19th October 2011, 05:21 PM
Quote:Afterwards, the imposition of cultural norms in areas overseen by the Romans might have been a bit less welcome when it was done wholesale.But imported Roman foodstuffs would still have been an expensive commodity, even after the invasion. For example, you couldn't impose the drinking of wine on a local population wholesale, unless you were prepared to give it away for free to those would couldn't afford it.
Just because the Romans invaded/occupied, doesn't mean that their commodities suddenly became cheap and freely available to everyone. It's probably still just the local toffs - those most likely to have been pro-Roman in the first place - with their snouts in the Imperial trough, otherwise we'd be tripping over piles of amphorae on every post-AD43 site in south-eastern/central southern British site, and we're not.