View source for Londinium

{{short description|Settlement established on the current site of the City of London around 43–50 AD}}
{{about||the modern city and capital of the United Kingdom|London|other uses}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2021}}
{{Infobox ancient site
 |name = Londinium
 |native_name = 
 |alternate_name = 
 |image = Map Londinium 400 AD-en.svg
 |alt = 
 |caption = A general outline of Roman London in late antiquity, with the modern banks of the Thames.{{refn|Note that this image includes both the [[#2nd century|garrison fort]], which was demolished in the 3rd century, and the [[London Mithraeum|Mithraeum]], which was abandoned around the same time. The identification of the "[[#1st century|governor's palace]]" remains conjectural.}} Discovered roads drawn as double lines; conjectural roads, single lines.
 |map_type = England
 |map_size = 
 |relief = 
 |map_caption = Location within England
 |coordinates = {{Coord|51|30|45|N|0|05|26|W|type:landmark_region:GB|display=inline,title}}
 |location = [[London]], United Kingdom
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 |type = Roman city 
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 |built = 43 – 50 AD{{sfn|Hingley|2018|pp=27-32}}<ref name="Wallace 2015 p. ">{{cite book | last=Wallace | first=Lacey M. | title=The Origin of Roman London | publisher=Cambridge University Press | date=2015-01-08 | isbn=978-1-316-19483-6 | pages=}}</ref>
 |abandoned = 
 |epochs = [[Roman Empire]]
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}}

'''Londinium''', also known as '''Roman London''', was the capital of [[Roman Britain]] during most of the period of Roman rule. Most twenty-first century historians think that it was originally a settlement established shortly after the [[Roman conquest of Britain|Claudian invasion of Britain]], on the current site of the [[City of London]], around 47–50 AD,{{sfn|Hingley|2018|pp=27-32}}{{sfn|Hill|Rowsome|2011|pp=251-262}}<ref name="Wallace 2015 p. ">{{cite book | last=Wallace | first=Lacey M. | title=The Origin of Roman London | publisher=Cambridge University Press | date=2015-01-08 | isbn=978-1-316-19483-6 | pages=}}</ref> but some defend an older view that the city originated in a defensive enclosure constructed during the Claudian invasion in 43 AD.{{sfn|Perring|2022|pp=51-63}} Its earliest securely-dated structure is a timber drain of 47 AD.<ref name="archaeologydataservice.ac.uk">[http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/no1poultry_molas_2007/ Number 1 Poultry (ONE 94), Museum of London Archaeology, 2013]. Archaeology Data Service, The University of York.</ref> It sat at a key [[Ford (crossing)|ford]] at the [[River Thames]] which turned the city into a road nexus and major port (which was built between 49 and 52 AD<ref name="Wallace 2015 p. "/>), serving as a major commercial centre in Roman Britain until its abandonment during the 5th century.

Following the foundation of the town in the mid-1st century, early Londinium occupied the relatively small area of {{convert|1.4|sqkm|abbr=on|sigfig=1}}, roughly half the area of the modern City of London and equivalent to the size of present-day [[Hyde Park, London|Hyde Park]]. In 60 or 61 AD, the rebellion of the [[Iceni]] under their queen, [[Boudica]], compelled the Roman forces to abandon the settlement, which was then razed. Following the defeat of Boudica by the [[List of governors of Roman Britain|Roman governor]] [[Gaius Suetonius Paulinus]] a military installation was established,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Dunwoodie, Lesley.|title=An early Roman fort and urban development on Londinium's eastern hill : excavations at Plantation Place, City of London, 1997-2003|date=2015|publisher=MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology)|others=Harward, Chiz., Pitt, Ken.|isbn=978-1-907586-32-3|location=London|oclc=920542650}}</ref> and the city was rebuilt. It had probably largely recovered within about a decade. During the later decades of the 1st century, Londinium expanded rapidly, becoming Britannia's largest city, and it was provided with large public buildings such as a forum<ref>{{Cite book|last=Marsden, Peter Richard Valentine.|title=The Roman Forum Site in London: discoveries before 1985|date=1987|publisher=H.M.S.O|others=Museum of London.|isbn=0-11-290442-4|location=London|oclc=16415134}}</ref> and amphitheatre.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Bateman, Nick.|title=London's Roman amphitheatre : Guildhall Yard, City of London|date=2008|publisher=Museum of London Archaeology Service|others=Cowan, Carrie., Wroe-Brown, Robin., Museum of London. Archaeology Service.|isbn=978-1-901992-71-7|location=[London]|oclc=276334521}}</ref> By the 2nd century, Londinium had grown to perhaps 30,000 or 60,000 people, almost certainly replacing [[Camulodunum]] ([[Colchester]]) as the provincial capital, and by the mid-2nd century Londinium was at its height. Its forum basilica was one of the largest structures north of the [[Alps]] when [[Hadrian|Emperor Hadrian]] visited Londinium in 122. Excavations have discovered evidence of a major fire that destroyed much of the city shortly thereafter, but the city was again rebuilt. By the second half of the 2nd century, Londinium appears to have shrunk in both size and population.

Although Londinium remained important for the rest of the Roman period, no further expansion resulted.{{citation needed|date=February 2022}} Londinium supported a smaller but stable settlement population as archaeologists have found that much of the city after this date was covered in [[dark earth]]—the by-product of urban household waste, manure, ceramic tile, and non-farm debris of settlement occupation, which accumulated relatively undisturbed for centuries. Some time between 190 and 225, the Romans built a defensive wall around the landward side of the city. The [[London Wall]] survived for another 1,600 years and broadly defined the perimeter of the old City of London.

{{History of London}}

== Name ==
The [[Etymology of London|etymology of the name ''Londinium'']] is unknown. Following [[Geoffrey of Monmouth]]'s [[pseudohistorical]] ''[[History of the Kings of Britain]]'',<ref name="herb_number_one">Galfredus Monemutensis [Geoffrey of Monmouth]. [https://books.google.com/books?id=LBw2AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA44 ''Historia Regnum Britanniae'' &#91;''History of the Kings of Britain''&#93;, Vol.&nbsp;III, Ch.&nbsp;xx.] {{circa|lk=no|1136}}. {{in lang|la}}</ref><ref name="herb_number_two">[[Geoffrey of Monmouth]]. Translated by J.A. Giles &&nbsp;al. as [[s:History of the Kings of Britain/Book 3#20|''Geoffrey of Monmouth's British History'', Vol.&nbsp;III, Ch.&nbsp;XX]], in ''Six Old English Chronicles of Which Two Are Now First Translated from the Monkish Latin Originals: Ethelwerd's Chronicle, Asser's Life of Alfred, Geoffrey of Monmouth's British History, Gildas, Nennius, and Richard of Cirencester''. Henry G. Bohn (London), 1848. Hosted at [[s:Main Page|Wikisource]].</ref> it was [[folk etymology|long published as derived]] from an [[Origin myth|eponymous founder]] named [[King Lud|Lud]], son of [[Heli, King of Britain|Heli]]. There is no evidence such a figure existed. Instead, the Latin name was probably based on a native [[Common Brittonic|Brittonic]] place name [[linguistic reconstruction|reconstructed]] as *''Londinion''.{{refn|This etymology was first suggested in 1899 by [[d'Arbois de Jubainville]] and is generally accepted, as by Haverfield.<ref name=haverfield />}} Morphologically, this points to a structure of two suffixes: ''-in-jo-''. However, the Roman ''Londinium'' was not the immediate source of English "London" ({{langx|ang|Lunden}}), as [[i-mutation|''i''-mutation]] would have caused the name to have been ''Lyndon''. This suggests an alternative Brittonic form ''Londonion'';{{refn|name="jackson"|This is the argument made by [[Kenneth H. Jackson|Jackson]]<ref>{{cite journal |last=Jackson |first=Kenneth H. |journal=Antiquity |title=Nennius and the 28 cities of Britain |volume=12 |issue=45 |pages=44–55 |year=1938 |doi=10.1017/S0003598X00013405 |s2cid=163506021 }}</ref> and accepted by [[Richard Coates|Coates]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Coates |first=Richard |year=1998 |title=A new explanation of the name of London |journal=Transactions of the Philological Society |volume=96 |issue=2 |pages=203–29 |doi=10.1111/1467-968X.00027 }}</ref>}} alternatively, the local pronunciation in [[British Latin]] may have changed the pronunciation of ''Londinium'' to ''Lundeiniu'' or ''Lundein'', which would also have avoided ''i''-mutation in Old English.<ref>Peter Schrijver, ''[[Language Contact and the Origins of the Germanic Languages]]'' (2013), p. 57.</ref> The list of the [[28 Cities of Britain]] included in the 9th-century ''[[History of the Britons]]'' precisely notes London<ref name="nashford">Ford, David Nash. "[http://www.britannia.com/history/ebk/articles/nenniuscities.html The 28 Cities of Britain] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160415120312/http://www.britannia.com/history/ebk/articles/nenniuscities.html |date=15 April 2016 }}" at Britannia. 2000.</ref> in [[Old Welsh]] as ''[[Caer|Cair]] Lundem''<ref name="mommy">[[Nennius]] ({{abbr|attrib.|Traditional attribution}}). [[Theodor Mommsen]] ({{abbr|ed.|Editor}}). [[s:la:Historia Brittonum#VI. CIVITATES BRITANNIAE|''Historia Brittonum'', VI.]] Composed after 830. {{in lang|la}} Hosted at [[s:la:Main Page|Latin Wikisource]].</ref> or ''Lundein''.<ref name=nashford />{{refn|[[Bishop Ussher]], cited in [[John Henry Newman|Newman]]<ref name="shusher">Newman, John Henry &&nbsp;al. [http://www.mocavo.co.uk/Lives-of-the-English-Saints-St-Gilbert-Prior-of-Sempringham-Volume-3/527392/459 ''Lives of the English Saints: St. German, Bishop of Auxerre'', Ch.&nbsp;X: "Britain in 429, A.&nbsp;D.",<!--sic--> p.&nbsp;92.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160321234154/http://www.mocavo.co.uk/Lives-of-the-English-Saints-St-Gilbert-Prior-of-Sempringham-Volume-3/527392/459 |date=21 March 2016 }} James Toovey (London), 1844.</ref>}}

The pronunciation of ''Londinium'' in English is {{IPAc-en|l|ʌ|n|ˈ|d|ɪ|n|i|əm}} {{respell|lun|DIN|ee|əm}},<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/londinium |title=Londinium |access-date=2023-02-12 |website=[[Collins English Dictionary]] |publisher=[[HarperCollins]]}}</ref> and its pronunciation in [[Classical Latin]] is {{IPA|la|ɫɔnˈdɪniʊ̃ː}}.

== Location ==
[[File:Britain roman.png|thumb|right|upright 1.2|{{nowrap|A map of [[Roman Britain]]}}<ref>[[1911 Encyclopædia Britannica|''Encyclopædia Britannica'', 11th edition]]. 1911.</ref>]]
The site guarded the Romans' bridgehead on the north bank of the [[River Thames|Thames]] and a major road nexus shortly after the invasion. It was centred on [[Cornhill, London|Cornhill]] and the [[River Walbrook]], but extended west to [[Ludgate Hill]] and east to [[Tower Hill]]. Just prior to the Roman conquest, the area had been contested by the [[Catuvellauni]] based to the west and the [[Trinovantes]] based to the east; it bordered the realm of the [[Cantiaci]] on the south bank of the Thames.

