What Was Life Actually Like For Romans Stationed on Hadrians Wall? with Dan Snow
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 ก.ย. 2024
- Dan Snow explores the physical remains of Hadrian’s vast project of 122AD - over 80 Roman miles of wall, turrets and forts, stretching from coast to coast across northern England. Mile after mile of stone marching over the horizon.
But why did the Romans go to all this effort? We dig into the key questions: was the wall a barrier or a porous border; a hubristic vanity project or a vital line of defence; who lived on and around the wall; and why has it endured in popular culture for nearly two thousand years, right up to Game of Thrones?
Dan meets leading experts along the Wall and visits some of the key sites - from Arbeia in the east (where tombstones reveal people here from as far away as Syria) to Birdoswald in the west (where a blatant carving of a phallic symbol shows the Wall was more than just a barrier).
A Roman historian wrote that when the Emperor Hadrian came to Britain in AD 122 he ‘put many things to right and was the first to build a wall 80 miles long from sea to sea to separate the Romans from the Barbarians’.
In this film we discover what that massive engineering and construction project really meant - and the impact it had on Roman Britain and beyond.
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#dansnow #romanhistory #ancienthistory
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Find historical experts so engaging and charismatic in a way to listen to.
It's just fun listening to people who really care and are doing something they clearly love as a job. There's a bounce and energy to it.
The guy from Newcastle Uni was a really good example of that. So engaging and enthusiastic.
Indeed he was so happy to be talking about something he loves
That's what I like about Dan snow he doesn't try to make it about himself he just tries to present and he gets the best people he can find for information I think he's one of the best out there I think I might have got a little bit of a man crush on him on that special he did on the British Navy😮 just those shots of him sailing up and down the Thames river and his sailboat by himself was really really cool
Paul Cooper at Fall of Civilizations is also amazing.
Some may be surprised but Jeremy Clarksons historical documentaries were really good to watch because he is genuinely interested in what he’s talking about you can tell, rather than just reading a script
Brilliant. Live an hour away from the wall, only visited a few times but learned more in this doc than anything else. Thankyou guys.
You should visit the Hancock museum in Newcastle, it’s free entry and lots of info on our local history
I live at the coast at the eastern end 5 miles from Wallsend
another quite exceptional documentary. the problem with these, oddly enough, is they cannot be listened to passively while e.g. gaming or writing an essay; the quality is so superior i find i have to actively watch the documentary and keep my other tasks on standby for the duration (of course, a not unsavoury problem to have!)
I am English but my parents took us off to the antipodes, after 60 years my (Australian) wife and I went back to see what my family had left all those years ago. One of my main objectives was to visit Hadrian's wall. We were not disappointed, just like the video, we were amazed at the sheer scale of the forts, something I knew nothing about when I was a kid. The one we went to housed 800 men, and the all the forts were quite close together.. The main road sort of follows the wall from coast to coast, and it took us quite a while to travel it by car. Just imagine having to 'build' your way across? My mate here in NZ is from Scotland, and we have endless fun discussing what we, and they, did all that time ago. The bottom line is at least after the Romans left we had viniculture, could walk the streets at night in safety, and indeed had decent streets to walk on at last. . Sewerage systems, baths, Latin, and of course the right of men to have a baby.
Brilliant reference 😂
23:40 so..Biggus Dickus DID exist!
this made my day hahaha
No sire.. that is horizontalis dickus !
Could he pronounce S's though.
🤭
remember, he wranked highly in wrome.!
They didn’t really touch on the vallum that much in this but there are some parts where it is walkable and the ditches and undulations are still there, admittedly not as deep now. Even after 2000 years the earthworks are still apparent! When you were digging those ditches could you have imagined millennia later they would still be a visible feature? I find that amazing.
