> 00:16:58,020
But the interesting thing is
you can see, just here, it's broke,

284
00:16:58,020 --> 00:17:00,460
just in between the toe

285
00:17:00,460 --> 00:17:04,020
and so, she had enough
money that she just threw it away.

286
00:17:04,020 --> 00:17:07,100
Most of our shoes show
evidence of repair,

287
00:17:07,100 --> 00:17:10,620
so not everyone had
the money that she did.

288
00:17:10,620 --> 00:17:13,820
This is an example of one
of our finger rings.

289
00:17:13,820 --> 00:17:17,100
It's made of silver,
and we do have a few silver rings

290
00:17:17,100 --> 00:17:19,580
and a few gold rings,
but not very many.

291
00:17:19,580 --> 00:17:25,020
This one has been inscribed with
"Matri, Patri" - mum and dad.

292
00:17:25,020 --> 00:17:27,740
Ah! And that's somebody who's
missing their mum and dad, is it?

293
00:17:27,740 --> 00:17:30,580
Yes, yes. Well, that's what
we can interpret from it.

294
00:17:30,580 --> 00:17:32,540
It really makes you feel
close to them,

295
00:17:32,540 --> 00:17:34,780
to those people who lived all
that time ago.

296
00:17:34,780 --> 00:17:37,180
When you start to look at their
stuff, you start to feel that

297
00:17:37,180 --> 00:17:39,820
you, you begin to know them.

298
00:17:39,820 --> 00:17:42,300
Archaeological discoveries also
reveal

299
00:17:42,300 --> 00:17:44,540
the kind of hairstyles
some women had.

300
00:17:45,740 --> 00:17:49,980
This stone carving is the head
of a woman from Roman Britain and,

301
00:17:49,980 --> 00:17:54,500
because it was made close on 2,000
years ago, it's got very worn.

302
00:17:54,500 --> 00:17:59,180
So, her nose has been chipped off
and her chin's gone a bit peculiar.

303
00:17:59,180 --> 00:18:02,740
But just come and have a look
round here.

304
00:18:02,740 --> 00:18:06,060
This is just brilliant because you
get a fantastic idea of what

305
00:18:06,060 --> 00:18:08,860
her hairstyle would have been like.

306
00:18:08,860 --> 00:18:12,660
She's got this great mass of curls
up here and then the rest

307
00:18:12,660 --> 00:18:17,500
of her hair has been wound round
in a really elaborate kind of a bun.

308
00:18:17,500 --> 00:18:21,180
I know it does look a bit odd but,
believe it or not,

309
00:18:21,180 --> 00:18:24,140
this was the height of fashion
back then.

310
00:18:27,500 --> 00:18:30,860
Women have often been written
out of history because, generally,

311
00:18:30,860 --> 00:18:34,780
they didn't do the big stuff,
like run countries or start wars,

312
00:18:34,780 --> 00:18:37,980
but the brilliant
thing about the discoveries here,

313
00:18:37,980 --> 00:18:42,020
at Vindolanda, is that you do feel
really close to them.

314
00:18:42,020 --> 00:18:45,740
And thanks to those lovely
letters from women like Claudia,

315
00:18:45,740 --> 00:18:50,740
here, women have written themselves
back into history itself.

316
00:18:59,100 --> 00:19:01,340
"To the spirits of the departed.

317
00:19:01,340 --> 00:19:04,940
"Mercatila, foster daughter
of Magnus,

318
00:19:04,940 --> 00:19:06,780
"who lived for one year,

319
00:19:06,780 --> 00:19:09,500
"six months and 12 days."

320
00:19:10,980 --> 00:19:15,540
Those words were written down almost
2,000 years ago on this Roman

321
00:19:15,540 --> 00:19:19,780
tombstone and they celebrate
the life of a little girl who was

322
00:19:19,780 --> 00:19:23,260
called Mercatila. This is just
the beginning of her name here,

323
00:19:23,260 --> 00:19:27,820
"Merc", who died before she was
two years old.