The Roman city ultimately covered at least the area of the [[City of London]], whose boundaries are largely defined by [[London Wall|its former wall]]. Londinium's waterfront on the Thames ran from around Ludgate Hill in the west to the present site of the [[Tower of London|Tower]] in the east, around {{convert|1.5|km|mi}}. The northern wall reached [[Bishopsgate]] and [[Cripplegate]] near the former site of the [[Museum of London]], a course now marked by the street "London Wall". Cemeteries and suburbs existed outside the city proper. A round temple has been located west of the city, although its dedication remains unclear.

Substantial suburbs existed at [[St Martin-in-the-Fields|St&nbsp;Martin-in-the-Fields]] in [[Westminster]] and around the southern end of the Thames bridge in [[Southwark]], where excavations in 1988<ref>The London Archaeologist 1988 Vol 5 No. 14</ref> and 2021 have revealed an elaborate building with fine mosaics and frescoed walls dating from 72 AD.<ref>The Liberty of Southwark https://thedig.thelibertyofsouthwark.com/</ref><ref>London's largest Roman mosaic find for 50 years uncovered https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-60466187</ref> Inscriptions suggest a [[Roman temple|temple]] of [[Isis]] was located there.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://roman-britain.co.uk/places/londinium.htm|title=LONDINIVM AVGVSTA|last=White|first=Kevan|date=2016-02-07|website=roman-britain.co.uk|access-date=2018-02-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180213024351/http://roman-britain.co.uk/places/londinium.htm|archive-date=13 February 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref>

== Status ==

Londinium grew up as a ''[[vicus]]'' and soon became an important port for trade between [[Roman Britain]] and the [[Roman provinces]] on the continent. [[Tacitus]] wrote that at the time of the [[Boudica's uprising|uprising of Boudica]], "Londinium... though undistinguished by the name of '[[colonia (Roman)|colony]]', was much frequented by a number of merchants and trading vessels."{{refn|[[Latin]]: {{lang|la|Londinium..., cognomento quidem coloniae non insigne, sed copia negotiatorum et commeatuum maxime celebre.}}<ref name=tacky />}}<ref name=tacky2>[[Tacitus]]. Translated by [[Alfred John Church]] & William Jackson Brodribb. [[s:The Annals (Tacitus)/Book 14#33|''Annals<!--sic--> of Tacitus, Translated into English, with Notes and Maps'', Book&nbsp;XIV, §&nbsp;33]]. Macmillan &&nbsp;Co., London, 1876. Reprinted by Random House, 1942. Reprinted by the Perseus Project, {{circa|lk=no|2011}}. Hosted at [[s:Main Page|Wikisource]].</ref>

Depending on the time of its creation, the modesty of Londinium's first forum may have reflected its early elevation to [[municipium|city]] ({{lang|la|municipium}}) status or may have reflected an administrative concession to a low-ranking but major [[Romano-British culture|Romano-British]] settlement.<ref name=salis5>Merrifield, [https://books.google.com/books?id=39wl2I48e7kC&pg=PA64 pp.&nbsp;64–66.]</ref> It had almost certainly been granted colony ({{lang|la|colonia}}) status prior to the complete replanning of the city's street plan attending the erection of the great second forum around the year 120.<ref name="salis6">Merrifield, [https://books.google.com/books?id=39wl2I48e7kC&pg=PA68 p.&nbsp;68.]</ref>

By this time, Britain's provincial administration had also almost certainly been moved to Londinium from [[Camulodunum]] (now [[Colchester]] in [[Essex]]). The precise date of this change is unknown, and no surviving source explicitly states that Londinium was "the [[capital city|capital]] of Britain," but there are several strong indications of this status: 2nd-century roofing tiles have been found marked by the "[[Procurator (ancient Rome)|Procurator]]" or "[[Publican]] of the Province of Britain at Londinium",{{refn|Latin: {{lang|la|P·P·BR·LON}} [''Publicani Provinciae Britanniae Londinienses''] & {{lang|la|P·PR·LON}} [''Publicani Provinciae Londinienses'']<ref>Egbert, James. [https://archive.org/stream/introductiontost00egberich#page/446/mode/2up ''Introduction to the Study of Latin Inscriptions'', p.&nbsp;447.] American Book Co. (Cincinnati),1896.</ref>}} the remains of a [[Roman governor|governor]]'s palace and tombstones belonging to the governor's staff have been discovered, and the city was well defended and armed, with a new military camp erected at the beginning of the 2nd century in a fort on the north-western edge of the city, despite being far from any frontier.<ref>Wacher, p.&nbsp;85.</ref> Despite some corruption to the text, the list of bishops for the [[Council of Arles (314)|314 Council of Arles]] indicates that either [[Restitutus]] or Adelphius came from Londinium.{{refn|name=bishop|"Nomina Episcoporum, cum Clericis Suis, Quinam, et ex Quibus Provinciis, ad Arelatensem Synodum Convenerint" ["The Names of the Bishops with Their Clerics who Came Together at the Synod of Arles and from which Province They Came"] from the ''Consilia''<ref>[[Labbé, Philippe]] & [[Gabriel Cossart]] (eds.) [https://download.digitale-sammlungen.de/BOOKS/pdf_download.pl?id=bsb10321964 ''Sacrosancta Concilia ad Regiam Editionem Exacta: quae Nunc Quarta Parte Prodit Actior'' &#91;''The Sancrosanct Councils Exacted for the Royal Edition: which the Editors Now Produce in Four Parts''&#93;, Vol.&nbsp;I: "Ab Initiis Æræ Christianæ ad Annum CCCXXIV" &#91;"From the Beginning of the Christian Era to the Year 324"&#93;, col.&nbsp;1429.] The Typographical Society for Ecclesiastical Books (Paris), 1671. {{in lang|la}}</ref> in [[Francis Thackery|Thackery]]<ref name=thacky>Thackery, Francis. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZtgDAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA272 ''Researches into the Ecclesiastical and Political State of Ancient Britain under the Roman Emperors: with Observations upon the Principal Events and Characters Connected with the Christian Religion, during the First Five Centuries'', pp.&nbsp;272&nbsp;ff.] T.&nbsp;Cadell (London), 1843. {{in lang|la|en}}</ref>}} The city seems to have been the seat of the [[Roman diocese|diocesan]] [[vicarius|vicar]] and one of the provincial governors following the [[Diocletian Reforms]] around 300; it had been renamed '''Augusta'''—a common epithet of provincial capitals—by 368.<ref name=musee>{{cite web|url=http://archive.museumoflondon.org.uk/Londinium/analysis/publiclife/administration/4+Londin.htm|title=Living in Roman London: From Londinium to London|publisher=The Museum of London|location=London|access-date=17 February 2015}}</ref>

== History ==
=== Founding ===
{{See also|Roman conquest of Britain}}

Unlike many cities of Roman Britain, Londinium was not placed on the site of a native settlement or ''[[oppidum]]''.{{sfn|Hingley|2018|loc= Introduction}} Prior to the arrival of the [[Roman legion]]s, the area was almost certainly lightly rolling open countryside traversed by [[Subterranean rivers of London|numerous streams now underground]]. [[Ptolemy]] lists it as one of the cities of the [[Cantiaci]],<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Celt, the Roman, and the Saxon: A history of the early inhabitants of Britain, down to the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity|url=https://archive.org/details/celtromansaxon00wrig|last=Wright|first=Thomas|year=1852|location=London|publisher= Arthur Hall, Virtue & Co.|page=95 }}</ref> but [[Durovernum]] (Roman [[Canterbury]]) was their [[civitas|tribal capital]] ({{lang|la|civitas}}). It is possible that the town was preceded by a short-lived Roman military camp, but the evidence is limited and this topic remains a matter of debate.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Perring|first=Dominic|date=2011|title=Two studies on Roman London. A: London's military origins. B: Population decline and ritual landscapes in Antonine London.|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-roman-archaeology/article/two-studies-on-roman-london-a-londons-military-origins-b-population-decline-and-ritual-landscapes-in-antonine-london/03BEB84D2AEEC1F8D655ED8BB78A8B91|journal=Journal of Roman Archaeology|volume=24|pages=249–282|doi=10.1017/S1047759400003378|s2cid=160758496|issn=1047-7594|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Wallace|first=Lacey|date=2013|title=The Foundation of Roman London: Examining the Claudian Fort Hypothesis|journal=Oxford Journal of Archaeology|volume=32|issue=3|pages=275–291|doi=10.1111/ojoa.12015|issn=1468-0092}}</ref>

Archaeologist [[Lacey Wallace]] notes "Because no [[Prehistoric Britain#Late pre-Roman Iron Age (LPRIA)|LPRIA]] settlements or significant domestic refuse have been found in London, despite extensive archaeological excavation, arguments for a purely Roman foundation of London are now common and uncontroversial."<ref name="Wallace">{{cite book|last1=Wallace|first1=Leslie|title=The Origin of Roman London|date=2015|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-04757-0|page=9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gbMkBQAAQBAJ&q=pre-roman+london&pg=PA9|access-date=16 February 2018}}</ref> The city's Latin name seems to have derived from an originally Brittonic one and significant pre-Roman finds in the Thames, especially the [[Battersea Shield]] ([[Chelsea Bridge]], perhaps 4th-century BC) and the [[Wandsworth Shield]] (perhaps 1st-century BC), both assumed to be [[votive offerings]] deposited a couple of miles upstream of Londinium, suggest the general area was busy and significant. It has been suggested that the area was where several territories intersected.{{sfn|Hingley|2018|loc= start of Introduction}} There was probably a [[Ford (crossing)|ford]] in that part of the river; other Roman and [[Celtic Britons|Celtic]] finds suggest this was perhaps where the opposed crossing [[Julius Caesar]] describes [[Caesar's invasions of Britain#March inland|in 54 BC]] took place.

Londinium expanded around the point on the River Thames narrow enough for the construction of a [[Roman bridge]] but still deep enough to handle the era's seagoing ships.<ref name=salis3>Merrifield, [https://books.google.com/books?id=39wl2I48e7kC&pg=PA40 p.&nbsp;40.]</ref> Its placement on the [[Tideway]] permitted easier access for ships sailing upstream.<ref name=salis3 />{{refn|It may have spanned the [[tidal limit]] of the Thames at the time, with the port in tidal waters and the bridge upstream beyond its reach.<ref name=salis3 /> This is uncertain, however: in the Middle Ages, the Thames's tidal reach extended to [[Staines-upon-Thames|Staines]] and today it still reaches [[Teddington Lock|Teddington]].}} The remains of a massive [[pier]] base for such a bridge were found in 1981 close by the modern [[London Bridge]].

Some [[Claudius|Claudian]]-era [[castra|camp]] ditches have been discovered,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.roman-britain.org/places/londinium.htm |title=Londinivm Avgvsta: Provincial Capital |publisher=Roman Britain |last=Togodumnus |date=2011 |access-date=16 February 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150220011843/http://www.roman-britain.org/places/londinium.htm |archive-date=20 February 2015 }}</ref> but archaeological excavations undertaken since the 1970s by the Department of Urban Archaeology at the [[Museum of London]] (now [[Museum of London Archaeology Service|MOLAS]]) have suggested the early settlement was largely the product of [[private enterprise]].<ref>Wacher, pp.&nbsp;88–90.</ref> A timber drain by the side of the main [[Roman road]] excavated at [[No 1 Poultry]] has been dated by [[dendrochronology]] to 47 AD.<ref name="archaeologydataservice.ac.uk"/>

Following its foundation in the mid-1st century, early Roman London occupied a relatively small area, about {{convert|350|acre|km2}} or roughly the area of present-day [[Hyde Park, London|Hyde Park]]. Archaeologists have uncovered numerous goods imported from across the Roman Empire in this period, suggesting that early Roman London was a highly cosmopolitan community of merchants from across the empire and that local markets existed for such objects.

