What Was Life Actually Like In Ancient Roman London? | Life and Death Roman London
Join us on an immersive journey through the ancient streets of Roman London. We explore archaeological finds that offer glimpses into daily life, from deciphered wax tablets revealing trade dealings to artifacts like spearheads, arrowheads, and fragments of armor. London's Roman history traces back to around 50 AD, when a mercantile trading post was established on a gravel terrace above the river Thames. At the time, this area was a floodplain surrounded by thick woods. But this muddy valley would eventually become one of the greatest cities in the world.
Discover the past on History Hit with ad-free exclusive podcasts and documentaries released weekly presented by world renowned historians Dan Snow, Suzannah Lipscomb, Lucy Worsely, Mary Beard and more. Watch, listen and read history wherever you are, whenever you want it. Available on all devices: Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, Android TV, Samsung Smart TV, Roku, Xbox, Chromecast, and iOs & Android.
We're offering a special discount to History Hit for our subscribers, get 50% off your first 3 months with code KZhead: www.historyhit.com/subscripti...
#ancientbritain #romanhistory #londonhistory
The thing that Rome did for Britain, and pretty much everywhere, was to demonstrate what a thoroughly organized effort by humanity can achieve. For good or ill. Those lessons, once learned, are rarely forgotten and are always worth re-examination for modern applications.
The people they conquered were highly capable and had very developed societies goimg back a thousand years, I get they didn't build marble cities, however they were brilliant artisans and highly cultured people. They are unfortunately portrayed as dirty savages in popular "histories" they lived in large settlements and had vast trade networks, I get your point but the Celts and Thracians etc really get short shrift in the popular imagination, but their legacy is being rehabilitated
@jockeyshortz84 Of course they were, but on a much less structured basis. It's how the highly organized Legions, were able to defeat Gaulish armies, that outnumbered them ten to one. Who on a one-to-one basis as warriors, were bigger and stronger than average Legionaries. They did it with lists, training, technology, and unit discipline. The free-wheeling Celts adopted Roman methods to eventually conquer Rome itself. Lessons learned.
@@gregedmand9939sure, but China was way way way bigger and more organized at the time - their armies regularly measured into many hundreds of thousands. Single armies - multiple times bigger then all Roman legions combined! And it isn't like people like Confucius didn't think about organisation... And that's to say nothing of ancient Chinese inventions, everything from the compass to the repeating crossbow to the seismometer...
Yeah, but they didn't have a Monty Python skit explaining all the things they did for us.@@jockeyshortz84
@@ukeyaoitrash2618 For sure! My comments were only about the power of human organization and what it can achieve. Rome was certainly not the only people to discover this. The most lasting traits of civilization, East or West, is what we see today.
This is one of the best documentsries I've ever seen. Factual, professional, no drmamtic music, no awfully acted cscenes, just pure informative bliss. I was hooked from start to finish. Thank you.
theres a vid on, when the romans left u.k. we had toilets, until they left, then it was 1500 yrs, till we had them again.. instead of embrasing the roman way, we reverted back to shitting in bogs.. the thames, was 1 big sewer. some tried to live like the romans, but, ... the romans used lead, dishes, make up,,sent them mad..
couldnt agree more. can't stand 99% of the nonsense made nowadays, esp for shall-not-be-named "history" channels. this is a great return to the professional style of documentary making. the UK's BBC is also a great resource of this type of quality.
@@harrywalker968 When the British stopped shitting in bogs, the fertility of bog ecosystems greatly declined.
History Hit are great. I like the podcasts and documentaries. Well done to Dan and all the team.
@@NuisanceMan How's the waterway ecosystem now, while our sewage is going straight back in rivers and the coastline?
Whilst the Roman town structure was being described, it struck me that most towns in the USA still use this template today. We have a town square, with the courthouse in the middle, surrounded by shops in the parameter. And, during festivals, the streets are closed to traffic and booths akin to old market stalls are installed. Fascinating how Roman influence is still with us today.
Because the U.S adopted it.
my sister in christ, we stopped building our towns like that long ago. Since the 70s they're endless parking lots, highways, strip malls, and drive thrus.
What a rich history England & Londinium ( London) have! They can be proud of it! I do not know very much about today../Greetings from Bucharest ROMANIA 🍀🤗🌹
London is now dead. Its deplorable now, used to be a beacon of Britain. Ask anyone in the UK what they think about London in the 20th century.
