BETTANY HUGHES: Close on 2,000 years ago, the Romans arrived in Britain, bringing with them new food, fashions, and lifestyles which the richer women living in Roman Britain were able to enjoy. It's not always easy to find out about women in history, but there's great evidence of how Roman women lived in Britain, thanks to the statues and artefacts they've left behind. We've even discovered some of their letters telling us that, just like all of us, Roman women loved to celebrate.
Claudia Severa to her Lepidina. Greetings. On the 11th September, sister, the day I celebrate my birthday, I send you this warm invitation to make sure you come to ours. I will enjoy the day so much more if you are there. Farewell, sister, my dearest soul, as I hope to prosper, and hail.
It's incredible to think that this invitation, almost 2,000 years old, was dug out of the ground at this Roman fort here at Vindolanda. It was written by the wife of one of the camp commanders. Now, the fantastic thing about it is it tells us at these Roman forts there weren't just male, muscly soldiers, there were also women and children here too. This is a copy of that letter and it tells us all kinds of useful things - that the Romans wrote in Latin, that they celebrated birthday parties, and that the woman who wrote it was obviously rich enough to be educated and that she could read and write. And it's really fantastic, because most of this has been written by kind of an official scribe, and then you've got her actual handwriting here in the corner, and this is the oldest handwriting of a woman from anywhere in the Western world.
After the Romans took control of Britain, with the exception of a few religious roles, a woman's job was pretty much to run the household. Of course, if you were rich, you had slaves to help you clean, look after your children, and prepare and serve food. Before the Roman invasion, the locals mainly ate a kind of porridge with either vegetables or nuts or berries, but the Romans introduced all kinds of different foods that, funnily enough, we now think of as being typically British. Things like lettuce and cabbage, and apples and even peas. Now, when they had a banquet, they really let rip. Then they'd eat roasted swans, pig udders, dormice sprinkled with honey or poppy seeds. They also used to eat a really disgusting kind of fermented fish sauce - there's actually some in here. Eugh! Even the smell makes me want to gag. And if you did feel a bit queasy or if you had tummy trouble, then the Romans recommended pickled cabbage. Eugh!
As well as eating new foods, women in Britain at this time began to wear the latest trends that the Romans had introduced to this country. We know this from looking at statues, mosaics, and paintings. But we can also get clues from the artefacts that have been excavated like this shoe. This is such a beautiful little piece. How old is this?
This shoe is actually almost 2,000 years old. It's a wonderful, wonderful piece. It's a lady's slipper, probably used indoors, and here and here you can just make out the stamps of the maker.
Amazing. So it's like a branding, like we'd have on a trainer or something today.
It is. But this is the kind of very high fashion sort of piece. It would've been very expensive. But the interesting thing is you can see just here it's broke just in-between the toe and so she had enough money that she just threw it away. Most of our shoes show evidence of repair so not everyone had the money that she did.
This is an example of one of our finger rings. It's made of silver and we do have a few silver rings and a few gold rings but not very many. This one has been inscribed with Matre Patre.
Mum and Dad.
Aw! And that's somebody who's missing their mum and dad, is it?
Yes, yes, that's what we can interpret from it. Really makes you feel close to them, to those people who lived all that time ago. When you start to look at their stuff you start to feel that you begin to know them.
Archaeological discoveries also reveal the kind of hairstyle some women had. This stone carving is a head of a woman from Roman Britain and because it was made close on 2,000 years ago it's got very worn so her nose has been chipped off and her chin's gone a bit peculiar but just come and have a look around here. This is just brilliant because you get a fantastic idea of what her hairstyle would've been like. She's got this great mass of curls up here and then the rest of her hair has been wound round in a really elaborate kind of a bun. I know it does look a bit odd but believe it or not this was the height of fashion back then.
Women have often been written out of history because generally they didn't do the big stuff like run countries or start wars. But the brilliant thing about the discoveries here at Vindolanda is that you do feel really close to them and thanks to those lovely letters from women like Claudia here women have written themselves back into history itself.
Video summary
Bettany Hughes explores the lives of Roman women and looks at a genuine letter from a Roman woman to her sister.
It was discovered at the Roman fort at Vindolanda and is the oldest handwriting of a woman in the western world.
It looks at how Roman women lived in Britain, the banquets and food they had, such as lettuce, cabbage, apples and peas which were introduced into Britain.
Through looking at artefacts at the museum, such as a 2000-year-old slipper, rings, birthday invitation and statues, we can understand what their life, fashion and hairstyles were like.
This clip is from the series Roman Voices.
Teacher Notes
As a class the children could compare the life of a Roman child to their own. Would they like to be a Roman child?
They could then write a diary as a Roman child, describing what their life was like and the differences between the lives of boys and girls.
This clip is relevant to teaching History at KS2 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and Second level in Scotland.
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