=== Roads ===
{{Main|Roman roads in Britain}}
[[File:Iter.Britanniarum.jpg|thumb|right|300px|A map of the known [[Roman roads in Britain|Roman road network]], highlighting the routes included in the {{nowrap|[[Antonine Itinerary]]}}]]
Of the fifteen British routes recorded in the 2nd- or 3rd-century [[Antonine Itinerary]], seven ran to or from Londinium.<ref name=musee />{{refn|Although three of them used the same route into town.<ref>[[Antonine Itinerary]]. British Routes. Routes 2, 3, & 4.</ref>}} Most of these were constructed near the time of the city's foundation around 47 AD.<ref name=allroads>{{cite web|url=http://archive.museumoflondon.org.uk/Londinium/analysis/publiclife/infrastructure/12+road.htm|title=Public life: All roads lead to Londinium|publisher=Museum of London Group|access-date=22 February 2015}}</ref> The roads are now known by [[Welsh language|Welsh]] or [[Old English]] names, as their original Roman names have been lost because of the lack of written and inscribed sources. (It was customary elsewhere to name roads after the [[Roman emperor|emperor]] during whose principate they were completed, but the number and vicinity of routes completed during the time of Claudius would seem to have made this impractical in Britain's case.)

The road from the Kentish ports of [[Rutupiae]] ([[Richborough]]), [[Dubris]] ([[Dover]]), and [[Portus Lemanis|Lemanis]] ([[Lympne]]) via [[Durovernum Cantiacorum|Durovernum]] ([[Canterbury]]) seems to have first crossed the Thames at a natural ford near [[Westminster]] before being diverted north to the new bridge at London.{{refn|[[Ivan Donald Margary|Margary]],<ref>{{cite book|last=Margary|first=Ivan Donald|title=Roman Roads in Britain|date=1967|publisher=John Baker|isbn=978-0-319-22942-2|location=London|edition=2nd|page=54}}</ref> cited by [[Dominic Perring|Perring]],<ref name=domi>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xImNAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA5|page=5|title=Roman London: The Archaeology of London|last=Perring|first=Dominic|publisher=Routledge|location=Abingdon|date=1991|isbn=978-0-415-62010-9}}</ref> although he notes that this remains conjectural: the known roads would not meet at the river if continued in a straight line,<ref name=domi /> there is no evidence textual or archaeological at the moment for a ford at Westminster,<ref name=domi /> and the Saxon ford was further upstream at [[Kingston-upon-Thames|Kingston]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Fearnside|first1=William Gray|last2=Harral|first2=Thomas|others=Illustrated by John Woods|title=The History of London: Illustrated by Views of London and Westminster|publisher=Orr &&nbsp;Co.|location=London|date=1838|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GDxfAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA15|page=15}}</ref> Against such doubts, [[Francis Sheppard|Sheppard]] notes the known routes broadly direct towards Westminster in a way "inconceivable" if they were meant to be directed towards a ferry at Londinium<ref name=shep /> and [[Ralph Merrifield|Merrifield]] points to routes directed towards the presumed ford from Southwark.<ref name=salisbury>{{cite book|last=Merrifield|first=Ralph|title=London, City of the Romans|url=https://archive.org/details/londoncityofroma00ralp|url-access=registration|pages=[https://archive.org/details/londoncityofroma00ralp/page/116 116]–119|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley|date=1983|isbn=978-0-520-04922-2}}</ref> Both include maps of the known routes around London and their proposed reconstruction of major connections now-lost.<ref name=shep>{{cite book|last=Sheppard|first=Francis|title=London: A History|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|date=1998|isbn=978-0-19-822922-3|url=https://archive.org/details/londonhistory00shep|url-access=registration|pages=[https://archive.org/details/londonhistory00shep/page/12 12]–13}}</ref><ref name=salisbury /><ref name=salis2 />}} The Romans enabled the road to cross the marshy terrain without [[subsidence]] by laying down substrates of one to three layers of oak logs.<ref name=allroads /><ref name=salis2>Merrifield, [https://books.google.com/books?id=39wl2I48e7kC&pg=PA32 pp.&nbsp;32–33.]</ref> This route, now known as [[Watling Street]], passed through the town from the bridgehead in a straight line to reconnect with its northern extension towards [[Viroconium]] ([[Wroxeter]]) and the legionary base at [[Deva Victrix]] ([[Chester]]). The [[Great Road (Roman Britain)|Great Road]] ran northeast across [[Old Ford]] to [[Camulodunum]] ([[Colchester]]) and thence northeast along [[Pye Road]] to [[Venta Icenorum]] ([[Caistor St Edmund]]). [[Ermine Street]] ran north from the city to [[Lindum Colonia|Lindum]] ([[Lincoln, England|Lincoln]]) and [[Eboracum]] ([[York]]). The [[Devil's Highway (Roman Britain)|Devil's Highway]] connected Londinium to [[Calleva Atrebatum|Calleva]] ([[Silchester]]) and its roads to points west over [[Pontes (Roman Britain)|the bridges]] near modern [[Staines-upon-Thames|Staines]]. A minor road led southwest to the city's main cemetery and the old routes to the ford at Westminster. [[Stane Street (Chichester)|Stane Street]] to [[Noviomagus Reginorum|Noviomagus]] ([[Chichester]]) did not reach Londinium proper but ran from the bridgehead in the southern suburb at [[Southwark]]. These roads varied from {{convert|12|-|20|m|abbr=on}} wide.<ref name=allroads />

After its reconstruction in the 60s AD, the streets largely adhered to a grid. The main streets were {{convert|9|-|10|m|abbr=on}} wide, while side streets were usually about {{convert|5|m|abbr=on}} wide.<ref name=allroads />

=== Boudica ===
{{Main|Boudica's Revolt}}
[[File:Boadicea Statuary Group.jpg|thumb|right|350px|alt=Regions Caesar never knew<br />Thy posterity shall sway|The [[Tacitean studies|rediscovery of Tacitus's works]] revived English interest in [[Boudica]], particularly during the [[Victorian Era|19th century]], when she was used as a symbol for [[Queen Victoria]] and the [[British Empire]]. (''[[Boadicea and Her Daughters]]'' by [[Thomas Thornycroft]], 1860s, cast by [[John Isaac Thornycroft|his son]] in&nbsp;1902.)]]
In 60 or 61 AD, a little more than ten years after Londinium was founded, [[Prasutagus|the king of the Iceni]] died. He had possibly been installed by the Romans after the [[Iceni]]'s failed revolt against [[Publius Ostorius Scapula]]'s disarmament of the allied tribes in 47<ref>[[Tacitus]], ''[[Annals (Tacitus)|Annals]]'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Tac.+Ann.+12.31 12.31].</ref> or may have assisted the Romans against his tribesmen during that revolt. His will had divided his wealth and lands between Rome and his two daughters, but [[Roman law]] forbade female inheritance and it had become common practice to treat allied kingdoms as life estates that were annexed upon the ruler's death, as had occurred in [[Bithynia]]<ref>[[H. H. Scullard]], ''From the Gracchi to Nero'', 1982, p. 90</ref> and [[Galatia]].<ref>John Morris, ''Londinium: London in the Roman Empire'', 1982, pp. 107–108</ref> [[Roman banking|Roman financiers]] including [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]] called in all the king's outstanding loans at once<ref>[[Cassius Dio]], ''Roman History'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/62*.html#2 62.2]</ref> and [[Catus Decianus|the provincial procurator]] confiscated the property of both the king and his nobles. [[Tacitus]] records that when the king's wife [[Boudica]] objected, the Romans flogged her, raped her two daughters, and enslaved their nobles and kinsmen.<ref>Tacitus, ''Annals'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Tac.+Ann.+14.31 14.31]</ref> Boudica then led [[Boudican revolt|a failed revolt]] against Roman rule.

Two hundred ill-equipped men were sent to defend the provincial capital and Roman colony at Camulodunum, probably from the garrison at Londinium.<ref name=salis4>Merrifield, [https://books.google.com/books?id=39wl2I48e7kC&pg=PA53 p.&nbsp;53].</ref> The Iceni and their allies overwhelmed them and razed the city. The [[Legio IX Hispana|9th Legion]] under [[Quintus Petillius Cerialis]], coming south from the [[Fosse Way]], was [[Battle of Camulodunum|ambushed and annihilated]]. The procurator [[Catus Decianus]], meanwhile, escaped with his treasure to [[Gaul]], probably via Londinium.<ref name=salis4 /> [[Gaius Suetonius Paulinus]] had been leading the [[Legio XIV Gemina|14th]] and [[Legio XX Valeria Victrix|20th Legions]] in the [[Roman conquest of Anglesey]]; hearing of the rising, he immediately returned along Watling Street with the legions' cavalry.<ref name=salis4 /> An early historical record of London appears in Tacitus's account of his actions upon arriving and finding the state of the 9th Legion:<ref name=tacky>[[Tacitus]]. [[s:la:Ab excessu divi Augusti (Annales)/ Liber XIV#XXXIII|''Ab Excessu Divi Augusti Historiarum Libri'' &#91;''Books of History from the Death of the Divine Augustus''&#93;, Vol.&nbsp;XIV, Ch.&nbsp;XXXIII.]] {{circa|AD}}&nbsp;105. Hosted at [[s:la:Main Page|Latin Wikisource]]. {{in lang|la}}</ref><ref name=tacky2 />
<blockquote>At first, [Paulinus] hesitated as to whether to stand and fight there. Eventually, his numerical inferiority—and the price only too clearly paid by [[Quintus Petillius Cerialis|the divisional commander]]'s rashness—decided him to sacrifice the single city of Londinium to save the province as a whole. Unmoved by lamentations and appeals, Suetonius gave the signal for departure. The inhabitants were allowed to accompany him. But those who stayed because they were women, or old, or attached to the place, were slaughtered by the enemy.</blockquote>
Excavation has revealed extensive evidence of destruction by fire in the form of a layer of red ash beneath the city at this date. Suetonius then returned to the legions' slower infantry, who met and defeated the Iceni army, slaughtering as many as 70,000 men and camp followers. There is a long-standing folklore belief that this battle took place at [[Kings Cross, London|King's Cross]], simply because as a mediaeval village it was known as Battle Bridge. Suetonius's flight back to his men, the razing of [[Verulamium]] ([[St Albans|St&nbsp;Albans]]), and the battle shortly thereafter at "a place with narrow jaws, backed by a forest",<ref name=tacky /><ref name=tacky2 /> speaks against the tradition, and no supporting archaeological evidence has been yet discovered.<ref>[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=45097 "Highbury, Upper Holloway and King's Cross"], Old and New London: Volume 2 (1878:273–279). Date accessed: 26 December 2007.</ref>

=== 1st century ===
[[File:London-Roman-model.jpg|thumb|300px|A model of London in 85–90 AD on display in the [[London Museum]], depicting the first [[London Bridge#Roman bridges|bridge]] over the [[River Thames]], shown as having been of largely wooden construction]]

After the sack of the city by Boudica and her defeat, a large military fort covering 15,000 m<sup>2</sup> was built at [[Plantation Place]] on [[Cornhill, London|Cornhill]], with 3m-high banks and enclosed by 3m deep double ditches.<ref>An early Roman fort and urban development on Londinium's eastern hill: excavations at Plantation Place, City of London, 1997–2003, L. Dunwoodie et al. MOLA 2015. ISBN 978-1-907586-32-3</ref> It was built as an emergency solution to protect Londinium's important trade and to help reconstruct the city. It dominated the town and lay over the main road into Londinium controlling traffic from [[London Bridge#Roman bridges|London Bridge]] and on the river. Several major building projects at this time such as roads, a new quay and a water lifting machine indicate the army had a key role in reconstruction. The fort was in use for less than 10 years.

