Lesson video

Hi there, welcome to lesson 10 of the Roman Britain unit.

In this lesson, we're going to be looking at how did life in Britain remain the same after the Roman invasion? Let's have a look at the agenda together now.

So the first thing that we're going to look at in today's lesson is how did life remain the same after the Roman invasion? Secondly, we'll look at how did life change after the Roman invasion? And then lastly, we'll look at how do the Romans continue to impact us today? As with previous lessons, there are three key things that you'll need, an exercise book or paper, a pencil or a pen, and lastly, our brains.

So pause the video now, make sure you've got all those things, and then we will get started.

Okay.

I think we're ready to go.

One of the first things I'd like to do though, is take us back to the timeline.

So again, this shows us where the Roman empire fits into human history, and approximately where we are today.

And where are we going to be specifically looking at in this lesson is actually just across the entire Roman Britain period.

So we looked at when the last Roman soldiers left Britain and we're going to be looking at from the moment the Romans arrived all the way up until that point in which they left.

And then also thinking about today, like this moment in time, how the Romans are still impacting us now.

Let's get started with the first part of the lesson now, which is all about how did life remain the same after the Roman invasion? And this is important because a lot of the time when we speak about Roman Britain, we're always talking about what changed, what changed, but sometimes in history, we can get too obsessed with thinking about change and forget that some things actually did continue to be the same.

So let's have a look now at what continued to be the same in Britain after the Roman invasion.

And the first thing I'd like to do is pose a question to you.

Where do you think most people in Britain lived when the Romans first arrived? Just think about that for a moment.

Hmm, where did most people live? Well, I'll tell you.

Most people when the Romans arrived in Britain, lived in the countryside and worked on farms, and that's why we call it an agricultural society.

So agriculture is everything to do with farming.

Most Britons lived in the countryside and were very poor and worked on farms. And therefore, when the Romans arrived, they actually had not that much impact on the vast majority of people in Britain, because the vast majority of people in Britain lived in the middle of nowhere, excuse me.

And they continued to work on farms and just trying to have as good a life as possible, even though things were very difficult.

So the Roman invasion did not have a significant impact on the vast majority of people in Britain.

Now, another way things continued to be the same was through language.

So the Romans, they mostly spoke Latin and Greek.

However, the people of Britain, they didn't all suddenly adopt that language as their own.

The vast majority of people just continued to speak their native languages.

And then another way that Britain continued to be the same was through tribal leaders.

So you may remember the Romans didn't turn up and kill all the tribal leaders and take over all their lands.

Actually, what happened is the Romans allowed many of the tribes to continue to control their own lands as long as they paid the Romans, what? What did they have to pay the Romans? Do you remember? Was that taxes? Absolutely.

Right.

So as long as the tribes were paying their taxes, they continue to control their own territory.

So things continued to be pretty similar than before.

So to sum up, remember the vast majority of people lived in the countryside and didn't really get impacted by the Romans, language did not change for most people.

The Romans spoke Greek and Latin.

Most people continue to speak their own native language, and things continued to be the same in many ways, because the tribes, or most tribes, continued to control their own areas.

So based on that information, you're going to complete the following task.

You're going to read each of these statements and you need to decide if they are true or false.

So make sure you read them really carefully.

Think very carefully about what we just spoke about and then decide whether they are true or false.

And pause the video when you're ready to complete your task and then resume once you're finished.

Okay.

Let's rock and roll.

Let's see how we did.

So sentence number one, the Roman invasion had a significant impact on most people in Britain's lives.

I seem to recall a very good history teacher called Mr. Barber saying that actually most people lived in the countryside and therefore were not actually that impacted, and that is why this is false.

No, most people continued to live what was actually a very difficult existence in the countryside.

Statement two or sentence two, the vast majority of people began to speak in Latin and Greek.

No way, absolutely no way, because I remember that most people continued to speak their native languages.

Only the Romans really spoke Latin and Greek.

So that is false.

And then statement or sentence three, the Romans allowed many tribes to remain in control of their own lands.

Is that a very Roman thing to do? Yes, it actually is true, because remember the Romans allowed many of them to do that as long as they paid taxes, absolutely right.

So well done.

Let's move on to part two of the lesson.

In this second part of the lesson, we're now going to have a look at how did life change after the Roman invasion? So we've seen how life continued the same for most people, but for certain people in Britain, life did change quite a bit.

So this process of change or things becoming more Roman is what we call Romanisation.

And Romanisation, things becoming more Roman, mostly affected people who were rich in Britain and people who were in the higher social classes in society.

And we call those people the aristocracy.

And so people in Britain who were members of the aristocracy, they started to do things the Roman way in order to sort of impress the Romans.

So one example of this is that the Romans were very big into being nice and clean, remember, and they introduced regular bathing by having a bath and staying clean.

So one way that the aristocracy tried to adapt to Roman ways was by taking on regular bathing.

Another way that the Romans changed things in Britain was through our diet, or the things that people eat.

The Romans introduced people to growing and eating fruits, and amazing fact for you, it was actually the Romans that introduced apples into Britain.

So another way that the Romans changed things in Britain was through our diets, as people began to eat and grow fruits.

Another thing that we see through historical excavations, remember excavations, eh? Was that many people started to use Roman style goods.

So for example, people started to use lots of Roman pottery and other items as well, such as items made of glass.

So to sum up, the Romanisation, or the change that the Romans introduced to Britain mostly only affected people who were the rich.

The rich started to adapt practises like regular bathing in order to impress the Romans and become more similar to them.

