Hello there and welcome to today's History lesson.

I'm Mr. Moss.

I'm really passionate about history, and I'm also really looking forward to teaching you.

With you today, you need to bring your looking eyes, your listening ears, and your thinking brains.

As well as that, having something to write with and write on and someone or something to talk to would also be really helpful.

Alright then, let's get straight into today's history lesson.

In this history lesson, we're going to be considering how far religion changed under Roman rule in Rome, Britain.

The outcome will be, I can explain how far religion changed in Britain after the Celts were conquered.

Remember that the Celts are the people living in Britain before the arrival of the Romans.

(aeroplane engine roaring) So here are the key words for today's lesson.

My turn.

Your turn.

Please keep an eye and ear out for them as they're going to come up again and again, and are very important.

The first word is polytheism.

The next word is barbarian.

Then we have the word druids.

And finally ancestor.

Excellent.

I loved hearing you say those back to me.

So polytheism, when people believe in many gods and goddesses, it is called polytheism.

Poly meaning many, theism meaning beliefs.

So the belief in many gods and goddesses.

Both the Romans and the Celts, at this period in history, were polytheistic, and we're gonna be looking at their beliefs in this lesson.

A barbarian was what the Ancient Romans called anyone who did not follow Greek, or Ancient Roman traditions.

Often the Romans thought that barbarian civilization and societies were uncivilised.

The druids were priests of the Celtic religion who believed that they could communicate with their gods and goddesses.

Druids were very important people within Celtic culture and society.

And an ancestor is someone's family member from the past.

It's believed that druids were important in Celts ability to connect with their ancestors.

So, we today are going to be looking at the beliefs of the Celts in Britain at the time of the Roman conquest, and how under Roman rule these beliefs and behaviours changed.

So, exactly what we're doing, our lesson outline, how far religion changed under Roman rule.

We're gonna begin by thinking about what the Celts believed in, and how we know what they believed in.

And then we're going to consider, did Ancient Roman religion change Britain? So let's get on with looking at what the Celts believed in.

Have a look at this image here.

Do you know who this Celtic leader was? She was a queen.

(aeroplane engine roaring) She was Boudica, queen of the Iceni tribe.

And she formed a rebellion against the Romans.

She attacked and burnt down both Camulodunum and Londinium, and was eventually defeated before she took some poison to commit suicide so that she wasn't captured by the Romans.

When Boudica led this rebellion against the Ancient Romans, she probably prayed to Andraste.

Andraste was a Celtic goddess.

She was the Celtic war goddess.

And we can see here an illustration of Andraste, a modern illustration.

Boudica, during this rebellion probably would've prayed to her.

This would've been one of the many gods and goddesses, but she would've specifically perhaps prayed to her, because she was going to battle, she was going to war with the Romans.

Boudica and the Celts would not only have prayed to one goddess though.

The Celts believed in lots of different gods and goddesses.

There's a similarity here between the Romans too.

The Romans, during this period, also believed in many different gods and goddesses that they could have prayed to.

We call religions with many different gods and goddesses, polytheistic.

If you believe in many, many gods and goddesses, this is called polytheism.

Can you say that for me? Polytheism.

Brilliant.

Poly, meaning many.

Theism, meaning beliefs.

So belief in many different gods and goddesses.

True or false, the Celts believed in lots of different gods and goddesses.

(aeroplane engine roaring) Well, from what we've just learnt, we've learnt that they're polytheistic, so we know that this is true.

I'm wondering if you can select the correct justification for your answer.

This is called polytheism, or this is called monotheism.

(aeroplane engine roaring) Brilliant, this is called polytheism.

Poly meaning many.

Monotheism would mean a belief in just one god, or goddess.

Islam, Christianity, Judaism for example, are monotheistic religions.

But the beliefs of the Celts and Romans during this period were polytheistic.

They believed in many different gods and goddesses.

It is difficult for historians to find out about the polytheism of the Celts, and this is because this is a time in pre-history.

They didn't write down anything about their lives.

Indeed, history as it were, sort of begins upon the arrival of the Romans in Britain.

Anything before then is known as prehistoric or prehistory.

We really don't know very much about it, and it's our job as historians to try and piece together the bits of evidence, and knowledge that we do have about the past, to understand what the Celts believed in.