The city was eventually rebuilt as a [[Roman urban planning|planned Roman town]], its streets generally adhering to a grid skewed by major roads passing from the bridgehead and by changes in alignment produced by crossings over the local streams.<ref>Merrifield, [https://books.google.com/books?id=39wl2I48e7kC&pg=PA66 pp.&nbsp;66–68.]</ref> It recovered after about a decade.{{citation needed|date=February 2015}}

The first [[forum (Roman)|forum]] was constructed in the 70s or 80s<ref name=salis5 /> and has been excavated, showing it had an open courtyard with a [[basilica]] and several shops around it, altogether measuring about {{convert|100|x|50|m|abbr=on}}.<ref name=opwilldeliver /> The basilica would have functioned as the city's administrative heart, hearing [[Roman law|law cases]] and seating the town's local senate. It formed the north side of the forum, whose south entrance was located along the north side of the intersection of the present [[Gracechurch Street|Gracechurch]], [[Lombard Street, London|Lombard]], and [[Fenchurch Street]]s.<ref>Merrifield, [https://books.google.com/books?id=39wl2I48e7kC&pg=PA62 p.&nbsp;62.]</ref> Forums elsewhere typically had a civic temple constructed within the enclosed market area; British sites usually did not, instead placing a smaller shrine for Roman services somewhere within the basilica. The first forum in Londinium seems to have had a full temple, but placed outside just west of the forum.<ref>Merrifield, [https://books.google.com/books?id=39wl2I48e7kC&pg=PA63 pp. 63–64].</ref>

By the turn of the century, Londinium was perhaps as large as 60,000 people<ref name="Durant2011">{{cite book|author=Will Durant|title=Caesar and Christ: The Story of Civilization|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JztghD__8ksC&pg=PT468|date=7 June 2011|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-1-4516-4760-0|page=468}}</ref><ref name="Lancashire">{{cite book |title=London Civic Theatre: City Drama and Pageantry from Roman Times to 1558 |author=Anne Lancashire |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QajvxgbH59QC&pg=PA19 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2002 |page=19 |isbn=978-0-521-63278-2 }}</ref> and had replaced [[Camulodunum]] (Colchester) as the provincial capital. A large building discovered near [[Cannon Street Station]] has had its foundation dated to this era and is assumed to have been the governor's palace. It boasted a garden, pools, and several large halls, some of which were decorated with [[Roman mosaic|mosaic floors]].<ref name=gubby>{{cite journal |first=Peter |last=Marsden |year=1975 |title=The Excavation of a Roman Palace Site in London |journal=Transactions of the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society |volume=26 |pages=1–102 }}</ref> It stood on the east bank of the now-covered [[River Walbrook]], near where it joins the Thames. The [[London Stone]] may originally have been part of the palace's main entrance. Another site dating to this era is the [[thermae|bathhouse]] ({{lang|la|thermae}}) at [[Huggin Hill]], which remained in use prior to its demolition around the year 200. [[Brothel]]s were legal but taxed.<ref>{{cite book|last=Emerson|first=Giles|title=City of Sin: London in Pursuit of Pleasure|pages=24–25|publisher=Carlton Books|date=2003|isbn=978-1-84222-901-9}}</ref>

In 2025 ruins of oldest Roman basilica in London were found. It was constructed between 78 and 84 A.D.)<ref>[https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/archaeologists-unearth-the-ruins-of-a-2000-year-old-roman-basilica-beneath-an-office-building-in-london-180986070/ Eli Wizevich. Archaeologists Unearth the Ruins of a 2,000-Year-Old Roman Basilica Beneath an Office Building in London] // Smithsonian Magazine</ref><ref>[https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/romans/2-000-year-old-remains-of-londons-oldest-roman-basilica-discovered-under-office-building Kristina Killgrove. 2,000-year-old remains of London's oldest Roman basilica discovered under office building] // Live Science</ref><ref>[https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ancient-roman-basilica-london-found-on-construction-site/ Ruins of oldest Roman basilica ever found in London uncovered on construction site in heart of U.K. capital] // CBS News</ref>

=== Port ===
[[File:Waterfront london.jpg|thumb|right|400px|A diagram of the Roman structures from the port of Londinium ({{circa|lk=no|AD}}&nbsp;100) excavated along the north bank of the Thames, with warehouses at right]]

A large port complex on both banks near London Bridge was discovered during the 1980s. The bulk of the Roman port was quickly rebuilt after Boudicca's rebellion<ref name=sillybear>Milne.</ref> when the waterfront was extended with gravel to permit a sturdy wharf to be built perpendicular to the shore. The port was built in four sections, starting upstream of the London Bridge and working down towards the Walbrook at the centre of Londinium. Expansion of the flourishing port continued into the 3rd century. Scraps of [[Roman armor|armour]], leather straps, and military stamps on building timbers suggest that the site was constructed by the city's [[Roman legionary|legionaries]].<ref name=youngun>Brigham.</ref> Major imports included [[Roman pottery|fine pottery]], jewellery and [[Roman wine|wine]].<ref name=oats /> Only two large warehouses are known, implying that Londinium functioned as a bustling trade centre rather than a supply depot and distribution centre like [[Ostia (Rome)|Ostia]] near Rome.<ref name=youngun />

=== 2nd century ===
[[File:Hadrian bm.jpg|thumb|200px|A bronze head of [[Hadrian]] found in the [[River Thames]] in London ([[British Museum]])]]

Emperor [[Hadrian]] visited Londinium in 122. The impressive public buildings from around this period may have been initially constructed in preparation for his visit or during the rebuilding that followed the "Hadrianic Fire". The so-called fire is not mentioned in any historical sources but has been inferred by evidence of large-scale burning identified by archaeologists on several excavation sites around the City of London.{{sfn|Hingley|2018|pp=116-120}} The best dating evidence for this event(s) comes from burnt stocks of unsold [[Terra sigillata|Terra Sigilatta]] pottery, which can be dated to c. 120–125. These were found in destroyed warehouse or shop buildings at Regis House and Bucklersbury.{{sfn|Hill|Rowsome|2011|pp=354-357}} Hadrianic fire horizons tend to be dated to around the 120s to 130s, but it is difficult to prove that they are contemporary, and there remains some uncertainty as to whether they indicate a single large fire or a series of smaller conflagrations.{{sfn|Hingley|2018|pp=116-120}} Fire destroyed substantial areas of the city in the area north of the Thames but does not seem to have damaged many major public buildings. There is very little evidence to suggest similar burning in the adjacent Southwark settlement. The Hadrianic fire (or fires) has normally been assumed to be accidental,{{sfn|Hingley|2018|pp=116-120}} but it has also been suggested that it could relate to an episode of political turbulence.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Perring|first=Dominic|date=November 2017|title=London's Hadrianic War?|journal=Britannia|volume=48|pages=37–76|doi=10.1017/S0068113X17000113|issn=0068-113X|doi-access=free}}</ref> [[File:Музей Лондана, 2014 05.JPG|thumb|left|200px|A model of the expanded [[forum (Roman)|forum]] at the [[Museum of London]]]]
[[File:Stelalondon.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Stela mentioning the ''Londiniensi'' ('Londoners')]]
During the early 2nd century, Londinium was at its height, having recovered from the fire and again had between 45,000 and 60,000 inhabitants around 140, with many more stone houses and public buildings erected. Some areas were tightly packed with [[domus|townhouses]] ({{lang|la|domus}}). The town had piped water<ref>{{cite book|last=Fields|first=Nic|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FD3Qo0VObBkC&pg=PA55|title=Campaign 233: Boudicca's Rebellion AD&nbsp;60–61: The Britons rise up against Rome|others=Illustrated by Peter Dennis|publisher=Osprey Publishing|isbn=978-1-84908-313-3|date=2011|location=Oxford}}</ref> and a "fairly-sophisticated" drainage system.<ref>Merrifield, [https://books.google.com/books?id=39wl2I48e7kC&pg=PA50 p.&nbsp;50].</ref> The governor's palace was rebuilt,<ref name=gubby /> and an expanded forum was built around the earlier one over a period of 30 years from around 90 to 120 into a square measuring {{convert|168|x|167|m|abbr=on}}.<ref name=opwilldeliver /> Its three-storey [[basilica]] was probably visible across the city and was the largest in the empire north of the [[Alps]];<ref name=opwilldeliver /><ref name=marsdy>{{cite book |author=P. Marsden |title=The Roman Forum Site in London: Discoveries before 1985 |year=1987 |publisher=H.M. Stationery Office |isbn=978-0-11-290442-7 }}</ref> the marketplace rivalled those in Rome and was the largest in the north before [[Roman Trier|Augusta Treverorum]] ([[Trier]], Germany) became an imperial capital.<ref name="salis6"/> The city's temple of [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]] was renovated,{{refn|According to a recovered inscription. The location of the Temple of Jupiter has not been discovered yet.}} public and private [[thermae|bathhouses]] were erected, and a fort ({{lang|la|[[Arx (Roman)|arx]]}}) was erected around 120 that maintained the city garrison northwest of town.<ref name=foshow /> The fort was square (with rounded corners) measuring more than {{convert|200|x|200|m|abbr=on}} and covering more than {{convert|12|acre|ha}}. Each side had a central gatehouse, and stone towers were erected at the corners and at points along each wall.<ref name=foshow />

[[Amphitheatre (Guildhall Art Gallery complex)|Londinium's amphitheatre]], constructed in 70, is situated at [[Guildhall]].<ref name="amp" /> When the Romans left in the 4th century, the amphitheatre lay derelict for hundreds of years. In the 11th century, the area was reoccupied, and by the 12th century the first Guildhall was built next to it.

A temple complex with two Romano-British temples was excavated at Empire Square, Long Lane, Southwark in 2002/2003. A large house there may have been a guesthouse. A marble slab with a dedication to the god Mars was discovered in the temple complex. The inscription mentions ''Londiniensi'' ('the Londoners'), the earliest known reference naming the people of London.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://londonist.com/2015/08/roman-archaeology|title=Roman London Fragments, Cosmetic Cream And Bikini Bottoms|date=10 August 2015|website=Londonist}}</ref>

[[File:Londinium mosaic retouched.jpg|thumb|200px|A [[Roman mosaic]] floor from Londinium ([[British Museum]])]]
By the second half of the 2nd century, Londinium had many large, well-equipped stone buildings, some of which were richly adorned with wall paintings and floor mosaics, and had subfloor [[hypocaust]]s. The [[Roman house at Billingsgate]] was built next to the waterfront and had its own bath.<ref name=billybath>{{cite web|url=http://archive.museumoflondon.org.uk/Londinium/Today/vizrom/07+baths.htm|title=Londinium Today: House and baths at Billingsgate|access-date=20 February 2015|publisher=Museum of London Group}}</ref>

Londinium seems to have shrunk in both size and population in the second half of the 2nd century. The cause is uncertain, but plague is considered likely, as the [[Antonine Plague]] is recorded decimating other areas of Western Europe between 165 and 190. The end of imperial expansion in Britain after Hadrian's decision to build [[Hadrian's Wall|his wall]] may have also damaged the city's economy. Although Londinium remained important for the rest of the Roman period, no further expansion occurred. Londinium remained well populated, as archaeologists have found that much of the city after this date was covered in [[dark earth]] which accumulated relatively undisturbed over centuries.

