Roman Colony

During the Roman occupation of Britain, London developed its dual role as commercial entrepôt and national capital that it has maintained ever since. It grew to be one of the largest provincial cities in the Western Empire, and in so doing acquired its lasting cosmopolitan character as a city semi-detached from the rest of the country, looking outwards to the rest of the world rather than inwards to its hinterland. To obtain British consent for their hegemonic rule, the Roman authorities sought to gain the allegiance of the native elite by incorporating them into the Roman aristocracy. This meant abiding by the dominant Roman ideology of honour, based upon social status and personal distinction. The urban realm was a vital component of Roman cultural hegemony, so that cities as well as people competed for status and prestige. Provision of fine public buildings brought particular honour to a city, and the redevelopment of Rome by the Emperor Augustus provided the archetypal model to which all cities in the Empire should aspire. It was a model based on an ensemble of monumental marble-clad buildings, adorned with statues and inscriptions for hegemonic effect, organised into a formal landscape of power with interlinked public spaces designed to host spectacular ceremonies celebrating imperial rule. Monumental Londinium was built on the Augustan model in the first half of the second century AD. At its heart on Cornhill lay the forum, a large colonnaded space sited on the intersection of the main east-west and north-south routes through the city. The forum was surrounded by public buildings, including the council chamber, trading halls and bankers’ offices. At its summit was a vast basilica in which administration was conducted, taxation organised and justice dispensed. This hegemonic building signified the civic and commercial dimensions of imperial power. In addition to the deference and awe demanded by these public buildings, pleasure was also used to induce popular consent for Roman rule. Remains of at least two public bath houses have been found, together with those of a substantial amphitheatre lying beneath the current Guildhall. Moving into the third century, peace and prosperity gave way to political and economic instability across the Empire, bringing the golden age of hegemonic public building to an end. In London the one form of public building to flourish in the third century was the construction of the great circuit of city walls, indicating a defensive response to growing political turbulence. Around 300 the forum and basilica were systematically demolished, and several other public buildings also fell out of use. There was, however, a compensating switch in hegemonic building from the public to the private domain, with a marked increase of conspicuous investment in opulent townhouses by the wealthy Romano-British elite. But this phase came to an end in the fourth century, as Roman rule weakened and the city went into terminal decline.