This is this a really fascinating job we can do as historians.

Others who lived at the time did write about the Celts, including the Ancient Romans.

And we have written records of their views, and their experiences of the Celts.

They called the Celts, barbarians.

The Ancient Romans called anyone who did not follow Greek or Roman traditions a barbarian.

So the tribes in Germania, modern day Germany, the tribes in Francia, modern day France, and the tribes in Britannia, modern day Britain were seen as barbaric, because they didn't follow the Greek or Roman traditions.

Choose the options below to fill the gap.

The Ancient Romans called the barbarians.

The Ancient Greeks, the Celts or the French.

Think about what I've taught you.

Pause the video now.

Complete that sentence.

Off you go.

Great job, team.

The Ancient Romans called the, not the ancient Greeks, barbarians.

Celts.

Well, I have taught us that, haven't I? They did indeed call the Celts barbarians.

They wouldn't have called the modern French people of today barbarians, but they may have called some of the tribes that were living in the region that is now modern France, barbarians.

But the answer I was looking for was Celts.

That's something I've definitively taught you.

That's something we have evidence of as historians, the Romans calling the Celts barbarians.

That term used to describe people who didn't follow the ancient Greek or Roman traditions.

Using what others wrote about the Celts, and also artefacts that archaeologists have found, historians have an idea of what the Celts believed in.

This is a really interesting thing we can do as historians piecing together the past from evidence, and artefacts and sources.

We can see here a photo of a silver bowl with an image of what we believe to be a Celtic god.

We're going to talk more about this now.

The Ancient Romans wrote about the Celts believing in a god of nature called Cernunnos.

Cernunnos is here on this silver bowl.

We can see his face at the front.

Archaeologists have found artefacts with images of Cernunnos, like this silver bowl.

Select two things that historians use to find out about what the Celts believed in.

Do they use artefacts, ancient Celtic writing or ancient Roman writing? Pause the video now, and select the correct two things that historians use to find out about the Celts.

Brilliant.

The two things that are used are artefacts, and Ancient Roman writing.

And the reason we don't have ancient Celtic writing, is remember this is this period of prehistory, before things were properly written down.

Important Celtic religious leaders were called druids.

We can see here a modern illustration of a druid.

They were priests, who the Celts believed could talk to their ancestors, gods and goddesses.

And there's that key word, ancestors, there.

Ancestors being those family members that have come before you.

Celtic people believed that their ancestors could help them in life.

Druids then were important, because the CELs believed that they were the ones who could talk to the ancestors to ask for help.

So druids in Celtic society played an incredibly important role within their religious structures, allowing them to communicate with their ancestors, as well as gods and goddesses.

Could you choose the correct keyword to complete the sentences below? Our keywords are ancestors and druids.

Read the sentences carefully, and complete them using the correct keyword and say them out loud.

Off you go.

Brilliant job, team.

So let's see how you've done there.

The religious leaders of the Celts were called druids.

The Celts believed these people could talk to their ancestors.

And here we have an illustration of a Celtic religious leader, a druid.

So for our practise task now, I'd like us to complete the sentences below to describe what the Celts believed in.

Use the knowledge that you've gained from this learning cycle.

So the first sentence says, the Celts believed in polytheism, which means.

And the second sentence says, the druids were important to Celtic religion because.

See what you can remember from this learning cycle.

Complete those sentences.

Off you go.

Excellent job, team.

So I'm hoping you've got some sentences like this.

Add any detail you can.

The Celts believed in polytheism, which means they believed in many gods and goddesses.

Remember, we've looked at a couple of those gods and goddesses today, haven't we? Andraste being one of them, that Boudica herself may have prayed to before going to war.

And Cernunnos.

We have evidence of Cernunnos both from Roman writings, and also from artefacts that are found.

And then sentence number two, you may have written something like this.

The druids were important to Celtic religion because the Celts believed that they could talk to their ancestors, and the gods to ask for help.

So how did you do with those sentences? Do you have any more detail to add? Do you have anything more to share? Share that now with me, and add any more detail to your answers, or make any corrections now.

Off you go.

Onto our final learning cycle then.

Did Ancient Roman religion change Britain? Now remember, this links in to our outcome, isn't it, which is how far religion changed under Roman rule.

So now we're going to consider some changes to religion in Britain during the time of Roman occupation.