324
00:19:27,820 --> 00:19:33,140
Lots of children died back in Roman
times of disease or accident,

325
00:19:33,140 --> 00:19:36,220
or just because they didn't have
enough to eat.

326
00:19:36,220 --> 00:19:39,060
Life was pretty tough then.

327
00:19:39,060 --> 00:19:43,620
Discipline for children was very
firm in Roman times

328
00:19:43,620 --> 00:19:46,420
as it was thought to make them
strong, to improve

329
00:19:46,420 --> 00:19:50,660
their character and, for boys, to
prepare them for life in the Army.

330
00:19:52,060 --> 00:19:54,940
Before the Roman invasion,
most British children had

331
00:19:54,940 --> 00:19:58,020
learnt about their histories
and their tribal customs through

332
00:19:58,020 --> 00:20:03,460
stories and songs shared with their
families around a fire at night.

333
00:20:03,460 --> 00:20:07,540
But once the Romans were here then,
for the posh kids at any rate,

334
00:20:07,540 --> 00:20:10,380
you had to learn to read and write.

335
00:20:10,380 --> 00:20:14,820
And what they were learning to read
and write was, of course, Latin.

336
00:20:17,700 --> 00:20:20,940
This is a wax tablet and it's what
school children in Roman Britain

337
00:20:20,940 --> 00:20:23,820
would have used when they were
learning to read and write.

338
00:20:23,820 --> 00:20:26,020
Erm, it's really cleverly designed,

339
00:20:26,020 --> 00:20:29,500
cos it's basically just two
bits of wax put on top of some wood,

340
00:20:29,500 --> 00:20:32,740
and they're joined together with
a bit of string or leather here.

341
00:20:32,740 --> 00:20:35,980
Erm, and this doesn't look like it,
but this is a Roman-style pen -

342
00:20:35,980 --> 00:20:37,660
it's just a bit of pointy metal.

343
00:20:37,660 --> 00:20:41,220
And the very clever thing is that
you could write down your word,

344
00:20:41,220 --> 00:20:45,220
and I'm going to write a word,
"Londinium", which is

345
00:20:45,220 --> 00:20:47,300
what the Romans called London.

346
00:20:47,300 --> 00:20:49,540
But, if you made a mistake,

347
00:20:49,540 --> 00:20:53,140
then you could rub it out with this
flat end of the pen.

348
00:20:53,140 --> 00:20:56,700
So, I'm writing Londinium

349
00:20:56,700 --> 00:21:00,500
and it will look like I've made
a mistake at the end,

350
00:21:00,500 --> 00:21:02,460
because when they were
writing capitals,

351
00:21:02,460 --> 00:21:07,220
the Romans didn't use a U, like
we use, they used a V instead.

352
00:21:07,220 --> 00:21:11,180
So, it looks like I've written
Londinivm, but I haven't.

353
00:21:11,180 --> 00:21:14,580
I've actually written the Roman
name for London - Londinium.

354
00:21:17,300 --> 00:21:21,300
Some girls were educated,
but it was mainly the boys.

355
00:21:21,300 --> 00:21:24,780
And if you were poor or a slave,
then it was very,

356
00:21:24,780 --> 00:21:29,620
very unlikely that you'd get
the chance to be taught at all.

357
00:21:29,620 --> 00:21:32,460
Those children privileged enough to
receive an education

358
00:21:32,460 --> 00:21:37,540
learnt reading, writing and maths,
as well as other subjects,

359
00:21:37,540 --> 00:21:40,740
such as how to speak in front
of an audience, which would

360
00:21:40,740 --> 00:21:43,780
prepare them for important jobs,
like being in the Roman Army.

361
00:21:45,820 --> 00:21:49,660
Children didn't spend all their time
studying, they did have fun too.