Having worked on many large earthworks projects I wonder if anything I've built will still be here in milliena to come 🤔
That is just what I thought when I visited Stonehenge recently, twice the age of Hadrian's wall, and hard to believe it was built 2000 years before Christ., considering how seemingly barbaric some civilizations were in the past, (and still are in some parts). Plundering the stones etc must have been a full time job, they are big! and we are lucky they are still some there at Stonehenge after 4000 years of English winters, endless invasions, and local plundering. When I was a kid, and before we emigrated to Ausi in the 1960's, Stonehenge was still an unknown, I carved my name on one, as it was not 'protected' in those days. Sacrilege I know, but the day before we visited it this year somebody painted it orange. Luckily it was all back to normal the next day after the water blasters got into it. After all, 10000 people visit it on a good day, and over 15000 later that week on the summer solstice before dawn. When I was a kid you would be lucky to get 10 in a day, and by the way, I found out dawn is VERY early at that time of year!
Beautifully written and presented.
Nice one Dan and team! 🌟👍
"Brrrrrrr.......... it's cold up here, by Jupiter.
I hope Livia can send me some thick woolen socks, by Mercury! "
We don't know that it was so cold back then.... it may have been warmer.
What a wonderful documentary. More Rome, Greece etc please Dan mate, i can't get enough of antiquity. Thanks again History Hit, brilliant.
Lovely.
I know how I am spending my Thursday evening.
Must be short evenings where you are....
I see Dan Snow, I click.
W. H. Auden got it right -
Roman Wall Blues
Over the heather the wet wind blows,
I've lice in my tunic and a cold in my nose.
The rain comes pattering out of the sky,
I'm a Wall soldier, I don't know why.
The mist creeps over the hard grey stone,
My girl's in Tungria; I sleep alone.
Aulus goes hanging around her place,
I don't like his manners, I don't like his face.
Piso's a Christian, he worships a fish;
There'd be no kissing if he had his wish.
She gave me a ring but I diced it away;
I want my girl and I want my pay.
When I'm a veteran with only one eye
I shall do nothing but look at the sky.
Wonderful. Thank you.
Arbeia is not actually part of the wall. It was the supply depot for the wall located in modern day South Shields on the south side of the river mouth. The most easterly fort was Segadunum found in Wallsend. On the North bank of the Tyne.
Arbeia is well worth a visit - it not only has a reconstruction of the western gatehouse but it has reconstructions of a barrack block and the commandant’s house. I have been many times.
Just noticed again these days, how much inspiration J.R.R Martin gained from british history
War of the roses, the Hadrian Wall and everywhere smaller things all over the history of Westeros, like Aegon the Conqueror inspired by the Norman Invasion
🥱
I live right by Hadrian’s wall. Don’t pay enough attention to it. Very interesting.
you don't see much of it from the main road, just the signs.
Rather unpleasant, one imagines. The Romans even came up with a slang word for the people up there, found written on a soldiers' note to home, and found nowhere else in the Roman record. 'Brittunculi', or 'nasty little Britons' lol
I wonder what they would think of Londinium these days...
@@dotdashdotdash What does this even mean?
@@zomgbatmore balderdash from the ‘everything’s fallen!’ Bore brigade who have no idea how diverse Rome was.
@@scoobyview They literally discuss it in this video that they purposefully split up ethnic groups and put them into other areas to prevent rebellion and demoralise them. The Roman empire would have worked regardless. You're essentially saying that it's a good thing, the diversity of the empire, when they did it for power and control. Trying to equate that to modern day diversity, saying it's a good thing, is laughable and shows a lack of understanding of the Roman empire.
With or without diversity, the empire would have worked, and it's diversity was a BAD thing. It relied on slavery, on forcing groups apart, on colonialism, on genocide, on war and torture and death. The modern western world now relies on diversity in a similar way. To break up ethnic and cultural groups. Postering that it's only a good thing, and that any detraction is just right wing hokey-pokey, tells me you need to read your history books again, and then again.
Obviously it's not all doom and gloom, but the argument is far, far more nuanced. The Roman empire was BAD for non Roman culture and ethnic groups, but it was good, in a base way, for the individual. Once you had the Christianisation of Rome, interestingly, so-called pillars of morality, you see all this played out at an even more perverse, grander scale. So whenever the Christian right applaud Rome as being great, I can't help but laugh.
@@wodensol5000 all I said was that it was diverse.
