Romanisation.

We have read the books, watched the films and seen the documentaries. Everyone knows at least one fact about the Romans. They have captured the imagination. The Romans define superiority. The results of their construction projects amaze us to this day. They created a perpetual legacy and our football stadiums are based on their amphitheatres. To this day we cant come up with a better, more efficient design for large scale crowd control.

Researching the Romans can be fraught with difficulties. You can spend hours searching the internet or sat in a library, and find nothing past the basics. The main problem is that Roman writers tended to be mendacious by nature. They wanted history to remember them in a certain way and had no problem with bending the truth to achieve that. Of course their are many good sources, and from those sources you can piece together a picture.

The Romans had a genius strategy that hasn't been written about enough... Romanisation. What is it?

In layman's terms, they made enemies want to become Roman. Its easy to picture the Romans as brutal oppressors, pillaging and plundering and murdering their way to domination. They were brutal, no doubt. But once they had conquered a country, they were relatively fair, unlike the Normans and their brutally punitive ways. No, the Romans didn't like rebellion and would avoid it at great expense. They didn't conquer to rule, they conquered for resources. The more they conquered, the bigger the army they needed to defend their new lands, the more food they needed and so on. The empire needed gold, stone, wood, tin and food... Desperately. 

imagine living in Iron age Britain. You are a Rich and powerful leader. You live in a Big, dark, smoky roundhouse. The romans come and are building lavish villas and bathhouses. You bath in a lake. They bath in warm water. You sample their wine and like it more than your ale. You start to see that the Romans live better than you. The Romans make you an offer. They say, "You're a leader and have land. Keep your land. Remain the leader of your people. We aren't interested in all of that. The only person you need answer to is the Emperor. Pay him taxes and you will gain his support. Other British tribes have agreed. They have the backing of our military and so will you. You're enemies will be dealt with". That's an appealing offer don't you think?

 

It didn't take long for the Britons to start dressing, talking and acting like Romans. Fishbourne Roman Palace is believed to have been owned by a native Briton. He could have been living in a roundhouse like above, instead he lived in one of the most spectacular Roman Palaces ever found, picture below. That's Romanisation.