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10 Things the Romans made for Britain

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1. Fast Food
 The Romans were the first to introduce street stalls. With 10,000 soldiers in Britain, having
access to tasty, convenient food was vitally important and vendors serving fast food would
have been commonplace in large towns.
 The Romans also introduced staple foods such as apples, pears and peas to Britain.

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2. Advertising and Trademarks

 The modern concepts of Public Relations, Marketing and Advertising can all trace their roots
back to the Romans.

 Traders would advertise their wares with billboards and signs.

 Potters would often stamp their vessels with their name, a mark of quality.

Image: The Samian bowl - The maker’s mark inside (inset) reads ‘OF CEN’. OF is the abbreviation for
Officina, a workshop. CEN is an abbreviation of a name, possibly Censorinus.

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3. Plumbing and Sanitation

 Keeping towns and forts clean through drainage and access to fresh water was a new concept to
Britain.
 At the root of sanitation was the great engineering works of the Romans, with aqueducts
bringing water in and drains to keep the streets and houses clean.

VIDEO: The roman water supply

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4. Towns
 Large settlements existed in Britain before the Romans arrived, but they were the first to
introduce significant ‘towns’ and administrative centres, which were planned out.
 If a place-name has 'chester', 'caster' or 'cester' in it, it's almost certainly Roman (for example,
Gloucester, Doncaster and Manchester). The word ‘chester’ comes from the Latin word
‘castrum’ which means ‘a fort’.

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5. Architecture
 From military structures such as forts and walls (including the spectacular Hadrian’s Wall and
Antonine Wall) to engineering feats such as baths and aqueducts, the most obvious impact of
the Romans that can still be seen today is their buildings.
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UK Map

VIDEO: Antonine Wall

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6. Roads
 Constructing reliable transport routes was a necessity of such an expansive empire, and a huge
upgrade on the primitive routes that came before in Britain.
 VIDEO: Road building

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7. Calendars
 The Julian calendar was the first to consist of 365 days, along with a leap year every four years.
 The names of the months derive from Roman months, reflecting the important Roman impact
on our modern diaries.
 This is most obvious for July and August, which are named after the early rulers Julius Caesar
and Emperor Augustus.

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8. Currency
 Although some of the tribes in the South of England produced coins before the Romans arrived,
it was not used as currency, to purchase things.
 The Romans brought in their own coinage, which was the same across the Empire.
 A denarius could be spent in Britain, North Africa or Turkey, such a global currency has not been
seen since.

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9. Language, writing and numbers

 Before the Romans came, very few people could read or write in Britain.
 There are lots of words and phrases today that come from Latin. Words like ‘exit’, which means
‘he or she goes out’, or ‘pedestrian’, which means ‘going on foot’.
 Today’s coins are based on a Roman design and some of the lettering is in Latin. Written around
the edge of some £1 coins is the phrase 'decus et tutamen' which means 'glory and protection'.
 Some clocks today still use Roman numbers.

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10. Bureaucracy
 The introduction of writing to Britain had a huge impact on our understanding of the history.
 Being great record keepers has left a wealth of information about life in Roman Britain.
 The army in particular was extremely bureaucratic and food orders or stock checks of weapons
could be filled out in triplicate.

Image: An iron stylus, used for writing on clay tablets