@@sondoobie1987 Now is 24 years removed from the 20th century...
It's full of non Brits!
Great to loot the world and build such history, isn't it? Too bad your ancestors did not do that, instead they protected the gate of Europe and sacrificed their women and children so ''Londinium'' won't pray 5 times a day today....BUT, Londinium was offered on a plate to islamists, for free, so...a spit to your ancestors graves, still think they can be proud it it? Learn some history....
@@sondoobie1987 i reckon its alright
Barely just touched upon was Roman medical service. The Romans had a professional army, and with that, the world's first college of physicians. The legions travelled with a medical Corps, just like today. They were very good at treating battle trauma and understood pain relief. Opium was well known in the form of various oral reatments. They also prevented a lot of infection by the use of honey mixed with wine, which they knew to be anti bacterial - even though they didn't know what bacteria was. They knew to boil all dressings and instruments before, during and after surgeries. And they knew not to suture a wound till it healed from the inside out first. Some think that a soldier had a better chance of retirement than a private citizen due to regular medical care in the army. It was only after the discovery of anti-biotics that trauma care got much better then in Roman times. The American Civil War saw absolutely hidesous medical procedures and mass infection, with death soon following. Also, cholera was common after battles but not in Roman times because the dead were cremated. Cholers ourbreaks did occur in Rome and other large cities in those days - up until just thjelast century. But, the Romans had ordinances regarding the siting of their camps and towns away from swamps with insects, and did not allow human toilets anywhere upstream of those sites. As time went on and the sites grew, it's likely those ordinances became moot.
thanks for that-very informative.
Wow that’s so interesting. And how backwards things truly went after rome fell.
History Hit is a gem of a channel ✨
I give you that: Brits are very good in such kind of historical documentaries. I enjoy them each time... For instance dear scholar Bettany Hughes... ❤
Absolutely,her enthusiasm is infectious
@@danwilson1040 EVERTHING IS ON TOP LEVEL WHEN YOU WATCH HER! 🌹✨
I love Bettany.
@@Charlotte-vp2fu WE SHOULD STAY IN THE QUE... 🤗🌹🤞💐
she,, has no idea what she,s talking about.. just basic documented mainstream blog.. most roman buildings, were allready there, repaired, or built on foundations from thousands of yrs previous.. the wailing wall, could be 300,000 yrs old.. but, said to be jewish,, total bs..
Wait! This is posted 3h ago!! :) Profesional approach. Dont ever think about doing less :) good job!
A great documentary - I 've never seen London so quiet!
Poppy syrup would have been fairly mild, yet medically effective. Not exactly fentanyl. Fascinating video!
Opium isn't mild.
@@MrNobodyMoto Fentanyl is much much stronger.
@@maryannbrown5762 the question is how appropriate poppy syrup is as treatment, not if there's something stronger. Given that tooth pain can be pretty painful it might not be that far off
Utterly fascinating. I’m really starting to explore my home city ( visit every , every , station, walking the Monopoly board, and may other retirement projects I have planned) but this is a brilliant reference point . I knew a lot anyway but I loved the way the story of the Romans in London and indeed London itself was explained. Thanks you .
Yes, the first bridges (brig) over rivers (stows) were pontoons made up of ships. Key to taking over capital cities. Key to the square mile.
I'm really enjoying everything posted from History Hit thank you for your hard work please know it's appreciated 🤗
Beautiful documentary thank you so much London has a crazy history!
It’s quite amazing to understand that the Romans were in the UK for 300 years one wonders what they thought of the good old British weather?
I was just thinking the same about the weather......I wonder if it was rubbish back then too.
After 300 years they had enough of the rain and left !!
Don't know; maybe there was a bit of global warming then, caused by the Romans, who apparently manage to grow grapes in Yorkshire. To day they would be accused of that by David Attenborough, and Greta.
They grew accustomed to it. They were not foreign by this time many were simply Romans. Only a Roman from perhaps Turkey visiting Britain would complain about the weather and how rude northern romans are.
The Romans had managed to conquer places with such a wide variety of climates, if anything some people might have preferred the British weather compared to where they came from if they were from a hot desert or a frigid mountain region.
Thank you for an excellent documentary, I really enjoyed it!
Loved the presentation! Learned a lot! More please!!!!!!!!!!