Thoroughly enjoyed this video. Thank you. History Hit gives me another dimension to my understanding of the human condition over time.
11:08 I always love in shot/reverse shot with interviews how they have to get the person asking questions to nod lol
Brilliant. Thanks Dan & Team.
An incredible piece of history you can actually see and wander about on.
Interestingly it kind of reminds me of the berlin wall...especially in the physical layout of the wall with successive belts of obstacles and even the actual height of the wall which again feels very reminiscent that particular style of barrier.
Thsi vid was well worth my time to watch. As an ignorant Yankee,I didnt know anything about Hedrons Wall until I saw a vid from Simon Whistler a couple years ago.
Thank you. Watching from Alaska.
🤔
Grabbing popcorn right now
I loved your documentary. Many years ago, on a tour if the UK, I visited one section of the wall and vowed to one day, return to see more of it,. Maybe I will someday hike the entire length of the wall. Hiking is probably one of the best ways to see the wall and the beautiful countryside.
Dan Snow saying in a posh accent “Why is there a penis on the wall” made me do a double take and rewind haha
posh?
29:55 The Batavians were not Belgians but a Germanic tribe from present day The Netherlands. They lived within the Roman borderlands in the Rhine delta and were exempt from taxation. Instead, they supplied the Roman army with special troops, mostly troops that were specialized in fighting in estuarine conditions. Even the personal bodyguards of the emperor were Batavians at some point.
You needed to show some artists' impressions of how the wall looked at its full height, in its heyday, rather than just the gatehouse at Arbeia. There are plenty of them. And it needed to be done near the start of the video, to impress the uninitiated, particularly children, who might see you standing next to the present day remains and think 'What's all the fuss about ? It doesn't look so imposing to me ! How did that keep the barbarians at bay for 450 years ?' Also, there are the magnificent views of the wall as it passes the crags between Twice Brewed and (ex 😢) Sycamore Gap, to show how the Whin Sill escarpment added to the wall's height, which you should have included earlier rather than just one brief shot at the end. Even Ant & Dec did a better job of depicting the lives of the garrisons and local farmers living along the wall, how it acted as a porous control point, illustrated by the fascinating letters written on preserved wax tablets, a unique glimpse of 'history from below' not found in other parts of the Roman Empire. A bit lazy again, Dan. 😢
The Wall in Game of Thrones is an homage to the Hadrian Wall. Those Roman soldiers must've felt like they are on the very edge of civilization, guarding it against the dreadful unknown.
If they were fed enough propaganda without seeing for themselves, who knows what they would have believed about the Northern occupants. Interesting to ponder.
maybe to guard against the gods, the only worthy challegers of the roman empire
@@lazorbheeemzWhy did it fall then?
With that mindset, imagine being told you are going to go on patrol in the north. Crazy
Shut up asian
I live at the End of it Wallsend Newcastle
I was born Wallsend. Our terrace house was built on the remaining of the wall they we're pulled down in 1976 they now have the segedunum fort
I found Roman Empire history to be just fascinating, so much that one of my little dog's name is Dacia and the other one is Galia.
Looks like I'm not the only one binge watching somme of Paul's older videos!
#RIP_Paul!
It blows my mind to think of Romanian teen boys manning part of Hadrian's Wall.
It blows my mind to think a Latin empire once ruled Britain and we once spoke Latin, there would have been men from allover the empire here once upon a time
Hence the phallic reliefs. Humans aren’t always immature darlings
The North Remembers.
And William the Bastard
American author George R.R. Martin has acknowledge that Hadrian's Wall was the inspiration for "The Wall" in his best-selling series A Song of Ice and Fire.
Another great film,thanks Dan!
It could be the missing link that Anglo Saxons had already started establishing themselves at the end of the Roman occupation when they converted these warehouses into halls. They were mercenaries/Roman soldiers already so it could be why Northumbria started off as one of the stronger provinces during the early AS period? They were already established/adapting to a degree by the end of the official withdrawal of the Romans compared to over provinces which had to adapt? Extremely interesting.
I’m from South Shields I need to visit these places
I've been up there on exercise with the army in January it was brutal and that was with cold weather kit.