362
00:21:49,660 --> 00:21:52,340
They had plenty of games,
like knuckle bones,

363
00:21:52,340 --> 00:21:55,380
played using the knuckle or ankle
bones of a sheep.

364
00:21:55,380 --> 00:21:58,020
These were thrown up
and caught on the back of the hand.

365
00:21:58,020 --> 00:22:01,020
Points were given to the
side of the bone that landed upwards

366
00:22:01,020 --> 00:22:04,020
and whoever got the highest
score was the winner.

367
00:22:04,020 --> 00:22:07,340
Roman children also played with
toys and there have been

368
00:22:07,340 --> 00:22:11,020
some incredible discoveries at Roman
sites, like Vindolanda.

369
00:22:12,660 --> 00:22:15,660
Have any toys actually
survived in Vindolanda?

370
00:22:15,660 --> 00:22:18,140
We have two examples of toys.

371
00:22:18,140 --> 00:22:22,300
This one is a Roman toy, gladius,

372
00:22:22,300 --> 00:22:23,820
or a sword.

373
00:22:23,820 --> 00:22:26,660
It's made of wood and, you can
see, it's quite thin.

374
00:22:26,660 --> 00:22:30,540
Er, and it's very, very light

375
00:22:30,540 --> 00:22:33,820
and would have been quite
fun for the child to use.

376
00:22:33,820 --> 00:22:37,460
And this one here is a toy dagger.

377
00:22:37,460 --> 00:22:41,100
And would these just be a toy,
or would they be ways that

378
00:22:41,100 --> 00:22:43,740
children would be starting to
learn about fighting properly?

379
00:22:43,740 --> 00:22:46,180
Most...most children in the ancient
world would grow up

380
00:22:46,180 --> 00:22:47,620
and do what their parents did.

381
00:22:47,620 --> 00:22:51,740
And by handing a child,
especially a boy child, a toy sword,

382
00:22:51,740 --> 00:22:56,100
they were learning
the basics about how to use a sword.

383
00:22:56,100 --> 00:22:59,540
And is that another? Is that
a little child's shoe, is it, there?

384
00:22:59,540 --> 00:23:00,860
I love these.

385
00:23:00,860 --> 00:23:04,060
These are children's shoes
and, as you look at it,

386
00:23:04,060 --> 00:23:06,860
it almost fits in my palm. Would you
like to hold it? I'd love to.

387
00:23:06,860 --> 00:23:08,140
SHE GASPS

388
00:23:08,140 --> 00:23:12,780
This child's shoe has fallen apart
and now all that's left is the sole.

389
00:23:12,780 --> 00:23:16,260
It would have looked a bit
more like this before it broke.

390
00:23:16,260 --> 00:23:18,300
It's only about the size
of a hand,

391
00:23:18,300 --> 00:23:22,180
probably more than likely
a toddler's shoe.

392
00:23:22,180 --> 00:23:26,660
It's so amazing to think that this
was first worn by a child

393
00:23:26,660 --> 00:23:31,860
close on 2,000 years ago and yet
I can hold it in my hand today.

394
00:23:33,060 --> 00:23:37,940
It might just be a little shoe,
but it's also a traveller in time.

395
00:23:45,860 --> 00:23:48,900
"Docilianus, son of Brucerus,

396
00:23:48,900 --> 00:23:54,780
"to the most holy Goddess, Sulis, I
curse him who stole my hooded cloak.

397
00:23:54,780 --> 00:23:57,900
"Whether he be man or woman,
slave or free.

398
00:23:59,180 --> 00:24:04,180
"Goddess Sulis, inflict death and not
allow him sleep, now or in the

399
00:24:04,180 --> 00:24:07,860
"future, until he brings my hooded
cloak back to the Temple of Sulis."

400
00:24:10,260 --> 00:24:14,340
Those bloodcurdling words were
scratched out onto a thin

401
00:24:14,340 --> 00:24:18,740
sheet of metal and tossed
into the water here close on 2,000

402
00:24:18,740 --> 00:24:22,260
years ago, when most of Britain was
part of the big Roman Empire.