=== London Wall ===
[[File:London Wall fragment.jpg|thumb|350px|A surviving section of the [[London Wall]] behind [[Tower Hill tube station]]. A line of Roman red-brick tiles can be seen near its base.]]

Some time between 190 and 225, the Romans built the London Wall, a defensive [[Rag-stone|ragstone]] wall around the landward side of the city. Along with Hadrian's Wall and the road network, the London Wall was one of the largest construction projects carried out in Roman Britain.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}} The wall was originally about {{convert|5|km|0|abbr=on}} long, {{convert|6|m|abbr=on}} high, and {{convert|2.5|m|abbr=on}} thick. Its dry moat ({{lang|la|fossa}}) was about {{convert|2|m|abbr=on}} deep and {{convert|3|-|5|m|abbr=on}} wide.<ref>{{cite book|last=Lepage|first=Jean-Denis G.G.|title=British Fortifications through the Reign of Richard III: An Illustrated History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jpT2BJ0BF_MC&pg=PA90|page=90|publisher=McFarland & Co.|location=[[Jefferson, North Carolina|Jefferson]]|date=2012|isbn=978-0-7864-5918-6}}</ref> In the 19th century, [[Charles Roach Smith]] estimated its length from the Tower west to Ludgate at about one mile ({{convert|1|mi|1|abbr=out|disp=output only}}) and its breadth from the northern wall to the bank of the Thames at around half that.

In addition to small pedestrian [[postern]] gates like the one by [[Tower Hill]], it had four main gates: [[Bishopsgate]] and [[Aldgate]] in the northeast at the [[Ermine Street|roads to Eboracum]] ([[York]]) and [[Great Road (Roman Britain)|to Camulodunum]] ([[Colchester]]) and [[Newgate]] and [[Ludgate]] in the west along at the road that divided for travel [[Watling Street|to Viroconium]] ([[Wroxeter]]) and [[Devil's Highway (Roman Britain)|to Calleva]] ([[Silchester]]) and at another road that ran along the Thames to the city's main cemetery and the old ford at [[Westminster]]. The wall partially utilised the army's existing fort, strengthening its outer wall with a second course of stone to match the rest of the course.<ref name=foshow /><ref name=walle /> The fort had two gates of its own – [[Cripplegate]] to the north and another to the west – but these were not along major roads.<ref name=walle /> [[Aldersgate]] was eventually added, perhaps to replace the west gate of the fort. (The names of all these gates are medieval, as they continued to be occasionally refurbished and replaced until their demolition in the 17th and 18th centuries to permit widening the roads.)<ref name=walle />{{refn|In the 1170s, [[William FitzStephen]] mentioned ''seven'' gates in London's landward wall, but it's not clear whether this included a minor postern gate or another, now unknown, major gate. [[Moorgate]] was later counted as a seventh major gate after its enlargement in 1415, but in William's time it would have been a minor postern gate.<ref name=walle />}} The wall initially left the riverbank undefended: this was corrected in the 3rd century.

Although the reason for the wall's construction is unknown, some historians have connected it with the [[Picts|Pictish]] invasion of the 180s.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/T/timeteam/archive/ttlive/chronolo.html |title=Timeline of Romans in Britain |publisher=Channel4.com |access-date=24 August 2012 }}</ref> Others link it with [[Clodius Albinus]], the British governor who attempted to [[Roman usurpers|usurp]] [[Septimius Severus]] in the 190s. The wall survived another 1,600 years and still roughly defines the City of London's perimeter.

In 2023 a section of the wall at the City Wall at Vine Street Museum opened to the public.<ref>London Roman wall on display after 40 years hidden in basement https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-66365542</ref>

=== 3rd century ===
[[File:White marble relief with Mithras bull-slaying scene (CIMRM 810-811), from Walbrook Mithraeum in Londinium,, AD 180-220, Museum of London (14007820699).jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.25|Ulpius Silvanus's [[Tauroctony]] depicting [[Mithras]] killing the [[bull (mythology)|bull]], discovered in the ruins of the [[London Mithraeum]]]]
Septimius Severus defeated Albinus in 197 and shortly afterwards divided the province of Britain into [[Upper Britain|Upper]] and [[Lower Britain|Lower]] halves, with the former controlled by a new governor in [[Eboracum]] ([[York]]). Despite the smaller administrative area, the economic stimulus provided by the wall and by Septimius Severus's campaigns in [[Caledonia]] somewhat revived London's fortunes in the early 3rd century. The northwest fort was abandoned and dismantled<ref name=foshow /> but archaeological evidence points to renewed construction activity from this period. The [[London Mithraeum]] rediscovered in 1954 dates from around 240,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archive.museumoflondon.org.uk/Londinium/Today/vizrom/05+Mithraeum.htm|title=Visible Roman London: Temple of Mithras|publisher=Museum of London Group|access-date=19 February 2015}}</ref> when it was erected on the east bank at the head of navigation on the [[River Walbrook]] about {{convert|200|m|abbr=on}} from the Thames.<ref name=lul>{{cite book |title=London under London: a subterranean guide |last=Trench |first= Richard |author2=Hillman Ellis  |year=1985 |publisher= John Murray (publishers) Ltd |isbn=978-0-7195-4080-6 |pages=27–29}}</ref>

====Riverside wall====
From about 255 onwards, raiding by [[Saxons|Saxon]] [[Roman piracy|pirates]] led to the construction of a riverside wall. It ran roughly along the course of present-day [[Thames Street, London|Thames Street]], which roughly formed the shoreline. Large collapsed sections of this wall were excavated at [[Blackfriars, London|Blackfriars]] and the Tower in the 1970s.<ref name=wallawalla /><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Parnell |first=Geoffrey |date=1978 |title=An Earlier Roman Riverside wall at the Tower of London |url=https://doi.org/10.5284/1070656 |journal=London Archaeologist |language=en |volume=3 (7) |issue=London Archaeologist 3 (7) |pages=171–176 |doi=10.5284/1070656 |via=Archaeology Data Service}}</ref>

====Temple of Isis====
{{See also|Temple of Isis and Serapis}}
An inscription found on a third-century stone altar recorded the rebuilding of a [[Roman temple|temple]] of [[Isis]] by the governor of [[Britannia Superior]] – [[Marcus Martiannius Pulcher]].{{efn|Roman Britain (Guy de la Bédoyère)<br>[[Thames Street, London|Upper Thames street]]<br>..."Altar found reused in a riverside wall recording the rebuilding of a temple of Isis by the governor of Britannia Superior – Marcus Martiannius Pulcher...{{sfn|de la Bédoyère|2013|pp=86}} }}{{efn| See also [[Marcus Martiannius Pulcher]] > ...''he repaired the temple of Isis which had collapsed through old age...''}}{{efn|Roman Britain (Guy de la Bédoyère)<br>..."Mainly originating in the Eastern Empire, cults like the worship of Isis had started to become fashionable in Rome...Their veneration in the Roman world was a typical consequence of an international society in which soldiers, officials and traders travelled widely across Europe, North Africa and the Near East{{sfn|de la Bédoyère|2013|pp=235}} }} An earlier inscription found on a first-century [[flagon]] suggests that a temple of Isis had existed much earlier.{{efn|Roman Britain (Guy de la Bédoyère)<br>..."Two inscriptions, a first-century [[Graffito (archaeology)|''graffito'']] on a flagon, and a third-century altar, record a temple of Isis in London...{{sfn|de la Bédoyère|2013|pp=98}} }}<ref>*{{cite web |title= Ancient Roman temple dedicated to the goddess Isis
 |url= https://www.heritagedaily.com/2016/04/did-you-know-london-was-once-home-to-an-ancient-roman-temple-dedicated-to-the-goddess-isis/110561 |publisher= HERITAGE DAILY |access-date= 3 October 2023}}</ref><ref>*{{cite web |title= Worship of this Egyptian goddess spread from Egypt to England
 |url= https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/history-and-civilisation/2020/03/worship-of-this-egyptian-goddess-spread-from-egypt-to-england |publisher= [[National Geographic]] |access-date= 3 October 2023}}</ref> The Egyptian goddess was believed to have influence over the sea and hence the safety of seafarers.{{efn| Ancient Rome (Nigel Rodgers)<br>..."As her worship spread around the Mediterranean...Isis became known as ''Stella Maris'' (star of the sea) the divine protector of sailors and fishermen...{{sfn|Rodgers|2017|pp=426}} }}{{efn| See also [[Isis]] > In the Greco-Roman world > [[Isis#Festivals|Festivals]] > ...''The first festival was the [[Navigium Isidis]]...which celebrated Isis's influence over the sea...''}}

=== Carausian Revolt ===
{{Main|Carausian Revolt}}

[[File:Antoninianus Carausius leg4-RIC 0069v.jpg|thumb|210px|A [[Carausius|Carausian]] [[numismatics|coin]] from his mint at Londinium]]
[[File:Constantius.jpg|thumb|300px|The [[Beaurains Treasure|Arras Medallion]] showing a woman kneeling in front of a Roman soldier at the city walls, thanking him for bringing [[Allectus]]'s rule to an end]]
In 286, the emperor [[Maximian]] issued a death sentence against [[Carausius]], admiral of the [[Roman navy]]'s [[Classis Britannica|Britannic fleet]] (''Classis Britannica''), on charges of having abetted [[Franks|Frankish]] and Saxon piracy and of having embezzled recovered treasure. Carausius responded by consolidating his allies and territory and revolting. After fending off Maximian's first assault in 288, he declared a new [[Britannic Empire]] and issued coins to that effect. [[Constantius Chlorus]]'s sack of his Gallic base at [[Gesoriacum]] ([[Boulogne-sur-Mer|Boulogne]]), however, led his treasurer [[Allectus]] to assassinate and replace him.

In 296, Chlorus mounted an invasion of Britain that prompted Allectus's Frankish mercenaries to sack Londinium. They were only stopped by the arrival of a flotilla of Roman warships on the Thames, which slaughtered the survivors.<ref>[[Eumenius]].</ref> The event was commemorated by the golden [[Beaurains Treasure|Arras Medallion]], Chlorus on one side and on the other a woman kneeling at the city wall welcoming a mounted Roman soldier.{{refn|The medallion is named for its mint mark from [[Augusta Treverorum]] ([[Trier]]); it was discovered in [[Arras]], [[France]], in the 1920s.}} Another memorial to the return of Londinium to Roman control was the construction of a new set of forum baths around 300. The structures were modest enough that they were previously identified as parts of the forum and market but are now recognised as elaborate and luxurious baths including a {{lang|la|[[frigidarium]]}} with two southern pools and an eastern [[natatio|swimming pool]].