Amazing so much survives.
Absolutely great episode. Thx.
Great show
For some years I was privileged to fish for trout from a boat on Crag Loch (the only 'loch'/lake in England); it is always the first drone photo when the Wall is shown; it is called 'crag' because to the south (Roman) side of the lake is a near-vertical cliff of maybe 300 feet in height; to attack the wall a barbarian from the North would have had to-
swim the freezing cold loch (it's quite deep) and
climb the cliff
and THEN attack the Romans.
Seems an unlikely battle plan; however even at that the legions built their wall atop the crag
I used to imagine the boredom of a soldier gazing northwards from up there, knowing that if he lived to be a hundred he would never see action in that place.
I wonder if they stole down and fished for the trout ?
Refreshing to see a historian NOT complaining about an insufficient number of ditches.
they didn't have to dig them.
Gottah love Dan 😊
Great work
Great show man
dude looked like daniel tosh in the thumbnail and now I want history vids with daniel tosh.
"Roman's" ? Spelling Hit.
Did the Roman's even use apostrophes? :)
"Spelling" ? Grammar Hit
Roman is what Roman does.
You spelled that wrong
One Roman many Romen 🤣
Jump in a boat sail pass the wall ,your in.
Phallic graffiti never gets old
like the rude man in chalk
Make Rome great again. M
Interesting 🧐🌸💜
There should be no apostrophe in that title.
Truly amazing
No apostrophe
so basically not really for defence but rather to divide certain Britons from the in group
Wow I’m so early! Cant wait
The Romans were awesome. Conquerors and master builders.
Dan entirely squandered the opportunity to say 'Biggus, Dickus'.
Beware the eyes of march 👀
The unnecessary apostrophes in TH-cam titles are getting out of control.
Ye’s they a’re!
😱
Was anyone else getting static noise when Dan was speaking at certain points in this?
Sweaters be tricky. Still a young operation!
This has just got to be interesting to somebody right
Really interesting
Question I've always had ..... The wall was higher than it is today. So! What happened to all those bricks? The amount missing must be enough to build a town.....
got 'nicked'
how did they no that was the narrowest part of england
they had maps?
I live locally on the Scottish side and have often wondered the same. The lay of the land regarding the Tyne Valley and the Eden Valley leaves little doubt as you can 'almost ' see both coastal plains from the relatively low upland hilltops in the central area. Much easier with the benefit of Google Maps though !
@@kewqie I've never seen a roman map
The Romans had Engineers and Surveyors just like we do now.
The Romans had extensively explored Britain so they knew the narrowest points for a east-west wall. They built the Antonine Wall 160 km to the north of Hadrian's Wall in today's Scotland, between the Firth of Clyde and the Firth of Forth. Forts and temporary camps were built even further north of the Antonine Wall.
If I heard right the wall is eighty miles across Britain. I live in south eastern Colorado, we drive that distance to grocery shop. 😂
Last night I watched History Underground tour the wall.
Facinating
I wonder how many Britons regularly went over the wall and back. It’s much lower than it was originally but it was probably scaled by quite a few anyway. Did it serve a purpose? I think it was at least partly effective as a defense but it was more a statement about where Rome was and non Roman Britain began.
If you watch the Robson Green series where he walks the wall and explores its history, evidence suggests it was more or less a tax/control fixture, remember the Antonine Wall was 100 miles further north.
Probably rather cold.
(11:58) or you're really making sure everybody pays to come in....
What was life like for what belonging to Roman?
you know some things, Dan Snow.
Dan looks like he caught a bit o' the sun 😂
Oh I don't know. You tell us, Dan Snow. Well try to read it, I know it's difficult.
Just a note, it's "Romans" not "Roman's" - which means "of the Roman"
Please fix the title
Sort your title out. 'Romans' doesn't need an apostrophe.
Don't get your panties in a twist
@badcornflakes6374
1) I don't wear panties.
2) If I DID wear panties, why would you assume that they were twisted?
