Isca Dumnoniorum was a town in the
Roman provinceIn Ancient Rome, a province was the basic, and until the Tetrarchy , largest territorial and administrative unit of the empire's territorial possessions outside of the Italian peninsula...
of
BritanniaBritannia was the term used by the Romans to refer to the Roman province covering much of the island of Great Britain. The area beyond the Antonine Wall belonging to the Picts in the north was known as Caledonia. The name itself derives from Pretannia, Diodorus's rendering of the indigenous name...
. Today it is known as
ExeterExeter is a city and district in Devon, England; it is the county town of Devon. Exeter is located approximately northeast of Plymouth, and southwest of Bristol, on the River Exe. The city has a population of 111,076 according to the 2001 Census....
, located in the
EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
county of
DevonDevon is a large county in England. The county is also referred to as Devonshire, although that is an unofficial name, rarely used inside of the county itself and often indicating a traditional or historical context. The county shares borders with Cornwall to the west and Dorset and Somerset to...
.
Isca was established as a 42 acre 'playing-card' shaped
Roman fortThe Latin word castra, with its singular castrum, was used by the ancient Romans to mean buildings or plots of land reserved to or constructed for use as a military defensive position. As the word appears in both Oscan and Umbrian as well as in Latin, it probably descended from Indo-European to...
on a spur of land overlooking the banks of the
River ExeThe River Exe in England rises near the village of Simonsbath, on Exmoor in Somerset, near the Bristol Channel coast, but flows more or less directly due south, so that most of its length lies in Devon. It reaches the sea at a substantial ria, the Exe Estuary, on the south coast of Devon...
around AD
50Year 50 was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar.-Roman Empire:*Roman Emperor Claudius appoints Agrippa II governor of Chalcis.*Claudius adopts Nero....
. It was the base of the 5,000 strong
Second LegionLegio secunda Augusta , was a Roman legion, levied by Gaius Vibius Pansa Caetronianus in 43 BC, and still operative in Britannia in 4th century...
for the next twenty-five years, before they moved to
Isca AugustaIsca Augusta was a Roman legionary fortress and settlement, the remains of which lie beneath parts of the present-day village of Caerleon on the northern outskirts of the city of Newport in South Wales.-Name:...
. It also became home to their families as settlements grew up outside the fortress gates, especially to the north-east.
Isca Dumnoniorum was a town in the
Roman provinceIn Ancient Rome, a province was the basic, and until the Tetrarchy , largest territorial and administrative unit of the empire's territorial possessions outside of the Italian peninsula...
of
BritanniaBritannia was the term used by the Romans to refer to the Roman province covering much of the island of Great Britain. The area beyond the Antonine Wall belonging to the Picts in the north was known as Caledonia. The name itself derives from Pretannia, Diodorus's rendering of the indigenous name...
. Today it is known as
ExeterExeter is a city and district in Devon, England; it is the county town of Devon. Exeter is located approximately northeast of Plymouth, and southwest of Bristol, on the River Exe. The city has a population of 111,076 according to the 2001 Census....
, located in the
EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
county of
DevonDevon is a large county in England. The county is also referred to as Devonshire, although that is an unofficial name, rarely used inside of the county itself and often indicating a traditional or historical context. The county shares borders with Cornwall to the west and Dorset and Somerset to...
.
Fortress
Isca was established as a 42 acre 'playing-card' shaped
Roman fortThe Latin word castra, with its singular castrum, was used by the ancient Romans to mean buildings or plots of land reserved to or constructed for use as a military defensive position. As the word appears in both Oscan and Umbrian as well as in Latin, it probably descended from Indo-European to...
on a spur of land overlooking the banks of the
River ExeThe River Exe in England rises near the village of Simonsbath, on Exmoor in Somerset, near the Bristol Channel coast, but flows more or less directly due south, so that most of its length lies in Devon. It reaches the sea at a substantial ria, the Exe Estuary, on the south coast of Devon...
around AD
50Year 50 was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar.-Roman Empire:*Roman Emperor Claudius appoints Agrippa II governor of Chalcis.*Claudius adopts Nero....
. It was the base of the 5,000 strong
Second LegionLegio secunda Augusta , was a Roman legion, levied by Gaius Vibius Pansa Caetronianus in 43 BC, and still operative in Britannia in 4th century...
for the next twenty-five years, before they moved to
Isca AugustaIsca Augusta was a Roman legionary fortress and settlement, the remains of which lie beneath parts of the present-day village of Caerleon on the northern outskirts of the city of Newport in South Wales.-Name:...
. It also became home to their families as settlements grew up outside the fortress gates, especially to the north-east. Most of the buildings within the fort, such as barrack blocks and granaries, were timber structures apart from a very large military bath house. The water was supplied by a natural spring via an
aqueductAn aqueduct is a water supply or navigable channel constructed to convey water. In modern engineering, the term is used for any system of pipes, ditches, canals, tunnels, and other structures used for this purpose....
. Entertainment at the complex included a
cockpitA cockfight is a blood sport between two roosters, held in a ring called a cockpit. Cockfighting is now illegal throughout the United States and in most of Europe....
.
Civilian town
About AD
80Year 80 was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar.-Roman Empire:* The Emperor Titus inaugurates the Colosseum with 100 days of games....
, the fort was converted to a civilian settlement and became the
civitasIn the history of the Roman Empire, the Latin term civitas referred to the condition of Roman citizenship. It was also used to describe a type of settlement....
capital of the
DumnoniiThe Dumnonii or Dumnones were a British Celtic tribe who inhabited the farther parts of the South West peninsula of Britain, from at least the Iron Age up to the early Saxon period.-Tribal nomenclature:...
tribe. The military baths were too large for the local population and were largely demolished for, though partially incorporated into, the administrative
forumThe Forum was the public space in the middle of a Roman city.A gathering place of great social significance, it was often the scene of diverse activities, including political discussions, meetings, et cetera....
and
basilicaThe Latin word basilica , was originally used to describe a Roman public building , usually located in the forum of a Roman town. In Hellenistic cities, public basilicas appeared in the 2nd century BC.Basilicas were also used for religious purposes...
built on the site. New
town bathsThe terms balnea or thermae were the words the ancient Romans used for the buildings housing their public baths.Most Roman cities had at least one, if not many, such buildings, which were centers of public bathing and socialization. Baths were extremely important for Romans. They stayed there for...
were built to the south-east In the late 2nd century, the town walls were demolished and a new set erected at some distance, thus increasing the size of the town by two and a half times. There was much domestic occupation within the walls, but there is also evidence of copper and bronze working. A possible stock-yard has also been identified and Isca was clearly a key market centre for livestock and agricultural produce, as well as pottery, produced in the surrounding countryside.
Decline
The forum and basilica were demolished around the middle of the 5th century when a cemetery, probably
ChristianChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented by the revelations in the New Testament....
, was established on the site. It continued in use into the Anglo-Saxon period when the town became known as 'Isca-Castra' or Exeter.
Remains
- Much of the Roman
Roman Britain was those parts of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire between AD 43 and about 410. The Romans referred to their province as Britannia...
town wall survives as the lower courses or inner core of the medieval city walls, 70% of which remains to be seen around Exeter.
- Finds from the Roman town, particularly the Roman Fortress Baths excavations of 1971-76, may be seen in the Royal Albert Memorial Museum
Royal Albert Memorial Museum on Queen Street, Exeter, Devon, England is the largest museum in the city.-History:Initially proposed by Sir Stafford Northcote as a practical memorial to Prince Albert, an appeal fund was launched in 1861 and the first phases of the building were completed by 1868...
in Exeter.