
Was This City the Real Camelot?
Clip: Season 23 Episode 4 | 2m 53sVideo has Closed Captions
Did Cirencester remain the center of a prosperous post-Roman kingdom in the time of King Arthur?
Prof. Mark Horton explores Corinium (modern Cirencester), a city rich in mosaics, impressive architecture, and the largest column capital in Roman Britain. Its wealth and status raises a compelling question: did this city remain the center of a prosperous post-Roman kingdom in the time of King Arthur?
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SECRETS OF THE DEAD is made possible, in part, by public television viewers.

Was This City the Real Camelot?
Clip: Season 23 Episode 4 | 2m 53sVideo has Closed Captions
Prof. Mark Horton explores Corinium (modern Cirencester), a city rich in mosaics, impressive architecture, and the largest column capital in Roman Britain. Its wealth and status raises a compelling question: did this city remain the center of a prosperous post-Roman kingdom in the time of King Arthur?
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship-Sources claim that Arthu lived in the immediate aftermath of Roman Britain and protected a wealthy kingdom.
Is there other evidence to suggest Corinium was the center of that kingdom?
The Corinium Museum is filled with artifacts, showing just how important this city was.
Some of the most expensive luxuries were finely crafted mosaics.
-So, Emma, I mean, how many mosaics are here in Cirencester-Corinium?
-So, over 90 are known from the town.
Some of them are still underneath the ground.
Anywhere you walk in Cirencester, you'll be walking over the top of a site where there is actually a mosaic underneath your feet.
Many huge townhouses were decorated with figurative designs, some geometric designs.
This is the famed hare mosaic.
You can see that it's a hare at peace.
It's nibbling plants.
It's really beautifully defined with some green glass across the back, which would make it twinkle in the light.
-So you can imagin the sheer wealth of the place.
-There is a huge amount of wealth here.
It's shown in the architecture, the stonework, the decoration in the buildings, even public buildings were decorated in this way.
-Archaeologists have reconstruct what Corinium would have looked like toward the end of the 4th century.
With its size and impressive public buildings, it was clearly a place of great wealth and power.
But the reason Mark think this city is a prime contender for Camelot is this column in its central forum.
-This is the largest column capital for Roman Britain.
This huge column capsule that just stood at the top of a massive column in the center of the town.
-So London doesn't even have one larger?
-No.
We've asked around, the diameter of this is the largest from Roman Britain, highly decorated.
And there's a slot in the center just here for a statue.
-And it could well be for the Roman emperor.
-At the base of the column, a carved block of stone identifies Corinium as the capital city for the Roman province of Britannia Prima, which covered the entire southwest of Britain.
What happened to this grand capital city after Roman rule collapsed in the year 410?
Did it remain a capital and the center of a wealthy post-Roma kingdom in the time of Arthur?
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