A HISTORY OF LONDON stationed in London, but deceased while passing to or from the head quarters of their legions, London being on the direct route homeward. Such interments would not be earlier than a.d. 43, and it was long ago observed in Normandy by the Abbe Cochet^^' that inhumation, or burial of the body unburnt, begins as early as the second half of the third century, and skeletons are found mingled with urn-burials ; but no unburnt Roman burial occurs from Philippus (d. 249) back to Augustus, a period during which the rite of burning was alone practised. Evidence on this point in Britain is not so precise or plentiful, but in London and elsewhere the rule seems to hold good and may be accepted as a working hypothesis. The reason for the change of rite is not apparent, and if it had been due to the spread of Christianity before the edict of Constantine (a.d. 313), one would expect to find emblems of that faith on coffins of stone and lead, such as those described above ; but Christian antiquities of the Roman period in this country are decidedly rare, and some of these are by no means certain. It might be thought that undue importance has been attributed to the burials enumerated and classified above, but apart from their variety and the chronological evidence they afford, their distribution will be found of the utmost value in determining the course of the Roman roads through Greater London and the City. On this question, above all, have most of the local historians exercised their ingenuity, without coming to any general agreement or supporting their arguments by archaeological evidence. The result is that the origin of London is wrapped in obscurity, and the myths of later centuries have been called in to supply the defects of observation. The scheme to be propounded here has been anticipated in one or two respects by previous writers, and does not claim to be final or accurate in anything but outline ; but it is hoped that a consideration of the road-system in the light of archaeology will point the way to future discoveries and throw fresh light on the foundation of London. Some apology is needed for the use of a priori arguments in such an inquiry, but their reasonableness will be admitted by most, and the conclusions found to be in strict accordance with the available data. The long stretches of Roman road that may still be traced with certainty in various parts of this country and abroad show clearly enough that a straight course was the ideal of their makers, and that any deviations made were absolutely necessary. Next it is a commonplace that the Romans were in the habit of burying their dead along the sides of such main roads in the outskirts of their towns,* their laws forbidding interment within the walls of any but a few privileged persons. With these two principles and a ruler we may proceed some way towards a solution of the problem. As it was incumbent on the invading army to keep open its lines of communication with the Continent, it may be presumed that the Watling Street from the Kentish ports into the interior was among the first Roman undertakings in this country, and its line can be traced as far west as Shooters Hill. West of Greenwich its course is conjectural, but the same line ^"NormanJie Souterraine (1855), (=d. 2), 29, 165 ; Proc. Soc. Jntlj. xix, 209. " All the lead coffins found at Rouen were so buried : Cochet, Mimoire sur les cercueils de plomb, 22. The chief burials were so situated at Bath : V.C.H. Somen, i, 264. Classical texts are cited by Forbes and Burmester, Our Roman Highways, 192. 28
