Roman London's Rise and Fall: A History Hit Audio Tour

Overview

Roman London isn't buried beneath the city – it is the city. On this audio walking tour by ancient historian Tristan Hughes, you'll follow the rise and fall of Londinium, from its founding as a Roman military outpost to its destruction by fire and its eventual abandonment. You'll pass through Leadenhall Market, built over the foundations of a basilica that was once the largest civic complex north of the Alps, and continue through the streets the Romans laid out as a deliberate display of imperial power. Along the way, you'll discover how 35,000 people once lived here – eating dormice and figs, bumping into merchants from Palmyra and soldiers from the Rhine – before plague, rebellion, and the collapse of the Empire's frontiers drained the city of its reason to exist. By 410 AD, Emperor Honorius told the cities of Britain to look to their own defences, and Rome simply walked away.