Decline
The importance of Isca as a trading centre is demonstrated by the more than a thousand Roman coins that have been found in the city. However, the dates of these coins suggest that the city was at its most prosperous in the first half of the fourth century and virtually no coins dated after AD 380 have been found, suggesting a rapid decline.
The forum and basilica were demolished around the middle of the 5th century when a cemetery, probably Christian, was established on the site. It continued in use into the Anglo-Saxon period when the town became known as 'Isca-Castra' or Exeter.
After the Romans left Britain in the early 5th century there is no evidence of Exeter for almost 300 years, until around 680 when a document about St Boniface reports that he was educated at the Abbey in Exeter.
Read more about this topic: Isca Dumnoniorum
Famous quotes containing the word decline:
“Our achievements speak for themselves. What we have to keep track of are our failures, discouragements, and doubts. We tend to forget the past difficulties, the many false starts, and the painful groping. We see our past achievements as the end result of a clean forward thrust, and our present difficulties as signs of decline and decay.”
—Eric Hoffer (1902–1983)
“Families suffered badly under industrialization, but they survived, and the lives of men, women, and children improved. Children, once marginal and exploited figures, have moved to a position of greater protection and respect,... The historic decline in the overall death rates for children is an astonishing social fact, notwithstanding the disgraceful infant mortality figures for the poor and minorities. Like the decline in death from childbirth for women, this is a stunning achievement.”
—Joseph Featherstone (20th century)
“The decline of the aperitif may well be one of the most depressing phenomena of our time.”
—Luis Buñuel (1900–1983)