So Celtic people respected the druids, and listened to their advice.

And we learned about this in the previous learning cycle, didn't we? Druids were very important, and we can see an illustration here of druids talking.

The reason druids were so important, remember, is because it was believed that they were be able to communicate with the gods, goddesses, and people's ancestors.

The druids encouraged the Celts in Britain to resist Ancient Roman rule.

They did not like the Romans.

The druids were the only people who could get all of the different Celtic tribes to work together, because they were so well respected by all of the Celtic tribes, who themselves fought often.

But they would listen to the druids.

The druids therefore were a problem for the Ancient Romans, and they decided they needed to stop them.

You can see here an illustration of a group of druids, a modern illustration, of what they might have been like.

The Ancient Romans had lots of stories about the druids, and this is how we know about them from Roman historical writings, including that they sacrificed living people to their gods.

(pondering) Whether we can trust these Roman writings or not is an interesting point of view, isn't it? Because they would've wanted to make the druids seem negative, seem like the barbarians that they called them, because they were such a headache for them.

Pick two reasons why the druids were a problem for the Ancient Romans.

Read the reasons carefully, and select the correct two.

Off you go.

Brilliant job, team.

So the first reason, is the druids were fierce warriors.

Well, this isn't true.

They were religious leaders, weren't they? They weren't fighters.

The druids could make the Celts work together, well that was a problem for the Romans, wasn't it? They were well respected by all the Celtic tribes.

The druids told the Celts to resist Ancient Romans.

They did indeed.

They didn't like Roman rule.

The druids have magical powers.

Well, we have no evidence to say they had magical powers.

There may have been some Roman writings about this, but whether they did or didn't is neither here nor there.

It is not a historical fact.

We are thinking about reasons as to why they were a problem for the Ancient Romans.

The druids could make Celts to work together, and they told the Celts to resist the Ancient Romans.

And so the Romans decided they had to do something about the druid problem.

Many druids travelled to Anglesey, and island near Wales that was special to their religion.

In 60CE, an Ancient Roman legion killed every druid they could find on Anglesey, and destroyed altars and all important religious places.

An altar is often a flat topped table or block of stone where you might make an offering to the gods.

So the Romans killed all the druids they could, and destroyed these altars, and important religious places in an attempt to get rid of the druid problem.

In which year did the Ancient Romans destroy the druids on the island of Anglesey? 40 CE, 50 CE, or 60 CE? Pause the video now, and select the correct answer.

Brilliant job, team.

Well, it was in 60 CE.

It couldn't have been 40, because that was before Claudius' invasion.

And it wasn't in 50, it was in 60.

So in other places across the Ancient Roman Empire, people were allowed to worship their own gods and goddesses.

And we can see here a map showing the Roman Empire in 44 BC, the regions that it covered very large and expansive.

And lots of people in these different regions had their own gods and goddesses that the Romans did allow them to worship.

They had to honour and respect the ancient Roman gods too, but often they were also still allowed to pray to their own gods.

In Britain, in the Ancient Roman town of Corinium, archaeologists have uncovered statues of Ancient Roman gods and goddesses alongside Celtic ones.

This then gives us some evidence that people in Roman Britain were able to pray to their gods and goddesses that they had had before the Roman invasion, as well as being respectful and praying to the Roman gods.

Here we have a photo of a statue of the Ancient Roman goddess Diana.

There were statues of the nature gods, Diana and Cernunnos, the Celtic god of nature at Corinium side by side.

This shows that the people in Roman Britain were both praying to their old gods, and the new Roman ones too.

Historians then believe that the Ancient Romans allowed the Celts to worship their gods alongside the new Ancient Roman ones.

Let's read two statements, and decide who is correct about the Ancient Romans and religion.

We have Alex and Laura.

Laura says, "The Ancient Romans only let people in their empire worship Roman gods and goddesses." Whereas Alex says, "The Ancient Romans allowed some Celtic people to worship both Roman and Celtic gods and goddesses." Who is correct, Alex or Laura? Make your decision now.

Off you go.

Brilliant job.

Absolutely, it is Alex.

The Ancient Romans did allow some Celtic people to worship both the new Roman gods, and their Celtic gods and goddesses.

