Hello, London!

Photo tip: Always check camera settings before shooting.
Half of our London pix were taken with this romantic blur effect, which could not be undone. 

The trip out of Newcastle was relatively smooth, given our ongoing train trauma, and getting settled in the flat was even easier. Now it was time to see the city and explore its Roman heritage and there is no better place to start than The British Museum. 

The British Museum - just as fun as it is in the movie, Night At the Museum 3, right? Right?!?

Going to a museum on a Sunday is never a good plan - especially a world-class museum, in a major city, at the height of holiday season. Packed would be a generous term describing it inside and I would be willing to wager than only 2 out of 10 people in the museum were British. A popular destination for visitors!  Like many museums, this one pays homage to the Classical Era with its Doric columns, portico, and engraved pediment. It contains an overwhelming variety of artifacts (8 million according to the museum) from every continent and every period in human history. It’s no wonder The British Museum was able to produce its A History of the World in 100 Objects series using its rich collection (note to self: investigate how we can borrow this idea for “A History of Rochester in 100 Objects”).

The Roman Galleries, like all the galleries that day, were a crush of people, most following adults  waving chartreuse flags or wearing fluorescent orange vests. I wish they flowed like lines of ducklings, but in reality, it was much more like a murmuration of starlings, ebbing and flowing from one crowded gallery to the next. You best bet was to get out of the way or be swept along with the flock.  

Hanging with Hadrian at The British Museum.

Hadrian is a complex emperor to teach. Unlike the military commander, Trajan, who came before him as emperor, Hadrian was more pragmatic and pulled back the Roman line of control, ceding Mesopotamia and reinforcing Roman rule in Britannia with a fortified wall - Hadrian’s Wall. Many Romans saw this as squandering Rome’s military might (Hadrian had these folks dispatched), but in reality, it was prohibitively expensive to maintain garrisons in restless lands. Hadrian was fond of architecture and is responsible for one of Rome’s most famous buildings, the Pantheon (temple to all gods). Yet he is also responsible for the deaths of 580,000 Jews as he sought to crush the Jewish rebellion - he even went so far as to rename Jerusalem and the province of Judea to strip the people of their sense of place.

Situated next to Hadrian’s bust in The British Museum is the bust of his Greek companion, Antinous. Yes, Hadrian was a married man, but Antinous was his beloved, and when the boy drowned in the Nile River during an outing, Hadrian had him deified (as only an emperor can do!).

The Vindolanda Tablets - in person!

Having visited Vindolanda, it was impressive to see the Vindolanda Tablets on display here in London. The idea that people sent correspondence, kept business records, and pay scales shows how complex Roman society was and that literacy was important (people often paid scribes to communicate on their behalf). There was also this fascinating mosaic, one of the earliest and best preserved artifacts to show the reach of Christianity in Britain. Dated at about the 4th century CE, it shows Christ surrounded by pomegranates, representing immortality. It’s important to remember that the Roman experience in Britain lasted nearly 450 years - twice that of our own country’s existence. Change occurred in every facet of life and Christianity was just one more Roman import to Britain.

Christ mosaic, excavated in Dorset, England, in 1963.

The Museum of London also offered a glimpse of Roman life in Britain, specifically, their experience in Londinium, the future capital of Roman Britain. Some 60,000 people called Londinium their home and they came from all across the Empire.

NOT the original Roman wall, but built atop it in the Middle Ages using the same quarried stones. 

Like London today, Londinium had its share of swanky homes, markets and places of worship, but as the Romans withdrew, the local Britons who weren’t allied with the Romans, saw their chance to usurp control. This, coupled with the fact that rebel generals had granted Britannia its independence from the Empire, meant that Londinium was due to fall. Many of the buildings were dismantled - some historians think in retribution for supporting the rogue generals, and then in 350 CE, waves of “barbarians” overran Londinium. Roman rule would not be re-established until 367 CE when General Theodusis entered London. Time was not on Rome’s side - the division of the Empire into Eastern and Western spheres of influence and competing allegiances meant that Britain was often left to its own devices, including self-defence. In fact, in 410 CE, Emperor Honorius pretty much wrote Britannia off, telling the local governor not to expect any further aid - in form of money or military. 

The not so glorious end of Roman rule in Britain.

So ends the story of the Roman Empire’s control of Britannia. Next, it’s off to Bath (or Aquae Sulis) to learn just how well the Romans co-opted local deities to win friends and influence allies.