❤ London's history is amazing.
Future looks a bit bleak though. For the English..
We'll be back, we just need to get better politicians.
Roman history...400 years under Rome. not easy to digest
Great video keep it up you're doing amazing things 😁👍
In the Londinium theatre they listened to the songs of Adelicus especially her song Rollingucus in the Deepicus.
😅
Lol
Was that a celebration of cunnilingus. 🤔
Quo Vadis put on a good show, but try to avoid the cheap seats...they throw you to the lions after the performance.
Adele is disgusting
Thank you History Hit!
I’m not sure why they’re laughing about people taking poppy syrup for pain and saying that’s weird. It’s not like these people could walk to Walmart and buy ibuprofen. Doctors today are still prescribing opium derivatives for pain.
Thought the same, why did the man mentioned it like it was a crazy idea ?! I think it was very clever for the Romans to even create that syrup !
@@terimorris6394 Same here!
People take opiates for tooth aches today, don’t they?
@@genevievedolan1288 yep, the last time I had an opiate prescribed was after a dental procedure.
Perhaps irony or surprise that things haven’t changed all that much
This is a fantastic documentary! So interesting and well-presented.
London, York, St Albans, Bath, Exeter, Lincoln, Leicester, Worcester, Gloucester, Chichester, Winchester, Colchester, Manchester, Chester and Lancaster were all Roman cities, as were all cities with names ending in -chester, -cester or -caster, which derive from the Latin word castrum.
Castrum or Castellum (diminutive) - walled fortified camp used by the Roman legions - is also the word from which "castle" derives. In other languages it became: castello (Italian), castillo (Spanish), castelo (Portuguese), castel (Romanian), chateau (French).
@@marcobassini3576 In Welsh it is castell
The romance languages are obviously full of Latin words, since they are the evolution of Latin across the centuries (they evolved in parallel with cross contaminations). What the Englishmen do not know is that English as well has 50% of Latin words, a thing that is obvious to speakers of romance languages (they see a similarity with their own language), but not so obvious to English speakers, since they usually do not know neither Latin nor any other romance language. Many Latin words in English were introduced many centuries after the fall of the Roman empire, in medieval times, often through French.
@marcobassini3576 That's odd - I grew up in an English speaking country, and most people know significant parts of English are derived from Latin. In fact, most people I know are surprised to hear that English has a more significant number of words of German origin.
@@craven5328 You are the exception, the average Englishman does NOT understand any romance language or Latin, and not even German (possibly they have a vague reminiscence of French, studied at school when they were teenagers and never used again). So generally they do not have any clue about the similarities of their language with the others. Probably they even forgot that their current King is of German origin (family name: Saxe-Coburg and Gotha), changed in 1917 in the fantasy name of Windsor, since they were at war with Germany, and having a German king was not good.
If you can make fun of taking opiates for toothache, you've clearly never had a toothache.
Especially as a Roman age toothache more often led to sepsis and death - so yeah, some poppy seed syrup was definitely not overkill
@@L-mo Thats why it hurts so much, its your body letting you know you need to get rid of the thooth or you might die.
Or access to opiates.
Wonderful documentary and channel! Learned more about Roman London in one hour than my three years living in London.
thank you. this is a gem.
Excellent! Thank you for posting this video.
So bloody interesting. Thank you
Love History Hit. Thank you for all the amazing and very well done content. 🥰
Thanks for watching!
Most of this is recycled from older materials which seem to be all BBC based. HH did not produce this stuff, but perhaps re-edited for YT.
@@Chris-ut6eq still it’s a great compilation wherever it comes from and I’m very glad for it to be all in one place.
heres some history.. study this.. viper tv sumerian tablets.. praveen mohan.. the facts by how to hunt.. . reality...not mainstream bs..
That was tremendous, What a brilliant production.
This was a fantastic video and I've added so many more places in London to my Walking list. Next time in Britain I'm going to be Very busy. 🙂
It was an informative and wonderful historical coverage work about Ancient London during Roman Empire Time shared by 🙏(History Hit) channel..
wow! another amazing presentation by the professionals at HH!!
From indoor heated floors and plumbing to sudden decline and muddy hill forts. Roman Britain is fascinating to no end, and now I have to see these amazing exhibits. Incredibly produced program. Just really over the top this time HH. So many stories like this one, of a person born in the area of Germany, not even from Rome but Roman, and she ended up here.
