1. Why did the Romans want to invade our small country?
Roman Invasion
Why did the Romans want to invade our small country?

2. What did we have to offer?
Strabo a Roman contemporary said:
“Corn, cattle, gold, silver and iron these are brought from Britain: also hides, slaves, and clever hunting dogs.”

3. What else did we have to offer?
Lead
Wool
Tin
Pearls
Pottery
Timber

4. Farmers had to grow the corn and send it to the cities.
Why corn?
The Roman Empire was growing bigger and bigger and the demand for food was growing all the time.
As more people moved to the large towns and cities they could not grow the food they needed and had to buy it.
Farmers had to grow the corn and send it to the cities.

5. Why silver?
Roman coins were made of silver at the time and more coins were needed as the Roman Empire expanded .
The Romans knew the Britons had silver mines as they were already exporting it to them.
Rich Romans used silver for plates and cups and people in the new provinces wanted the same to show that they were civilised too.

6. Why gold? Why tin? The Romans used gold for jewellery, for money.
They needed it to trade for goods elsewhere.
There was not a lot of gold to be mined elsewhere in Europe.
The middle class Romans used pewter for cups and bowls/plates.
Tin was also mixed with other metals to make strong, hard metals.

7. The Romans used lead coffins.
Why lead?
Silver could be refined from lead. As the demand for silver grew so did the demands for lead.
The Romans also used lead in their plumbing; water pipes were made from lead and water tanks were lined with lead to keep them waterproof.
The Romans used lead coffins.

8. Why slaves? A newly conquered country would give Rome lots of slaves.
People captured in battle.
People who rebelled against them.
People from beyond the newly conquered territory.
As the Romans ‘romanised’ countries, more people wanted to live like Romans and bought slaves.

9. Why wool? Why leather?
The Romans wore woollen togas and woollen tunics. They used wool for stuffing mattresses.
The Romans used leather in buckets, in army tents, soldiers’ cloaks and shields. They used leather for hinges, for their horses’ bridles.

10. written by Virgil in about 20 BC/BCE
The Romans
“Remember you are a Roman. It will be your job to rule over other countries, so that the world becomes peaceful and everyone obeys the law.”
written by Virgil in about 20 BC/BCE

11. Power! The Romans were an extremely powerful race.
They knew they were the most powerful force in Europe.
They wanted to show how powerful they were by conquering more countries.
They wanted to impose their civilisation on the barbarians who were not yet part of their empire

12. Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar was only a general, but he was the most powerful general in the Roman army.
He wanted to be the most powerful person in Rome and knew that the more victories he won the more powerful he would become.

13. Revenge!
The Britons had sent over many warriors to help the Gauls fight against Caesar.
Caesar wanted to show the Gauls and Britons that he would not let tribes support each other against him.
Caesar wanted to make an example of them so that they would never try it again.