=== 4th century ===
{{hatnote|See also: [[Celtic Christianity#History|Celtic Christianity]] and [[Bishops of Londinium]]}}
Following the revolt, the [[Diocletian Reforms]] saw the British administration restructured. Londinium is universally supposed to have been the capital of one of them, but it remains unclear where the new provinces were, whether there were initially three or four in total, and whether [[Valentia (Roman Britain)|Valentia]] represented a fifth province or a renaming of an older one. In the 12th century, [[Gerald of Wales]] listed "Londonia" as the capital of [[Flavia Caesariensis|Flavia]], having had [[Britannia Prima]] ([[Wales]]) and [[Britannia Secunda|Secunda]] ([[Kent]]) severed from the territory of Upper Britain.<ref name=letter>Giraldus Cambriensis [Gerald of Wales]. [https://archive.org/stream/ycymmrodor30cymmuoft#page/130/mode/2up ''De Inuectionibus'' &#91;On Invectives&#93;, Vol.&nbsp;II, Ch.&nbsp;I, in ''Y Cymmrodor: The Magazine of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion'', Vol.&nbsp;XXX, pp.&nbsp;130–31.] George Simpson &&nbsp;Co. (Devizes), 1920. {{in lang|la}}</ref><ref name="letter2">[[Gerald of Wales]]. Translated by [[W.S. Davies]] as [https://archive.org/stream/ycymmrodor30cymmuoft#page/16/mode/2up ''The Book of Invectives of Giraldus Cambrensis'' in ''Y Cymmrodor: The Magazine of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion'', Vol.&nbsp;XXX, p.&nbsp;16.] George Simpson &&nbsp;Co. (Devizes), 1920.</ref> Modern scholars more often list Londinium as the capital of [[Maxima Caesariensis]] on the assumption that the presence of the [[Roman diocese|diocesan]] [[vicarius|vicar]] in London would have required its provincial governor to outrank the others.

The governor's palace<ref name=gubby /> and old large forum seem to have fallen out of use around 300,<ref name=marsdy /> but in general the first half of the 4th century appears to have been a prosperous time for Britain, for the villa estates surrounding London appear to have flourished during this period. The [[London Mithraeum]] was rededicated, probably to [[Bacchus]]. A list of the 16 [[Bishop of London|"archbishops" of London]] was recorded by [[Jocelyne of Furness]] in the 12th century, claiming the city's [[Celtic Christianity|Christian]] community was founded in the 2nd century under the legendary [[Lucius of Britain|King&nbsp;Lucius]] and his missionary saints [[Saint Fagan|Fagan]], [[Saint Deruvian|Deruvian]], Elvanus, and Medwin. None of that is considered credible by modern historians but, although the surviving text is problematic, either Bishop [[Restitutus]] or Adelphius at the 314 [[Council of Arles]] seems to have come from Londinium.<ref name=bishop />

[[File:St Peter upon Cornhill church and location above London Roman Forum.jpg|thumb|left|[[St Peter upon Cornhill]] church and location above London Roman Forum]]

The location of Londinium's original cathedral is uncertain. The present structure of [[St Peter upon Cornhill]] was designed by [[Christopher Wren]] following the [[Great Fire of London|Great Fire]] in 1666, but it stands upon the highest point in the area of old Londinium and medieval legends tied it to the city's earliest Christian community. However, the east end of St Peter's and its high altar, is also positioned above the area where some basilicas of the period had a pagan shrine room (also known as an [[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#aedes|aedes]]). Wheeler proposed that a Christian church might have been established on its site and that this accounted for the later medieval legends.<ref>R.E.M. Wheeler, The Topography of Saxon London, p296, Antiquity<!--delspaceP-->, [https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/abs/topography-of-saxon-london/CD2AFC7567BF23584D1F4E396402057C Volume 8, Issue 31, September 1934].</ref><ref>The Roman Forum Site in London, Discoveries before 1985. Peter Marsden, London, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1987, p68</ref> The possible existence of the shrine room is supported by 19th-century excavations under [[Gracechurch Street]], immediately adjacent to the church's eastern end. These unearthed an adjoining room covered in yellow panels with a black border, 'with a tessellated floor, suggesting it may have had a higher status than normal, possibly acting as an antechamber for the aedes or shrine-room'.<ref>{{Cite journal |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/526290 |pages=92|jstor=526290 |title=A Reassessment of the Second Basilica in London, A. D. 100-400: Excavations at Leadenhall Court, 1984-86 |last1=Brigham |first1=T. |journal=Britannia |date=1990 |volume=21 |doi=10.2307/526290 |s2cid=162318121 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> The alignment of the church is close to the lines of the basilica, being off by just two degrees, and it is feasible for the understructure to have utilized the dry solid 2nd century basilica wall fabric for support.<ref>King Lucius of Britain, David Knight, 2008 p98.</ref>

If St Peter's was built in the Roman era, it would make the church contemporaneous to the potential Romano-British church at [[Calleva Atrebatum|Silchester]], similarly built adjacent to the Roman Basilica and most likely pre-[[Constantine the Great|Constantine]] in age.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=King|first=Anthony|date=1983|title=The Roman Church at Silchester Reconsidered|journal=Oxford Journal of Archaeology|language=en|volume=2|issue=2|pages=225–237|doi=10.1111/j.1468-0092.1983.tb00108.x|issn=1468-0092}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Petts|first=David|url=http://oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199697731.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199697731-e-036|title=Christianity in Roman Britain|date=2015-10-05|publisher=Oxford University Press|editor-last=Millett|editor-first=Martin|volume=1|language=en|doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199697731.013.036|isbn=978-0-19-969773-1|editor2-last=Revell|editor2-first=Louise|editor3-last=Moore|editor3-first=Alison}}</ref> London certainly had a Christian community in 314 when Bishop Restitutus attended the Council of Arles. This community must have had some meeting place, and apart from St Peter's no other location has yet been proposed, either in antiquity or in the modern era. There is, however, some conflicting evidence to the theory that St Peter's was deliberately cited above a pagan shrine room. Current research suggests it was very rare for early English Christian churches to be founded in pagan temples<ref>Tyler W Bell, [https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:f631fee6-5081-4c40-af85-61725776cbf6/download_file?safe_filename=Published%2BDocument&file_format=application%2Fpdf&type_of_work=Thesis The Religious Reuse of Roman Structures in Anglo-Saxon England], 2001, p105 and p109 - only 2 churches have been found that are sited on a Roman temple, just 0.7% of the total, accessed 26 Sep 2022</ref> and that when temples were turned into churches, this occurred later, in the late 6th century and onwards.<ref>Tyler W Bell, [https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:f631fee6-5081-4c40-af85-61725776cbf6/download_file?safe_filename=Published%2BDocument&file_format=application%2Fpdf&type_of_work=Thesis The Religious Reuse of Roman Structures in Anglo-Saxon England], 2001, p108, accessed 26 Sep 2022</ref> This was also true elsewhere in the Roman Empire; for example in Rome. By this time the former associations of the sites had probably died down.<ref>The Conversion of Temples in Rome, Feyo L. Schuddeboom, [https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/The-Conversion-of-Temples-in-Rome-Schuddeboom/9a5a5d4f06ed84e278d201d5f2aaf9460e5faa87 Journal of Late Antiquity, 22 September 2017], p175.</ref> There is more evidence that early English Christian churches met in private homes and that some Roman villas also converted rooms to dedicated places of Christian worship.<ref>Examining the evidence for churches in Roman Britain; is this a concrete indication of Romano-British churches? Nathan Day, [https://www.theposthole.org/read/article/449 The Post Hole, December 2019], accessed 26 Sep 2022</ref>

In 1995 a large and ornate 4th-century building on [[Tower Hill]] was discovered: built sometime between 350 and 400, it seems to have mimicked [[Saint Ambrose|St&nbsp;Ambrose]]'s [[St Thecla's Cathedral|cathedral]] in the imperial capital at [[Milan]] on a still-larger scale.<ref name="cathy" /> It was about {{convert|100|m|abbr=on}} long by about {{convert|50|m|abbr=on}} wide.<ref name="thedog" /> Excavations by David Sankey of MOLAS established it was constructed out of stone taken from other buildings, including a veneer of black marble.<ref name="cathy">{{cite web | last = Denison | first = Simon | title = News: In Brief | work = British Archaeology | publisher = Council for British Archaeology | date = June 1995 | url = http://www.archaeologyuk.org/ba/ba5/BA5NEWS.HTML | access-date = 30 March 2013 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130513125933/http://www.archaeologyuk.org/ba/ba5/BA5NEWS.HTML | archive-date = 13 May 2013 | df = dmy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last= Sankey|first= D.|chapter= Cathedrals, granaries and urban vitality in late Roman London | editor-last = Watson | editor-first= Bruce |title= Roman London: Recent Archaeological Work| series= JRA Supplementary Series | volume= 24| year= 1998|publisher= Journal of Roman Archaeology |location= Portsmouth, RI|pages=78–82}}</ref> It was probably dedicated to St&nbsp;Paul.<ref name="thedog">{{cite news|periodical=The Independent|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/archaeologists-unearth-capitals-first-cathedral-1614013.html|last=Keys|first=David|date=3 April 1995|title=Archaeologists unearth capital's first cathedral: Giant edifice built out of secondhand masonry|location=London}}</ref>

From 340 onwards, northern Britain was repeatedly attacked by [[Picts]] and [[Gaels]]. In 360, a large-scale attack forced Emperor [[Julian (emperor)|Julian]] to send troops to deal with the problem. Large efforts were made to improve Londinium's defences around the same time. At least 22 [[bastion|semi-circular towers]] were added to the city walls to provide platforms for [[ballista]]e<ref name="walle">{{cite web|url=http://archive.museumoflondon.org.uk/Londinium/Today/vizrom/01+wall.htm |title=Visible Roman London: City wall and gates |publisher=Museum of London Group |access-date=19 February 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150219043325/http://archive.museumoflondon.org.uk/Londinium/Today/vizrom/01%2Bwall.htm |archive-date=19 February 2015 }}</ref> and the present state of the river wall suggests hurried repair work around this time.<ref name="wallawalla" /> In 367, the [[Great Conspiracy]] saw a coordinated invasion of Picts, Gaels, and Saxons joined with a mutiny of troops along the wall. [[Count Theodosius]] dealt with the problem over the next few years, using Londinium—then known as "Augusta"—as his base.<ref>{{cite web |last=Riddell |first=Jim |url=http://www.jim-riddell.com/history/general/What+was+the+status+of+Roman+Londinium.htm |title=The status of Roman London |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080424072334/http://www.jim-riddell.com/history/general/What%20was%20the%20status%20of%20Roman%20Londinium.htm |archive-date=24 April 2008 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> It may have been at this point that one of the existing provinces was renamed Valentia, although the account of Theodosius's actions describes it as a province recovered from the enemy.

In 382, Emperor [[Magnus Maximus]] organised all of the British-based troops and attempted to establish himself as western emperor. The event was obviously important to the Britons, as "Macsen Wledig" would remain a major figure in [[Welsh folklore]], and several [[Wales in the Middle Ages|medieval Welsh]] dynasties claimed descent from him. He was probably responsible for London's new church in the 370s or 380s.<ref name="cathy" /><ref name="thedog" /> He was initially successful but was defeated by [[Theodosius I|Theodosius&nbsp;I]] at the 388 [[Battle of Save]]. An additional stretch of the river wall near Tower Hill seems to have been built further from the shore at some point over the next decade.<ref name="wallawalla" />

=== 5th century ===
{{See also|Sub-Roman Britain|Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain|Lundenwic|Lundenburh}}
[[File:Brittain 410.jpg|thumb|right|200px|[[Roman Britain]] around [[Roman withdrawal from Britain|AD&nbsp;410]], without speculative provincial borders]]
With few troops left in Britain, many Romano-British towns—including Londinium—[[Fall of the Western Roman Empire|declined drastically]] over the next few decades. Many of London's public buildings had fallen into disrepair by this point,{{citation needed|date=February 2015}} and excavations of the port show signs of rapid disuse.<ref name=sillybear /> Between 407 and 409, [[Migration Period|large numbers of barbarians overran Gaul and Hispania]], seriously weakening communication between Rome and Britain. Trade broke down, officials went unpaid, and Romano-British troops elected their own leaders. [[Constantine III (Western Roman emperor)|Constantine&nbsp;III]] declared himself emperor over the West and crossed the [[English Channel|Channel]], an act considered the [[End of Roman rule in Britain|Roman withdrawal from Britain]] since Emperor [[Honorius (emperor)|Honorius]] subsequently directed the Britons to look to their own defence rather than send another garrison force.<ref name=londonhistory /> Surviving accounts are scanty and mixed with Welsh and Saxon legends concerning [[Vortigern]], [[Hengist and Horsa|Hengest, Horsa]], and [[Ambrosius Aurelianus]]. Even archaeological evidence of Londinium during this period is minimal.