In fact, across the Roman Empire, many people were allowed to worship their own gods and goddesses, as long as they also showed respect and prayed through the Roman gods and goddesses, and we have evidence of this.

The Ancient Romans sometimes even combined their gods with those the Celts worshipped.

And in fact, they were known for doing this across their empire.

They would themselves adopt local gods and goddesses, and combined them with their own.

In the city of Bath, which we have an image of here, the Celts worshipped a goddess called Sulis.

The Ancient Romans saw how similar Sulis was to their own goddess, Minerva.

We have here a photo of a bronze head of a statue of Sulis Minerva at the Roman Baths.

And you may have noticed I've combined both of those goddesses there, Sulis and Minerva.

In the city of Bath, a new goddess began to be worshipped called Sulis Minerva.

This shows us that the Romans would combine their own gods with local gods and goddesses to create new deities to worship.

Could you select the two images that show parts of Celtic religion for me? I'm being specific here, Celtic religion.

We have a silver bowl with Cernunnos on it.

We have the goddess Diana, and we have a druid.

Which of these were parts of Celtic religion? Off you go.

Excellent.

You clearly paid so much attention throughout the course of this lesson, and learned so much.

The two that are linked to Celtic religion are the silver bowl with Cernunnos, and we also have a druid, a key religious figure within Celtic religion, remember, who was able to make contact with ancestors and the gods and goddesses.

Remember, druids were also problematic for the Romans.

And in 60 CE, remember, they killed many of them in Anglesey.

The goddess Diana is a separate religion from the Celtic religion.

This is a goddess from the Ancient Roman religion.

So, you've done an amazing job so far, now let's show what we've learned.

I've got four statements below A, B, C, and D.

I'd like you to sort the statements below, according to how much religion changed in Britain after the Celts were conquered.

We're thinking now as historians about how things changed over time.

The impacts that the Romans had on the Celts of Britain.

Did they make little change, some change, or would it be considered lots of change? And this is you thinking like a historian.

Do these statements show a little amount of change, some change, or lots of change? Let's read the statements first of all.

Some Ancient Roman gods were combined with Celtic gods.

The druids of Anglesey were wiped out in 60 CE.

That's quite a major event, isn't it? Ancient Roman gods had to be respected as well as Celtic gods.

And Celts in Britain could worship their existing gods.

Would these statements fit under, little change, some change or lots of change.

Use your discretion, be historians, and put them now into the correct columns.

Off you go.

(aeroplane engine roaring) Excellent job, team.

I'm super impressed, you're really thinking carefully, and thinking like historians.

So we sorted the statements now according to how much religion changed in Britain, and it did indeed change.

The Romans had an impact upon how Britains practised their religion.

In the little change section I've put Celts in Britain could worship their existing gods.

And this is a small change, 'cause they were able to continue doing what they'd done before.

In the some change section, I put some Ancient Roman gods were combined with Celtic gods.

This wasn't a major change, but a slight one from both religions.

Ancient Roman gods had to be respected as well as Celtic gods.

So this is a slight change, isn't it? It's some change that's occurring here to the daily lives of Britains under Roman ruled.

And a big change was that the druids on Anglesey were wiped out in 60 CE.

Quite a significant moment there.

By getting rid of the druids, they got rid of a bit of a headache, did the Romans.

The druids, remember, could have been effective in getting the Celtic tribes together to fight back against the Romans.

And by getting rid of them, they had a big impact on, not only religion for the Celts, but also their ability to unify and come together to fight against the Romans.

How did you sort those? Do you have any changes to make? Share your learning, and make any changes now.

Excellent learning in today's history lesson.

We've been looking at how far religion changed under Roman rule.

We've considered some small changes, some middle changes, and some very big changes, haven't we? The Celtic tribes and Ancient Romans believed in lots of gods and goddesses, and this is known as polytheism.

The Ancient Romans wrote about the Celts, calling them barbarians.

Celtic religious leaders were called druids, and they encourage resistance to Ancient Roman rule.

The Ancient Romans wiped out the druids on Anglesey in 60 CE.

The Ancient Romans allowed some Celts to continue worshipping their gods, as long as they respected the new Roman gods.

And sometimes the Ancient Romans combined their gods with the Celtic ones, like Sulis Minerva in Bath.

Keep up the great history learning, and I'll see you again soon.