Early Britain—Roman BritainConybeare, John William Edward
History
Early Britain—Roman Britain
Conybeare, John William Edward
Great Britain -- History -- Roman period, 55 B.C.-449 A.D.
C. 3.--The many relics of the Roman occupation to be seen in the
Museum at the Guildhall bear further testimony to the commercial
importance of the City in those early days, an importance primarily
due, as we have already seen, to the natural facilities for crossing
the Thames at London Bridge.[215] The greatness of Roman London seems,
however, to have been purely commercial. We do not even know that it
was the seat of government for its own division of Britain. It was
not a Colony, nor (in spite of the exceptional strength of the site,
surrounded, as it was, by natural moats)[216] does it ever appear as
of military importance till the campaign of Theodosius at the very end
of the chapter.[217] In the 'Notitia' it figures as the head-quarters
of the Imperial Treasury, and about the same date we learn that the
name Augusta had been bestowed upon the town, as on Caerleon and on
so many others throughout the Empire, though the older "London" still
remained unforgotten.[218]
C. 4.--But, so far as Britain had a recognized capital at all,
York and not London best deserved that name. For here was the chief
military nerve-centre of the land, the head-quarters of the Army,
where the Commander-in-Chief found himself in ready touch with the
thick array of garrisons holding every strategic point along the
various routes by which any invader who succeeded in forcing the Wall
would penetrate into the land. At York, accordingly, the Emperors who
visited Britain mostly held their court; beginning with Hadrian, who
here established the Sixth Legion which he had brought over with him,
possibly incorporating with it the remains of the Ninth, traces of
which are here found. And here it remained permanently quartered to
the very end of the Roman occupation, as abundant inscriptions,
etc. testify. One of these, found in the excavations for the railway
station, is a brass tablet with a dedication (in Greek) to _The
Gods of the Head Praetorium_ [[Greek: theois tois tou haegemonikou
praitoriou]], bearing witness to the essential militarism of the city.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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