What the Romans did for us

What the Romans did for us is the title of a television documentary comprising six episodes, which was first shown on BBC Two in the year 2000. The program was presented by Adam Hart-Davis, who has a keen interest in ancient history, especially ancient technology.

What the Romans did for us is also the title of a book published by Box Tree and written by Philip Wilkinson, who is the author of several books, including Yangtze (2005) and Mythtology (2007). The foreword is written by Adam Hart-Davis. Some of the illustrations are still photos from the documentary.

The Box Tree book is published by arrangement with the BBC. It is not a transcript of what is said on the television documentary. It is an independent account, which can stand alone, if it has to. However, the television documentary and the book complement each other very well. In the documentary the focus is on attempts to reconstruct several types of ancient technology in order to see how they work. The result is good television. In the book the focus is on historical background and general information. The result is an interesting account about Roman Britain with emphasis on the technological aspects.

The book has the same structure as the television documentary. There are six episodes, and there are six chapters. Here are the headlines:

      Chapter 1: INVASION

      Chapter 2: ARTERIES OF THE EMPIRE

      Chapter 3: EDGE OF EMPIRE

      Chapter 4: BUILDING BRITAIN

      Chapter 5: LIFE OF LUXURY

      Chapter 6: AHEAD OF THEIR TIME

Each chapter covers one topic or one aspect of the history of Roman Britain. From time to time the main text is interrupted by a separate sidebar printed with a grey background. Each sidebar gives a brief presentation of a Roman site somewhere in Britain. In this way the author also covers the geography of Roman Britain. His list is quite comprehensive:

** Roman Forts – 7

** Roman Towns – 4

** Roman Villas – 3
** Roman Castles – 2

** Roman Palaces – 1
** Roman Lighthouses – 1

The book is illustrated with a large number of good colour pictures. There is a picture of almost every location and almost every type of ancient technology mentioned in the book.

Some people are not so fond of television programs hosted by Adam Hart-Davis. They feel he shows his face too often. I get the point. On the other hand, I have to say that Adam Hart-Davis always has an enthusiastic attitude and a strong commitment to his topic which is a good quality in a television host.

In this book several pictures show Adam Hart-Davis. There is one picture on the back cover, and inside the book he appears fifteen times. But these are not the only illustrations in the book, so I do not want to complain about this issue.

In his foreword Adam Hart-Davis makes an interesting observation:

“An intriguing thing about the Romans is that they were brilliant engineers and organizers, but poor innovators. They came to Britain in the middle of the first century, and built roads and forts, baths and drains, many of which survive until today. And yet most of their ideas were taken from the Greeks, and they seem to have been unable to come up with new ones of their own. They occupied Britain for 400 years, but in all that time they had no industrial revolution; their technology was advanced when they arrived, but scarcely more advanced by the time they went home again. This failure to move forward may have been one of the underlying reasons for the collapse of the Roman empire.”

I like this book, but I have to mention a few cases which bother me:

(1) On page 54 Wilkinson mentions Emperor Diocletian with the following dates: 244-311. These dates are supposed to be the year he was born and the year he died. But we do not know when Diocletian was born or when he died.

 

If you search the internet, you will many different answers from different sources:

** 245-313: The Catholic Encyclopedia

** 245-316: The Encyclopedia Britannica:

** 236 or 237-316: De Imperatoribus Romanis

** 240 or 245-311: The Roman-Empire-Net

In Diocletian and the Tetrarchy, published in 2004, Roger Rees says Diocletian was born about 240. Perhaps he died in 312. Why not use the dates for Diocletian’s reign? They are much safer: he ruled from 284 to 305.

(2) On page 100 Wilkinson describes the Roman theatre of Verulamium (St Albans). He claims it “consisted of a raised stage, in front of which was a flat circular area called the orchestra.” The orchestra is not circular, but semi-circular.

(3) In chapter 6 Wilkinson mentions an anonymous ancient text about military matters from the fourth century. According to him, the title is De rebus bellicus. This title appears on page 151 and it is repeated on page 152. It is also listed in the index, and every time the title is spelled the same way, so we are not dealing with a misprint. It is a regular mistake. The correct title is De rebus bellicis.

Flaws such as these are unfortunate, but they are minor and they are the exception. With or without the television documentary this book is an interesting account about Roman Britain with emphasis on the technological aspects.

The author gives historical background and general information. In addition, he tells you where you can go and what you can see, if you want to visit some of the Roman sites in Britain. For these reasons his book is highly recommended.

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Philip Wilkinson,

What the Romans did for us,

Box Tree, 2001, 160 pages

 

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