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You being British, I do have a question for you on this, do you view the Roman occupation of Britannia as an entirely bad thing? I ask because I think we tend t

by kls 6y ago

You being British, I do have a question for you on this, do you view the Roman occupation of Britannia as an entirely bad thing? I ask because I think we tend to add emotion to more current events and look at event further away with the lens of history. I think many times we look at closer to current events with a filter of emotion and culture. I personally think Europe as a whole gained a lot from Roman occupation, while I don't look at it in it's entirety as a good thing, some good did come of it, and it did server to advance civilization in Western Europe. I don't think people within 200 years of that occupation saw it, in the same historical framing.

clappski 6y ago
As someone else from the UK, we're so far removed from anything that the Romans did that I doubt anyone has an emotional response to it (as you point out). I wouldn't even consider it correct to say that we're ethnically or culturally the same people as those who were subjugated under the Roman empire considering the subsequent Anglo-Saxon and Norman conquests! In fact, it's hard for me to name something explicitly that the Romans did in Britain other than lay the foundations for some towns and cities, and built some roads. All of this was over 1000 years ago, so I doubt (other than the exceptions that I can think of on the spot; some roads, towns and 'Roman Baths') that anyone from the UK is walking around and interpreting what they see as a result of Roman occupation. On an objective level as someone who obviously never experienced true Roman Britain, sure, they built some things that were pretty cool at the time, but at the same time you can objectively look back and say "yeah, slavery is really bad, I wish the Romans didn't enslave people and use that slave labour to build the things that they did". I think the real layman answer is "who cares, it was over 1000 years ago, and I don't really understand how the people of the time relate to the world/culture I take part in".
- jrhurst 6y ago
  Closer to two thousand years ago. That's how far removed it is.

by kls 6y ago

clappski 6y ago

As someone else from the UK, we're so far removed from anything that the Romans did that I doubt anyone has an emotional response to it (as you point out). I wouldn't even consider it correct to say that we're ethnically or culturally the same people as those who were subjugated under the Roman empire considering the subsequent Anglo-Saxon and Norman conquests! In fact, it's hard for me to name something explicitly that the Romans did in Britain other than lay the foundations for some towns and cities, and built some roads. All of this was over 1000 years ago, so I doubt (other than the exceptions that I can think of on the spot; some roads, towns and 'Roman Baths') that anyone from the UK is walking around and interpreting what they see as a result of Roman occupation. On an objective level as someone who obviously never experienced true Roman Britain, sure, they built some things that were pretty cool at the time, but at the same time you can objectively look back and say "yeah, slavery is really bad, I wish the Romans didn't enslave people and use that slave labour to build the things that they did". I think the real layman answer is "who cares, it was over 1000 years ago, and I don't really understand how the people of the time relate to the world/culture I take part in".

jrhurst 6y ago
Closer to two thousand years ago. That's how far removed it is.