A History of Britain 01. Beginnings (7 of 25)

A History of Britain

The Romans would have known about this strange but alluring world of fat cattle and busy forges.
Evidence of its refinement would have found its way to Rome.
Along with the glittering metal ware came stories of alarming cults, which may have prompted the usual Roman dinner time discussions.
"All very interesting, I daresay, "but would we really want to call them a civilisation?"
Supposing they would have seen an ancient sculpture, like this haunting stone face with its archaic secretive smile, the eyes closed as if in a mysterious devotional trance.
The nose flattened, the cheeks broad, the whole thing so spellbindingly reminiscent of things the Romans must have seen in Etruria or the Greek islands.
Would they then have said, "Yes, this is a work of art"? Probably not.

Sooner or later they would have noticed that the top of the head is sliced off, scooped out, like a boiled egg, to hold sacrificial offerings.
Then they would have remembered stories that Rome told about the grisly brutality of the druids.
Perhaps they would have even taken note of the stories told by the northern savages themselves, of decapitated heads who were said to speak mournfully to those who had parted them from the rest of their body, warning of vengeance to come.
Then they would have thought, "Perhaps not.
"Perhaps we don't want to have much to do with an island of talking heads."
So why did the Romans come here, to the edge of the world, and run the gauntlet of all these ominous totems?
There was the lure of treasure, of course, all the pearls that Tacitus believed lay around Britain in heaps.