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Civilian life
Civilians lived in the vicus or town that could be found just outside the walls, to the south of Housesteads fort. The vicus did not grow up by accident, it was planned and deliberately built.
In front of the south gate lived those merchants who handled the supplies of pottery, oil, fish sauce and olives from the
Mediterranean.
One house belonged to the consul who was responsible for roads and transport.
There was a house with an oven that may have been a bakery and a building that may have been a tavern or inn; shop fronts opened on to the road and had wooden shutters (similar to shops in Pompeii); a building with a small furnace and coin moulds was probably used for forging coins; and there were also barracks for soldiers.
You would also find a blacksmiths, butcher's shop and tannery.
Outside the walls of the fort there were temples to Mars and
Jupiter and also a small Mithraeum.
At the bottom of the hill there was a cemetery. By Roman law no one could be buried within the walls of a fort or town. Tombs may have lined the roads to the fort.
TASK
READ each description and DECIDE which building you are in or near.
1) The smell of urine is strong here.
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The vicus at Housesteads was excavated by
archaeologists in the 1930s. Twenty six buildings were discovered although only six have been left uncovered.
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Many of the buildings were of the same design, with a shop front opening on to the road and the living area in a room behind this.
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Many different kinds of
people would have lived in the vicus; servants, slaves,
traders, merchants, shopkeepers, innkeepers, Roman officials and even soldiers.
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2) You can see men with measuring instruments.
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"Just when you think you are at the world's end, you see a smoke from East to West as far as the eye can turn, and then under it as far as the eye can stretch, houses and temples, shops and theatres, barracks and granaries, trickling along like dice behind - always
behind - one long, low, rising and falling, and hiding and showing line of towers. And that is the Wall !"
Puck of Pooks Hill
By Rudyard Kipling
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3) Someone is being punished for breaking pottery,
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4) There are women screaming and crying and getting paid for it.
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5) You can almost feel the heat from the walls.
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PRINT a copy of this page for your history folder
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