Waiting impatiently for the second part after 400 AD.
Interesting, thanks I enjoyed this part of Roman history, the people more than the great names.
Great show!
ha! i walked though that roman wall just now at tower hill to go to M&S. Funny to think im taking medival shortcut though roman wall
Great documentary.
Amazing Stories paintings building many miles of stories beautiful art forms
What a fantastic documentary. Well presented and very interesting. Thank you. 🇦🇺👍
Well done Video. Thank you
This was really interesting, thank you.
I'm American and visit London more than any other place in Europe because I find it incredibly beautiful, but also incredibly historical. I've never taken a formal tour (vulgar), but I have friends who have shown me much, and I'm old fashioned enough to look at actual maps. In fact, I managed to get a taxicab driver map because he got one that was less worn out (not cheap!). Every street. Every nook and cranny. I love to explore!
The history is fascinating, but y0u should also visit some of the much older cities and towns in the UK as well. My Hometown - Leicester, was already a regional capital city for almost 1,000 years before the Romans came and founded London, and the towns of Thatcham in Berkshire, and Amesbury in Wiltshire, have been continuously occupied for at least 7,700 and 8,000 years respectively.
@@markmark63 yes, as another American tourist I've had quite enough of London. Many other places in the UK I'd rather visit.
The next time you visit it might be called Islondanstan.
As an English person it saddens me that you’ve actively chosen London as your favourite destination, its like saying that McDonald’s is your favourite restaurant
Racist.@@brandonporter550
An amazing video Thanks
Thanks so much for posting.
Excellent! Thank You so much!!!
Good this. Thanks Team! 🌟👍
👏🏼What a fantastic documentary
Excellent video; factual, objective and very well presented 👏
I really enjoyed this overview of Roman London and I now have several new places I want to visit if I ever get to go. I would like to see a video that delivers on what the title promises though. An in depth look at daily life perhaps focusing on 3 or 4 individuals. What did they eat each day? In a multicultural city of the time what kinds of clothing would have been seen? What languages were spoken? How much influence did native British culture still have?
what languages did they speak? interesting. i discovered the people who have taken time to learn anglo-saxon have no trouble readily communicating with the frisian speakers of the netherlands. there is the odd word they have to explain but the spoken forms are mutually intelligible.
I'm in the US and became familiar with Sophie Jackson from "Time Team," where she appeared a few times. It's great to see someone so passionate about what they do.
Really enjoyed this. Love HH.
High Quality Content.
I like watching documentaries like these. 👏💯 I enjoy
Wow, this is a lot more interesting than the companion piece: Roman Los Angeles.
Those tablets are fascinating.
Enjoyed this
Great video, would love to see similar things to other cities in Roman Britain like York or Lincoln
Nice try but were they subjected to the apocalypse that London was.Be careful that your not seen as a stolen valour kind of geezer!
There needs to be a movie or TV series made about Boudica.
Excellent videocast! Am I the only one? I want to be able to go back to the early days of Roman London. What attracts me is that it was a life that probably would make ours look cold and inhospitable. Sure; there was the element of early death from a number of probabilities, but one can imagine that people in those times spoke truth to power as a way of life.
Wow. That is an incredibly romanticized (no pun intended) version of what you just watched. Your enjoyment of Roman Londinum life would greatly depend on your wealth and family. And even then….There are quite a few gaps they left that are filled with tough, and often horrific, day to day life for the lower (or even slave) classes. I understand the desire to long for a time when things “made sense”, but unfortunately, there isn’t one. Humanity is, and always has been, a giant cauldron of prosperity and devastation.
Ah, to be introduced to the Palings of Wapping….such an honour!
So many lessons to be take from the destiny of Romans( from 753 bc to 476 ad) ... The western latin remains from Roman Empire... Sometimes History repeats itself... So I do belive it is so important to study history... 😊
Unfortunately the powers similar to the Roman Empire cancelled History from their curriculas. Greed will kill humanity.