403
00:24:23,900 --> 00:24:28,180
I'm in a city called Bath and it's
named after these Roman Baths,

404
00:24:28,180 --> 00:24:32,420
where ancient people used to come to
get fit and to get clean,

405
00:24:32,420 --> 00:24:36,260
to meet friends - a bit like a
modern-day leisure centre.

406
00:24:36,260 --> 00:24:39,500
So why then, was somebody writing
such horrible words onto a

407
00:24:39,500 --> 00:24:43,980
curse tablet
and throwing it into that water?

408
00:24:43,980 --> 00:24:47,260
The Romans believed the naturally
warm water that bubbles

409
00:24:47,260 --> 00:24:50,860
up from the ground had special
magical powers.

410
00:24:50,860 --> 00:24:54,540
The Romans called this place
"Aquae Sulis" and they named it

411
00:24:54,540 --> 00:24:59,020
after the Goddess Sulis, who was
an ancient goddess from Britain.

412
00:24:59,020 --> 00:25:02,620
She was thought to be terribly
powerful and, in a way,

413
00:25:02,620 --> 00:25:05,980
her power was thought to actually
live in these waters themselves.

414
00:25:05,980 --> 00:25:08,580
And that's what explains
these curse tablets.

415
00:25:08,580 --> 00:25:10,820
So, if somebody was really
cross about something,

416
00:25:10,820 --> 00:25:13,620
what they'd do is they'd get
one of these bits of metal,

417
00:25:13,620 --> 00:25:16,140
scratch out a message to Sulis,

418
00:25:16,140 --> 00:25:20,540
then fold it all up into a kind of
package and throw it into the water.

419
00:25:20,540 --> 00:25:25,220
'And this is that actual curse,
scratched out by one very

420
00:25:25,220 --> 00:25:28,460
'angry person nearly 2,000
years ago.'

421
00:25:28,460 --> 00:25:31,500
The man who wrote this one had
obviously come here and had a

422
00:25:31,500 --> 00:25:35,020
lovely afternoon. He'd met friends,
he'd gone to the baths and then

423
00:25:35,020 --> 00:25:39,300
he'd got out and got himself dry,
and somebody had stolen his cloak.

424
00:25:39,300 --> 00:25:43,540
It was probably the only one he had
and it was freezing outside.

425
00:25:43,540 --> 00:25:47,380
And he was in such a rage that he
thought the only creature who

426
00:25:47,380 --> 00:25:51,820
could help him get it back was
the Goddess Sulis herself.

427
00:25:51,820 --> 00:25:53,620
This was a job for her.

428
00:25:55,940 --> 00:25:58,540
And this is what they thought
she looked like.

429
00:25:58,540 --> 00:26:01,580
She's pretty impressive, isn't she?

430
00:26:01,580 --> 00:26:06,460
This head is made of bronze and it's
been covered in pure gold leaf.

431
00:26:06,460 --> 00:26:09,500
Originally, there'd have been
a body too and the whole

432
00:26:09,500 --> 00:26:13,780
statue would be housed in a special
religious building called a temple.

433
00:26:13,780 --> 00:26:16,420
And people would travel for miles

434
00:26:16,420 --> 00:26:19,500
and miles just to
pay their respects to her.

435
00:26:21,300 --> 00:26:24,180
As well as taking revenge
against people who'd been wicked,

436
00:26:24,180 --> 00:26:28,780
Romans believed that the Goddess
Sulis could cure them of illness.

437
00:26:28,780 --> 00:26:32,620
The Romans came here to be cured
of all kinds of things - from skin

438
00:26:32,620 --> 00:26:37,500
diseases to just feeling troubled
about life, and even constipation.