Despite remaining on the list of Roman provinces, Romano-Britain seems to have dropped their remaining loyalties to Rome. Raiding by the [[Irish invasions of Wales|Irish]], Picts, and Saxons continued, but 6th-century monk [[Gildas]] records a time of luxury and plenty{{refn|name=gilda|[[The Ruin of Britain#22|''The Ruin of Britain'', Ch.&nbsp;22&nbsp;ff]], [[John Allen Giles]]'s revision<ref>Giles, John Allen (ed. & trans.). "The Works of Gildas, Surnamed 'Sapiens,' or the Wise" in ''Six Old English Chronicles of Which Two Are Now First Translated from the Monkish Latin Originals: Ethelwerd's Chronicle, Asser's Life of Alfred, Geoffrey of Monmouth's British History, Gildas, Nennius, and Richard of Cirencester''. Henry G. Bohn (London), 1848.</ref> of [[Thomas Habington]]'s translation,<ref>Habington, Thomas (trans.). ''The Epistle of Gildas the most ancient British Author: who flourished in the yeere of our Lord, 546. And who by his great erudition, sanctitie, and wisdome, acquired the name of ''Sapiens''. Faithfully translated out of the originall Latine'' in 8 vols. T. Cotes for William Cooke (London), 1638.</ref> hosted at [[s:Main Page|Wikisource]].}} which is sometimes attributed to reduced taxation. Archaeologists have found evidence that a small number of wealthy families continued to maintain a Roman lifestyle until the middle of the 5th century, inhabiting villas in the southeastern corner of the city and importing luxuries.<ref name=londonhistory /> Medieval accounts state that [[Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain|the invasions]] that established [[History of Anglo-Saxon England|Anglo-Saxon England]] (the ''Adventus Saxonum'') did not begin in earnest until some time in the 440s and 450s.{{refn|The near-contemporary 452 [[Chronica Gallica of 452|Gallic Chronicle]] recorded that "The British provinces, which to this time had suffered various defeats and misfortunes, are reduced to Saxon rule" in the year 441;<ref>{{Citation |first1=Michael E. |last1=Jones |last2=Casey |first2=John |year=1988 |title=The Gallic Chronicle Restored: a Chronology for the Anglo-Saxon Invasions and the End of Roman Britain |url=http://jourridge.org/action/displayAbstract;jsessionid=4AACFA80F95203BBBECE7A8AE12591F2.journals?fromPage=online&aid=8282111nals.camb |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200313044506/http://jourridge.org/action/displayAbstract;jsessionid=4AACFA80F95203BBBECE7A8AE12591F2.journals?fromPage=online&aid=8282111nals.camb |url-status=dead |archive-date=13 March 2020 |journal=Britannia |volume=XIX |issue=November |doi=10.2307/526206 |pages=367–98 |access-date=6 January 2014 |jstor=526206 |s2cid=163877146 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> [[De excidio Britanniae|Gildas]] described a revolt of Saxon ''[[foederati]]''<ref name=gilda /> but his dating is obscure;<ref name=aoa>{{cite journal|first=Alan Orr|last=Anderson|title=Gildas and Arthur|journal=The Celtic Review|date=October 1912|volume=VIII (May 1912&nbsp;– May 1913)|issue=30|editor1-first=Mrs W.J.|editor1-last=Watson|publication-date=1913|pages=149–165|doi=10.2307/30070428|jstor=30070428|url=https://archive.org/stream/celticreview08edinuoft#page/149/mode/2up}}</ref> [[Bede]] dates it to a few years after 449 and opines that invasion had been the Saxons' intention from the beginning;<ref name=bead>Beda Venerabilis &#91;[[The Venerable Bede]]&#93;. [[s:la:Historia Ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum – Liber Primus#15|''Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum'' &#91;The Ecclesiastical History of the English People&#93;, Vol.&nbsp;I, Ch.&nbsp;XV]], & [[s:la:Historia Ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum – Liber Quintus#24|Vol.&nbsp;V, Ch.&nbsp;XXIIII]]. 731. Hosted at [[:s:la:Main Page|Latin Wikisource]]. {{in lang|la}}</ref><ref name=bead2>[[Bede]]. Translated by [[Lionel Cecil Jane]] as [[s:Ecclesiastical History of the English People/Book 1#15|''The Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation'', Vol.&nbsp;1, Ch.&nbsp;15]], & [[s:Ecclesiastical History of the English People/Book 5#24|Vol.&nbsp;5, Ch.&nbsp;24]]. J.M.&nbsp;Dent &&nbsp;Co. (London), 1903. Hosted at [[s:Main Page|Wikisource]].</ref> the [[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]] dates the revolt to 455.<ref name=asc>Anonymous. Translated by [[James Ingram (academic)|James Ingram]]. [https://archive.org/details/saxonchroniclewi00ingr/page/15 ''The Saxon Chronicle, with an English Translation, and Notes, Critical and Explanatory. To Which Are Added Chronological, Topographical, and Glossarial Indices; a Short Grammar of the Anglo-Saxon Language; a New Map of England during the Heptarchy; Plates of Coins, &c.'', p.&nbsp;15., "An. CCCCLV."] Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, & Brown (London), 1823. {{in lang|ang|en}}</ref>}} The ''[[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]]'' records that the Britons fled to Londinium in terror after their defeat at the [[Battle of Crecganford]] (probably [[Crayford]]),<ref name=asc /> but nothing further is said. By the end of the 5th century, the city was largely an uninhabited ruin,<ref name=londonhistory>{{cite web|url=http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/English/Learning/Learningonline/features/roman/roman_london_2.html|title=Roman London: A Brief History|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090912132907/http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/English/Learning/Learningonline/features/roman/roman_london_2.html|archive-date=September 12, 2009|publisher=[[Museum of London]]}}</ref> its large church on Tower Hill burnt to the ground.<ref name=cathy />

Over the next century, [[Angles (tribe)|Angles]], Saxons, [[Jutes]], and [[Frisii|Frisians]] arrived and established tribal areas and kingdoms. The area of the Roman city was administered as part of the [[Kingdom of Essex|Kingdom of the East Saxons]] – Essex, although the Saxon settlement of [[Anglo-Saxon London|Lundenwic]] was not within the Roman walls but to the west in [[Aldwych]]. It was not until the [[Viking Age|Viking invasions of England]] that King [[Alfred the Great]] moved the settlement back within the safety of the Roman walls, which gave it the name [[Lundenburh]]. The foundations of the river wall, however, were undermined over time and had completely collapsed by the 11th century.<ref name=wallawalla /> Memory of the earlier settlement survived: it is generally identified as the '''{{nowrap|Cair Lundem}}'''<ref name="mommy"/> counted among the 28 cities of [[Sub-Roman Britain|Britain]] included in the ''[[Historia Brittonum|History of the Britons]]'' traditionally attributed to [[Nennius]].<ref name="nashford"/><ref name="shusher"/>

== Demographics ==

The population of Londinium is estimated to have peaked around 100 AD when the population is estimated between about 30,000<ref>Sheppard, 35, [https://books.google.com/books?id=M9qvtYYhRtAC&pg=PA36 google books]</ref> and 60,000.<ref name="Lancashire" /> After about 150 the population may have fallen by as much as two thirds<ref>Sheppard, 35-36</ref> possibly as the regional economic centres developed, and Londinium as the main port for imported goods became less significant. The [[Antonine Plague]] which swept the empire from 165 to 180 may have had an effect. Pottery workshops outside the city in [[Brockley Hill]] and [[Highgate, London|Highgate]] appear to have ended production around 160.

Londinium was an ethnically diverse city with inhabitants from across the Roman Empire, including those with backgrounds in [[continental Europe]], the [[Middle East]], and [[North Africa]].<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-34809804 DNA study finds London was ethnically diverse from start], [[BBC]], 23 November 2015</ref> A 2017 genetic test of human remains in Roman cemeteries states the "presence of people born in London with North African ancestry is not an unusual or atypical result for Londinium."<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Poinar|first1=Hendrik N.|last2=Eaton|first2=Katherine|last3=Marshall|first3=Michael|last4=Redfern|first4=Rebecca C.|date=2017|title='Written in Bone': New Discoveries about the Lives and Burials of Four Roman Londoners|journal=Britannia|volume=48|pages=253–277|doi=10.1017/S0068113X17000216|issn=0068-113X|doi-access=free}}</ref> A 2016 study of the isotope analysis of 20 bodies from various periods suggests that at least 12 had grown up locally, with four being immigrants.<ref>Janet Montgomery, Rebecca Redfern, [[Rebecca Gowland]], Jane Evans, ''Identifying migrants in Roman London using lead and strontium stable isotopes'', 2016, ''Journal of Archaeological Science'' [https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2015.12.001]</ref> The average height for male Londoners was {{convert|5|ft|6+3/4|in|cm|0|abbr=on}} and the average height for female Londoners was {{convert|5|ft|2+1/4|in|cm|0|abbr=on}}.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Werner |first=Alex |title=London Bodies |publisher=Museum of London |year=1998 |isbn=090481890X |location=London |pages=108}}</ref>

== Excavation ==
{{See also|Museum of London|Museum of London Archaeology|Amphitheatre (London)}}
[[File:Romano celtic temple001.JPG|thumb|upright|A [[Romano-Celtic temple]] being excavated at 56 [[Gresham Street]]]]
Many ruins remain buried beneath London, although understanding them can be difficult. Owing to [[Geology of London|London's geology]], which consists of a Taplow Terrace deep bed of brickearth, sand, and gravel over [[London Clay|clay]],<ref>Grimes, [https://books.google.com/books?id=LhEcBQAAQBAJ&pg=PP22 Ch.&nbsp;I.]</ref> Roman gravel roads can only be identified as such if they were repeatedly relayered or if the spans of gravel can be traced across several sites. The minimal remains from wooden structures are easy to miss, and stone buildings may leave foundations, but as with the great forum they were often dismantled for stone during the Middle Ages and early modern period.<ref name=salis6 />

[[File:London praetorium.jpg|thumb|left|The known [[floorplan]] of the presumed "[[#1st century|governor's palace]]"]]
[[File:St Alphage Garden 19.jpg|thumb|The [[#London Wall|Roman wall]] at [[St Alphege London Wall|St&nbsp;Alphege Gardens]]]]
The first extensive archaeological review of the Roman city of London was done in the 17th century after the [[Great Fire of London|Great Fire]] of 1666. [[Christopher Wren]]'s renovation of [[St Paul's Cathedral|St&nbsp;Paul's]] on [[Ludgate Hill]] found no evidence supporting [[William Camden|Camden]]'s contention<ref>{{Citation | last = Camden | first = William | author-link = William Camden | title = Britannia | place = London | publisher = G. Bishop & J. Norton | year = 1607 | pages = 306–7 | language = la| title-link = Britannia (Camden) }}</ref> that it had been built over a Roman temple to the goddess [[Diana (mythology)|Diana]].<ref>{{cite book | last = Clark | first = John | chapter = The Temple of Diana| editor-last = Bird| editor-first = Joanna | editor2-last = Hassall | editor2-first = Mark | editor3-last = Sheldon | editor3-first = Harvey | display-editors=1 | title = Interpreting Roman London | publisher = Oxbow | series = Oxbow Monograph | volume = 58 | year = 1996 | location = Oxford | pages = 1–9}}</ref> The extensive rebuilding of London in the 19th century and following [[The Blitz|the German bombing campaign]] during [[World War II]] also allowed for large parts of old London to be recorded and preserved while modern updates were made.{{refn|For a map of the locations of bombed sites in the City of London excavated by the [[Society of Antiquaries of London]]'s [[Roman and Medieval London Excavation Council]] during this period, see [[W.F. Grimes|Grimes]].<ref name=grimy>{{cite book|last=Grimes|first=William Francis|author-link=William Francis Grimes|title=The Excavation of Roman and Mediaeval London|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LhEcBQAAQBAJ&pg=PR2|chapter=Map of the walled city of London showing areas devastated by bombing, with sites excavated by the Excavation Council|publisher=Routledge|date=1968|isbn=978-1-317-60471-6}}</ref>}} The construction of the [[Coal Exchange, London|London Coal Exchange]] led to the discovery of the [[Billingsgate Roman House and Baths|Roman house at Billingsgate]] in 1848.