@@fischiwien INDEED! I JUST HOPE HUMANITY WILL RESURECT ONCE MORE... AS IT DID SO MANY TIMES BEFORE!✨🍀✨
Actually the Roman Empire survived for another 1000 years in the East, till the fall of Constantinople in XV century!!! And even beyond that the zars of Russia called Moscow the "third Rome" (being Constantinople the second Rome). The Germans themselves, for 1000 years, till the Napoleonic wars, called their kingdom "Holy Roman Empire of the German people”. Everybody wanted to be part of the History (with the capital H), an unmatched greatness spanning over 2000 years. The Romans are the Western Civilization.
@@marcobassini3576 I can' t argue with your oppinion! 🤗
Thanks.
Super interesting, i didn't know !
Pretty grim towards the end rather like today!
Thanks!
Many thanks!!!
I wonder how peoples outside the Roman Empire had relations with the Imperial government, such as the Scandiavian region, Ireland, and beyond the Rhine in the Germanic regions. Where to find books dealing with the periphery of the Roman Empire?
Rome was politically organized with a centralized administration. Roman civilization created a vast space in which industrial and commercial activities could be explored profitably and peacefully, with great social and geographic mobility. The predictability of business was guaranteed both by the existence of adequate legislation and by authorities that enforced it. The pacification of conquered regions was achieved both by building cities and by creating opportunities to improve life for local populations who accepted living with the Romans. London was just one of hundreds of Roman cities spread across Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. The rise and decline of London was no different from the rise and decline of all other Roman cities.
How much DNA did they leave behind that went on to build the British Empire perhaps...
Great doco
Awesome 👍
My god, those finger marks STILL in the makeup canister!! Amazing!
Meaningless hand, gestures used throughout this video are legion. Very nice video. Very informative. Love, ancient London.
Nicely done! FYI, it's the Boudican revolt, not the "Buddan" revolt.
This is culture
What happened after 410AD? This has never been explored. However, we do know that trade with the Romans ended. And that metals were unobtainable. Furthermore, that London went into a steep decline and was abandoned completely. The city was returned to the animals for about 75 years. It is a great pity that historians have never covered this period. Having written this comment, perhaps they will !
Thanks
Fascinating information, and very interesting. However, we mustn’t forget that the Romans were not here for a pleasant holiday, or a mere jaunt. It was actually an extremely brutal military occupation, and the poor unfortunates who paid the price were the Ancient Britons. There is a very brief mention of them (‘slaves…’) but otherwise they’re completely airbrushed out of the picture. And the price they paid, to maintain the invaders in their much higher & more comfortable position, is never mentioned…
Dont care didnt ask
I mean, the fact we speak English today is down the same idea. England is the direct product of the Anglo Saxons (Anglo => Engle). They didn't spawn out of the ground in Britain out of nothingness. They invaded Britain, displaced the local Britons westwards.
@@boilingwateronthestove I think you’re missing the point. Which is the never-ending interest and continual praise heaped upon the Romans, by historians, archaeologists etc. Who, meanwhile, have airbrushed the native inhabitants out of the picture and completely ignored them, with never a word about them. The contrast between the respective situations of the two peoples, if it was actually compared, would be so stark that probably the best thing to do is just to maintain their awkward silence.
Many would come for 'pleasant holidays', going on jollies was a particularly popular thing for their own middle class as it is ours.
I know quite a lot about the ancient Britons in my area (iceni) and I would imagine that a lot of slave trading in ancient Britain was from tribes selling their own or adjacent tribes' populations, as was also the case in Africa. Hunting dogs and slaves were part of the exports from Britain to the Roman Empire before the Romans invaded.
I stashed away 50 mobile phones, different types in a time capsule, I hope an archaeologists enjoys discovering it
Would have been cool to see it back then.
A nice time to visit but I wouldn’t want to live there.
@@christophercarrier2902 A lot like London today.
If in Rome do visit the Domus Romana, a Roman house discovered underneath a palazzo. It has many items worth seeing and the layout is quite recognisably modern!
Imagine future archeologists excavating London thinking that after 2000 years people were still worshipping Juno Moneta 😂
It always impresses me how fascinated the British are with even the tiny part the Romans played in their land's history. Meanwhile there are countries in south europe whose lands have been part of the Roman Empire for 1000 years and they don't care much about it
I think it has a lot to do with the British Empire and the attempts to compare it to the Roman Empire. Rome also did have a large impact, from arrival, but also the departure led to the Early Middle Ages which provide a large part of the founding legends of Britain (or England) which also arose at the same time as the Empire. The opulent villas found also inspire people's imagination I think. Along with the huge amount of finds from the period compared with pre and post occupation. Personally I'm more interested in the pre and post Roman eras, especially the transition eras for the average person.