439
00:26:38,580 --> 00:26:41,980
In return for Sulis' help,
people threw gifts,

440
00:26:41,980 --> 00:26:44,820
known as offerings, into the baths.

441
00:26:44,820 --> 00:26:49,580
Over 12,000 of these Roman coins
were found in the water.

442
00:26:49,580 --> 00:26:52,980
And now, the brilliant
thing about these coins is that,

443
00:26:52,980 --> 00:26:55,620
when they were made,
they had the face of the emperor who

444
00:26:55,620 --> 00:27:00,700
was in charge put on one side, so
we know exactly how old they were.

445
00:27:00,700 --> 00:27:04,580
This one's got the face of the
Emperor Hadrian on it, and you might

446
00:27:04,580 --> 00:27:09,500
have heard of him because he's
the man who built Hadrian's Wall.

447
00:27:09,500 --> 00:27:13,180
Aquae Sulis was particularly
important to Roman Britons,

448
00:27:13,180 --> 00:27:16,860
but public baths like this were
a popular part of everyday life

449
00:27:16,860 --> 00:27:19,540
all across the Roman Empire.

450
00:27:19,540 --> 00:27:22,820
Although, in some ways, these places
were a bit like a modern-day

451
00:27:22,820 --> 00:27:24,660
gymnasium or a leisure centre,

452
00:27:24,660 --> 00:27:26,500
they used very different kinds

453
00:27:26,500 --> 00:27:28,620
of equipment, didn't they?

454
00:27:28,620 --> 00:27:30,460
Well, they did and erm, well,

455
00:27:30,460 --> 00:27:32,580
this is certainly a very strange
object, isn't it?

456
00:27:32,580 --> 00:27:34,620
Er, it's something called a
"strigil",

457
00:27:34,620 --> 00:27:38,460
but it would be something that
people used to clean themselves.

458
00:27:38,460 --> 00:27:40,700
The way this would work is that,
first of all,

459
00:27:40,700 --> 00:27:42,980
someone would pour oil over you.
Yep.

460
00:27:42,980 --> 00:27:45,140
OK, thank you. That's all right.

461
00:27:45,140 --> 00:27:50,660
And you would then scrape down,
like that, to remove the oil

462
00:27:50,660 --> 00:27:54,940
but, in so doing, it would
also remove all the dirt,

463
00:27:54,940 --> 00:27:57,980
all the gunk, all the nastiness,
all the dead skin.

464
00:27:57,980 --> 00:28:01,060
That would all go,
and slosh, away it would go.

465
00:28:01,060 --> 00:28:03,260
And so, once you'd scraped
yourself down would,

466
00:28:03,260 --> 00:28:05,260
would you then end up in the water?

467
00:28:05,260 --> 00:28:08,140
You would. At that point,
you would go into the water,

468
00:28:08,140 --> 00:28:10,060
you would rinse it all off.

469
00:28:10,060 --> 00:28:12,220
And so, if lots of people were doing
that,

470
00:28:12,220 --> 00:28:14,780
you could end up with some pretty
gunky water.

471
00:28:14,780 --> 00:28:16,380
It must have been disgusting.

472
00:28:19,100 --> 00:28:20,900
For people lucky
enough to come here,

473
00:28:20,900 --> 00:28:26,780
close on 2,000 years ago, Aquae
Sulis was somewhere super special.

474
00:28:26,780 --> 00:28:29,700
This was a place you came to get fit
and clean,

475
00:28:29,700 --> 00:28:33,700
to meet your friends,
or to curse your enemies.

476
00:28:33,700 --> 00:28:37,300
It was also somewhere you came to
worship a great goddess,

477
00:28:37,300 --> 00:28:41,460
for whom you had huge
amounts of respect.

478
00:28:41,460 --> 00:28:44,300
So, Aquae Sulis was somewhere you
came to look after

479
00:28:44,300 --> 00:28:47,660
both your body and your soul.

480
00:29:11,620 --> 00:29:14,740
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