I'm sure it was cold and wet
Classical Antiquity Imperial Han China had its Great Wall, constructed of stamped earthen walls while Classical World Britannia had its Hadrian's Wall of stone blocks. Both served the same purpose, delineating the frontier of the barbarian tribespeople to the north from the civilized Roman world to the south.
The Han Chinese Great Wall of tall, stamped earthen walls was more purpose-built to keep out northern Asian tribal horsemen raiders. The Roman Hadrian's Wall was not intended to be a fighting wall, although it could certainly do that. It's main purpose was frontier control of movement of persons and trade across the border. Rome depended upon reliable intelligence to ascertain imminent threats that the wall garrisons could deal with outside the wall. Nor did the Romans consider the wall the definitive border. Rome saw no limit nor prohibition from regulating the lands just due north of the wall if and when necessary. To the Imperial Han Chinese, barbarian lands began outside the wall.
Both succeeded for a long time at great expense in manpower, maintenance costs, and logistics resupply. And in the deep span of history both would ultimately fail for the same reasons. Traces and artifacts of both walls exist today, a testimony to the political ambitions of powerful, great men, the ingenuity of ancient engineers, the sweat and toil of soldiers and conscripted citizens - corvee labor - to create such magnificent grand schemes of human engineering attesting to their respective high levels of civilization. But unlike the Great Pyramids of Egypt, could not stand the test of time.
Very interesting❤❤
Spell the title correctly!!
I would not have survived. When I'm using the toilet, I don't want to talk, I don't want a conversation, and don't look at me.
That first historian was too giddy about slave soldiers and relocation programs
Funny as NYC was there less years than This Wall
"NYC" was occupied by humans for about 9000 years.
1400 years apart
Americans having Pizza (which is Italian), in every military base? Maybe you meant hamburgers..
Thanks for this video, back in the day this wall would be akin to modern day seperation like Gaza. With no TV or cameras to document the shixtass way my people were treated and divided. Oh how different everything for my people would be now if not for the Romoron war criminals. Never forgive Alesia or other atrocities comitted by Roman criminals.
you do realize this was about 2000 years ago and is no longer relevant. The English bounced back from this and the battle of Hastings to become the pioneers of the industrial revolution, create an empire which the Sun never set on, etc etc. The Americans took over in the 20'th century, and now it is the Asians turn. If the opportunity is there, grab it!.
Super cool
Dan snow is cool
Let’s be honest ,there’s very little of it left .Scavenged to death over the centuries.
What have the Romans done for us lately.
How’s that cappuccino u had for breakfast 😂
Obviously they had some valuable resources to protect , to go to all that trouble! , it seems to me the only difference between the romans and the nazis is victory
victory? I thought they both lost.
@@TerryHickey-xt4mf to my mind the Romans enjoyed a certain amount of victory, they conquered many , it is my opinion that the Roman military was a Trojan horse for the Catholic Church , upon establishing suitable civil structures to allow footholds for the church the military becomes useless so dissolves , there’s no movies about this it’s just my opinion
(7:22) Jumped at a random point near the start to see what this was about: "Rob, why is there a huge penis on the wall?" I'm hooked, let's start from the beginning.
Why did you not go to Wallsend - Segedunum?
Even the Romans didn't want to go to Scotland
So wise not to venture in Scotland. No decent man should go there
You fail to mention that during the Roman warm period (warmer than today) the growing of wine in England was possible, therefore this was not a frozen outpost but a warm period allowing people to migrate northwards because food resources are greater. The final collapse occurs with the return of cooler weather triggered by volcanism forcing people to migrate south.
Ecologist from a wine region: You can kinda grow grapes anywhere. The most prized wine grapes tend to need kind of shitty conditions compared to what you’re assuming with this hand wavy view of global temps and microclimates on one island.
The best wines of New Zealand are grown on the moonscape rock slopes near Queenstown in the south island, believe me it gets freezing down there. To compensate it is one of the most beautiful places on earth.
The Romans left UK because of far more challenging problems on the 'eastern' front of Europe etc, they had to try and consolidate their empire.
Rome was something else
- Roman's
- Hadrians
Is it really so difficult to hire people with a basic grasp of the English language to write your titles?