In that same period, and into the second century, all the familiar hallmarks of Roman civilization were introduced. Towns and cities appeared in Britain for the first time, laid out to rigid grid-plans, and within them bathhouses, theatres, temples, monuments and basilicas, all built expensively in stone, some of them faced with marble. The greatest city of all was London, founded soon after Claudius’ invasion to serve as an administrative hub for the newly acquired province. With walls some two miles long and enclosing an area of 330 acres, it was home to a population of perhaps 50,000
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