Maybe because the Romans were so long in southern Europe that their culture is almost still heavily influencing their culture which in turn kind of de-mystifies them. They're normal boring history. But for the British, the Romans are so different, exotic and play a huge part in the complete overhaul in their culture which is why it's kind of embedded into their social knowledge that these foreigners were super important
@@tristanmills4948 I'd say that's spot on. I've seen academic works that trace the increasing British fascination with the Roman Empire alongside the growth of the British Empire.
I'm sure part of it has to do with how well Romans recorded their history and their long-lasting structures. It's easy to get interested in old civilizations when they leave a lot to study
The Romans played more than a tiny part. It was a total change of civilisation.
As a Germanic tribesman - I believe, the Romans didn't come from Italy but from Mars !
Despite my lack of good understanding in english, i could enjoy many information. I’d like to remark the structure of Mythras templo seams the jewesh temple as well, and, to me this represent our triple structure: matetial body, inside them the spirit and the divine conscious in the deepst level. Mysthery.
Great film, but was I the only one expecting him to give us a recipe for Roman cake. :)
What calendar are you using by saying, for example, year “8219”?
I was so confused too! I just realized he is saying AD not 80😂
Okay, thanks for that clarification. For a moment I thought they were using some new, politically correct calendar system.
@chuckw2236 I did too.
I misheard this, too. I'm accustomed to hearing/seeing 219 AD, rather than AD 219. I now understand that the most common usage is technically incorrect, which is obvious if you translate it into English - the year of our Lord 219, not 219 the year of our Lord - but I'd never actually stopped to think about that.
I think it comes down to the speaker speaking a tad bit too fast, with no pause in between "A.D." and "219". I don't mean to be critical, and he certainly does a fine job otherwise. Also, in America, we're used to saying "219 A.D."; not that our way is any better; it's just the way we learned it in school.
Chariots drove on the LEFT side off the roads!
So, they weren’t even allowed on the actual road?
pavements for chariots
@@josephberrie9550 Tarmac
@@debbylou5729 According to Ancient records they had to drive on the soft shoulder while peasants and Donkey Carts could traverse the Modern paved roads...especially the sections with tarmac and poured concrete.
All the citizens also had bad teeth. True fact from archeological evidence.
Glad the rate of blade crime has only grown since then! Truly a remarkable salute to the past!
@7:23 i thought dates as we know it today didn't come around until 5th or 6th century AD? i wonder how it was written on that tablet.....very interesting tho
Mitra is the deity of the sun and a prominent figure in Hinduism, which still preserves all the ancient ways which are lost now in the rest of the world.
Imagine Charles, Camilla is now a King, etc, Catherine and William and all are with. Amazing adventure was this, thank you! So much history!
What?
The Romans sure were great architects.
The 'deed of sale' tablets at 7:12 don't have anything I can visibly recognise as writing. Did they have to shine a special light on it or just look really closely or something?
THANK YOU. I'm not going crazy then?
If you zoom in you can see letters. Without zooming in it looks like small stains.
It's almost 2000 years old!!! It's worn down over time making it harder to read the chicken scratchings! Lol! (Dated AD 57)
@@taffykins2745 By what process were they worn down?
@@richardwebb2348 2000+ years? I don't know. What do you think could have happened to a rock, soft enough to carve in, that was found buried in the dirt over a 2000 year period? I'm not a geologist familiar with the area, but I can make some pretty fair assumptions. What do you think happened?
Enjoyed the exploration, although the subtitles struggled with the English spoken.
There are footings of a pier, or some such wooden structure, in the Thames, near Embankment from memory which has been carbon dated to around 2,000 BC..So there was likely a settlement in London when the Romans invaded in the 1st Century BC
re - 3:30 ish And here I was, thinking that the Romans were interested in mining gold in England (Dolaucothi Gold Mines spring to mind)...
These tablets were early iPads.
So that is where JR Tokkien got the name for Frodo's Mithral Armor.
What date would have been shown on the deed, since no one at that time used BC or AD?
Dated by the Emperor of the time. Eg. The 5th year of the reign of Augustus.
They might have used AUC Ab Urbe Condita: since the city (Rome) was founded en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ab_urbe_condita