{"id":461,"date":"2009-08-23T17:41:50","date_gmt":"2009-08-23T21:41:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/linux.dickinson.edu\/wpmu\/norwichhumanities\/?p=461"},"modified":"2009-08-23T17:41:50","modified_gmt":"2009-08-23T21:41:50","slug":"the-city-of-london-ancient-influences-and-modern-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/2009\/08\/the-city-of-london-ancient-influences-and-modern-times\/","title":{"rendered":"The City of London: Ancient Influences and Modern Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our Roman Wall tour through the City of London this morning opened my eyes to just how great a stamp the Romans left on not only the British Isles as a whole, but the city of London itself.\u00a0 Previous to this walk, I had been under the impression that once they pulled out the only things of Italian origin left in the city were those that had been built specifically by the legions in residence.\u00a0 Perhaps I should have considered that the Romans had been occupying this piece of land for several centuries, much longer than living memory, and so their architecture and culture were all the citizens of Londinium knew.\u00a0 Of course they would have continued to build in the style to which they were accustomed.\u00a0 Despite the Norman conquest in 1066, the city’s Roman roots continue to show through.\u00a0 Several buildings, most notably churches, in the area of Old London are blatently Roman in design.\u00a0 One goes so far to look remarkably like the Pantheon from the front, despite the steeple rising in the back.\u00a0 Even Christopher Wren’s memorial to the Great Fire looks remarkably like the Column of Trajan in Rome, complete with internal stairs and a overlook.\u00a0 And these buildings are not the\n\t\t