The Romans also changed our diets as they introduced the practises of eating and growing fruit.

And people started to use lots of Roman style goods, such as pottery and things made of glass.

So based on that interesting information, you're now going to complete the following task.

Read each of these sentences and fill in the missing words based on what we've just learned together.

And when you're ready, pause the video to complete your task and then resume once you're finished.

Okay, let's go through these together.

Hopefully you've found that not too challenging.

Let's have a look, so number one, the Roman invasion mostly changed the lives of the, hmm.

The Romans? No, no, it was the rich.

Absolutely.

Just the rich.

Remember most people in Britain were not rich.

They lived in the countryside, their lives won't really changed, but for the rich, they actually did have quite a lot of change come about because of the Roman invasion.

Sentence number two, the aristocracy, remember that's another way of saying like the rich or the people who are higher up the social order in Britain, the aristocracy may have increased their status by adopting Roman ways, such as regular, hmm.

What did people who were rich start to do regularly of a sudden that they hadn't done before? What was that? Oh yes.

Nice one, regular bathing.

Excellent job.

And then that sentence number three, many of these people in Britain began to use Roman style goods such as something and something, hmm.

What did they start to use particular to the Romans? Aha I think I remember.

Yes, pottery.

And what was the other one? Glassware, nice.

Or you can just say like objects made of glass or glass.

That's absolutely fine.

So well done on completing that task.

Let's move to the final part of today's lesson.

In this final part of the lesson, we're going to think about how do the Romans continue to impact us today? And what we'll do is we're going to look at three different examples of things that the Romans introduced after the invasion of Britain that we can still see and experience in our society or our world today.

So example number one, hmm.

I wonder if you can guess what this example is that the Romans introduced to Britain? Hmm, this is not the sky.

It is not hills, no, you're absolutely right.

It is roads, of course, roads.

Roads were one of the key things that the Romans introduced to Britain, and this still impacts us today because it was the Romans who created concrete roads for the first time in Britain, and many of the roads and tracks that the Romans introduced can actually still be seen in some parts of the country.

And roads are obviously a very important part of how we're able to easily get around the country still to this day.

Okay, second thing that the Romans introduced, what do we think this could be giving us a clue about that they introduced for us? Well, I'll give you a little help.

This is a picture of the city of Bath, which was a Roman city, some modern day picture.

So what do we think this is? What's that you say? Towns and cities? Absolutely.

The Romans were the first people to really introduce big town and city life to Britain.

Before that, everyone sort of lived in very rural or like countryside communities, and now towns and cities, the vast majority of people in Britain live in towns and cities, and this way of living was introduced by the Romans after they invaded Britain.

Okay.

Last clue.

Can you get this one? What is this an example of what the Romans introduced to Britain, what's underneath that metal cover here? Not Roman pottery or glass, no.

No, not Roman soldiers.

It is in fact underground sewers.

Remember the Romans liked to keep their towns and cities very clean, and it was the Romans who first introduced underground sewers to take our dirty water and sewage away from the towns and cities.

And obviously we still use underground sewers today to keep our towns, cities, and villages clean.

So based on those three key things that were introduced by the Romans that still impact us today, you are going to answer the following questions.

For each of those things, I would like you to describe how does that thing continue to impact us today? And I'm going to show you how I answered question number one as an example.

So question number one is how does the Romans' introduction of roads to continue to impact us today? Hmm, here's what I wrote, and take very careful note of how I answered it 'cause this is the style I would like you to use.

So I wrote "this continues to affect us today because the Romans were the first to introduce concrete roads and lots of Roman roads and routes have survived to the present day." The present day meaning like now, okay? So that's how I've gone about it.

I've started this, the key sentence starter.

This continues to affect us today because, and then I've just explained briefly about why Roman roads are still important to us today.

Now what you're going to do, you're going to now answer question two and three.

And if you'd like to do question number one in your own words, do that as well.

So when you're ready, pause the video to complete your task and then resume once you're finished.

And if you're struggling to get started, here are those sentence starters that you can use for question two and three.

Okay.

Let's go through those now.

It's a very interesting exercise, isn't it? Thinking about how something so long ago is still impacting us to this day.

So question number two, how does the Romans' construction of towns and cities continue to impact us today? Well, let's have a look.

This continues to affect us today because the Romans introduced the idea of living in big towns and cities, and now the vast majority of people in Britain live in these areas.

Okay, so obviously, you're not going to have written it word for word exactly as me, but as long as you have written something which is about the fact that most people now live in towns and cities, and it was the Romans that introduced it to us, that's absolutely fine.

And we still have several cities in Britain which were originally Roman cities, such as the city of Bath.

Question number three.

How does the Romans' introduction of underground sewers continue to impact us today? Well, I'm very thankful that we have underground sewers today.

Let's have a look what I wrote for this one.

This continues to affect us today because the Romans introduced the underground sewer systems, which we still use to keep our communities clean.

Imagine cities, towns, villages without sewer systems, they'd be pretty smelly places, wouldn't they? And the Romans were the first people to introduce that system, which we still use to this day.

Well done on completing that.

That brings us to the end of this lesson and the end of the Roman Britain unit.

So absolutely well done on all the fantastic learning that you've done throughout this unit.

I hope you enjoyed it.

Before we finish, please remember to do the following things.

Firstly, write down three key things that you will remember from this lesson.

And then lastly, make sure you complete the end of lesson quiz.

That's going to be an excellent way of seeing how much progress you've made and how brilliant your knowledge is on Roman Britain.

I hope you enjoyed the lesson and have a great day.