CHAPTER 33
Ethnicity in the Roman Northwest
Ursula Rothe
Sources and Scenarios
The following winter was taken up by measures of a most beneficial kind. His intention was,
in fact, that people who lived in widely dispersed and primitive settlements and hence were
naturally inclined to war should become accustomed to peace and quiet by the provision of
amenities. Hence he gave encouragement to individuals and assistance to communities to
build temples, market-places and town houses....Further, he educated the sons of the lead-
ing men in the liberal arts and he rated the natural talents of the Britons above the trained
skills of the Gauls. The result was that those who just lately had been rejecting the Roman
tongue now conceived a desire for eloquence. Thus even our style of dress came into favour
and the toga was everywhere to be seen. Gradually, too, they went astray into the allurements
of evil ways, colonnades and warm baths and elegant banquets. The Britons, who had had
no experience of this, called it “civilization,” although it was a part of their enslavement.
(Tacitus,Agricola21, translation from A. R. Birley 1999)Although it refers specifically to Britain and is controversial in its interpretation, this
oft-cited passage from Tacitus’ biography of his father-in-law Agricola, governor of Bri-
tanniafrom78to85AD, nonetheless expounds a basic truth that applies to Rome’s
northwestern provinces in general: in this region, Roman conquest brought with it not
just new rulers, but also fundamental structural changes on a scale that set it quite apart
from the experiences of the Roman East. The pre-Roman political and economic struc-
tures of the area that was to become Britannia, Gallia, Germania, Raetia, Noricum, and
Pannonia had by no means been homogenous, nor were the changes that followed
Roman conquest consistent or complete, but in many regions the advent of cities, a
professional army, a monetized economy, a regulated market, and higher, more removed
levels of political hierarchy caused social transformations that had a direct effect on the
A Companion to Ethnicity in the Ancient Mediterranean, First Edition. Edited by Jeremy McInerney.
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Published 2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.