In the 1860s, excavations by [[Augustus Pitt Rivers]] uncovered a large number of human skulls and almost no other bones in the bed of the Walbrook.<ref>Thorpe, Lewis. ''The History of the Kings of Britain'', p.&nbsp;19. Penguin, 1966.</ref> The discovery recalls a passage in [[Geoffrey of Monmouth]]'s pseudohistorical ''[[Historia Regum Britanniae|History of the Kings of Britain]]'' where [[Julius Asclepiodotus|Asclepiodotus]] besieged the last remnants of the usurper [[Allectus]]'s army at "Londonia". Having battered the town's walls with [[Roman siege engines|siegeworks]] constructed by allied Britons, Asclepiodotus accepted the commander's surrender only to have the [[Venedotia]]ns rush upon them, [[Celtic decapitation|ritually decapitating]] them and throwing the heads into the river "Gallemborne".<ref name="herb">Galfredus Monemutensis [Geoffrey of Monmouth]. [https://books.google.com/books?id=LBw2AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA62 ''Historia Regnum Britanniae'' &#91;''History of the Kings of Britain''&#93;, Vol.&nbsp;V, Ch.&nbsp;iv.] {{circa|lk=no|1136}}. {{in lang|la}}</ref><ref name="herb2">[[Geoffrey of Monmouth]]. Translated by J.A. Giles &&nbsp;al. as [[s:History of the Kings of Britain/Book 5#4|''Geoffrey of Monmouth's British History'', Vol.&nbsp;V, Ch.&nbsp;IV]], in ''Six Old English Chronicles of Which Two Are Now First Translated from the Monkish Latin Originals: Ethelwerd's Chronicle, Asser's Life of Alfred, Geoffrey of Monmouth's British History, Gildas, Nennius, and Richard of Cirencester''. Henry G. Bohn (London), 1848. Hosted at [[s:Main Page|Wikisource]].</ref> Asclepiodotus's siege was an actual event that occurred in 296, but further skull finds beneath the 3rd-century wall place at least some of the slaughter before its construction, leading most modern scholars to attribute them to Boudica's forces.<ref>Merrifield, [https://books.google.com/books?id=39wl2I48e7kC&pg=PA57 p.&nbsp;57.]</ref><ref>[[John Morris (historian)|Morris, John]]. ''Londinium: London in the Roman Empire'', p.&nbsp;111. 1982.</ref>

In 1947, the city's northwest fortress of the city garrison was discovered.<ref>Grimes, [https://books.google.com/books?id=LhEcBQAAQBAJ&pg=PR2-IA2 Ch.&nbsp;II, §&nbsp;2.]</ref> In 1954, excavations of what was thought to have been an early church instead revealed the London Mithraeum, which was relocated to permit building over its original site. The building erected at the time has since been demolished, and the temple has been returned to its former location under the [[Bloomberg L.P.|Bloomberg]] building.

Archaeologists began the first intensive excavation of the waterfront sites of Roman London in the 1970s. What was not found during this time has been built over, making it very difficult to study or discover anything new.<ref name="haverfield">Haverfield, p.&nbsp;145</ref> Another phase of archaeological work followed the deregulation of the [[London Stock Exchange]] in 1986, which led to extensive new construction in the city's financial district. From 1991, many excavations were undertaken by the Museum of London's Archaeology Service, although it was spun off into the separately-run MOLA in 2011 following legislation to address [[The Rose (theatre)|the Rose Theatre]] fiasco.

== Displays ==
[[File:Reconstructed Roman kitchen (culina), Museum of London (14855574970).jpg|thumb|A reconstructed [[Ancient Roman cuisine|Roman kitchen]] ({{lang|la|culina}}) at the [[Museum of London]] (2014)]]
Major finds from Roman London, including mosaics, wall fragments, and old buildings, were formerly housed in the [[London Museum (1912–1976)|London]] and [[Guildhall, London|Guildhall Museums]].<ref name=oats>Hall & Merrifield.</ref> These merged after 1965<ref name="1965act">{{cite web|url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1965/17/enacted|title=Museum of London Act 1965|work=legislation.gov.uk|publisher=National Archives|access-date=26 February 2012}}</ref> into the present Museum of London, sited from 1976 until 2022 near the [[Barbican Centre]]. The [[Museum of London Docklands]], a separate branch dealing with the history of London's ports, opened on the [[Isle of Dogs]] in 2003. Other finds from Roman London continue to be held in the [[British Museum]].<ref name=oats />

Much of the surviving wall is medieval, but Roman-era stretches are visible near [[Tower Hill tube station]], in a hotel courtyard at nearby 8–10 Coopers Row, and in [[St Alphege London Wall|St&nbsp;Alphege Gardens]] off Wood Street.<ref name=walle /> A section of the river wall is visible inside the Tower of London.<ref name="wallawalla">{{cite web |title=Londinium Today: Riverside wall |url=http://archive.museumoflondon.org.uk/Londinium/Today/vizrom/02+riverside.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150221150612/http://archive.museumoflondon.org.uk/Londinium/Today/vizrom/02+riverside.htm |archive-date=21 February 2015 |access-date=17 February 2015 |publisher=Museum of London Group}}</ref><ref name=":1" /> Parts of the amphitheatre are on display beneath the [[Guildhall Art Gallery]].<ref name=amp>{{cite web|url=http://archive.museumoflondon.org.uk/Londinium/Today/vizrom/06+amphitheatre.htm|title=Londinium Today: The amphitheatre|publisher=Museum of London Group|access-date=21 February 2015}}</ref> The southwestern tower of the Roman fort northwest of town can still be seen at Noble Street.<ref name=foshow>{{cite web|url=http://archive.museumoflondon.org.uk/Londinium/Today/vizrom/03+fort.htm|title=Londinium Today: The fort|publisher=Museum of London Group|access-date=18 February 2015}}</ref> Occasionally, Roman sites are incorporated into the foundations of new buildings for future study, but these are not generally available to the public.<ref name=opwilldeliver>{{cite web|url=https://archive.museumoflondon.org.uk/Londinium/Today/vizrom/04+forum.htm|title=Londinium Today: Basilica and forum|publisher=Museum of London Group|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150221145340/https://archive.museumoflondon.org.uk/Londinium/Today/vizrom/04+forum.htm|access-date=25 February 2021|archive-date=21 February 2015}}</ref><ref name=billybath />

===Notes===
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

===Sources===
* Billings, Malcolm (1994), ''London: a companion to its history and archaeology'', {{ISBN|1-85626-153-0}}
* Brigham, Trevor. 1998. “The Port of Roman London.” In Roman London Recent Archeological Work, edited by B. Watson, 23–34. Michigan: Cushing–Malloy Inc. Paper read at a seminar held at The Museum of London, 16 November
*{{cite book |last1= de la Bédoyère |first1= Guy |author-link= Guy de la Bédoyère |year= 2013 |title= Roman Britain: A New History |publisher= Thames & Hudson |isbn= 978-0500291146 }}
* Hall, Jenny, and [[Ralph Merrifield]]. Roman London. London: HMSO Publications, 1986.
* Haverfield, F. "Roman London." The Journal of Roman Studies 1 (1911): 141–72.
*{{Cite book|last1=Hill|first1= Julian|last2= Rowsome|first2= Peter|title=Roman London and the Walbrook stream crossing: excavations at 1 Poultry and vicinity, City of London|date=2011|publisher=Museum of London Archaeology|isbn=978-1-907586-04-0|location=London|pages=251–62}}
* {{cite book|last=Hingley|first= Richard|title=Londinium: A Biography: Roman London from its Origins to the Fifth Century|year= 2018|publisher= Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn= 9781350047310}}
* Inwood, Stephen. ''A History of London'' (1998) {{ISBN|0-333-67153-8}}
* Home, Gordon (1948), ''Roman London: A.D. 43–457'' Eyre and Spottiswoode, London
* Milne, Gustav. ''The Port of Roman London''. London: B.T. Batsford, 1985.
*{{cite book|last= Perring|first=Dominic  |title=London in the Roman World |publisher=Oxford University Press |location =Oxford, UK |year=2022|isbn=978-0-19-878900-0}}
*{{cite book |last1= Rodgers |first1= Nigel |author-link= Nigel Rodgers
 |year= 2017 |title= Ancient Rome: An Illustrated History |publisher= Lorenz Books |isbn= 978-0754834205 }}
*Sheppard, Francis, ''London: A History'', 2000, Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|0192853694}}, 9780192853691, [https://books.google.com/books?id=M9qvtYYhRtAC&pg=PA36 google books]
* John Wacher: ''The Towns of Roman Britain'', London/New York 1997, p.&nbsp;88–111. {{ISBN|0-415-17041-9}}

== Further reading ==
*{{cite book|last=Wallace|first= Lacey M.|title=The Origin of Roman London|year= 2014|series= Cambridge Classical Studies|publisher= Cambridge University Press|location =Cambridge, UK |isbn=9781107047570}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Londinium}}
* [http://worldcitieshistory.blogspot.com.es/2013/06/roman-london.html Roman London], History of World Cities
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20101213155802/http://britannia.com/history/londonhistory/ Roman London], ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'' (archived 13 December 2010)
* [https://archive.org/details/londonhistory00shep/page/12 A map of known and conjectural Roman roads around Londinium], from ''London: A History'' (on [[Internet Archive]])
* [http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/resources.html?romcem_eh_2009 The eastern cemetery of Roman London: excavations 1983–90] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803114249/http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/resources.html?romcem_eh_2009 |date=3 August 2020 }}, Museum of London Archive

{{London history}}
{{Major towns of Roman Britain}}
{{Ancient Rome topics|state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2017}}

[[Category:40s establishments in the Roman Empire]]
[[Category:1st-century establishments in Roman Britain]]
[[Category:17th-century archaeological discoveries]]
[[Category:Archaeological sites in London]]
[[Category:Former populated places in Greater London|London]]
[[Category:History of the City of London]]
[[Category:Populated places established in the 1st century]]
[[Category:Populated places disestablished in the 5th century]]
[[Category:Roman London]]
[[Category:Roman auxiliary forts in England]]