The Romans. The narrator does not explicitly mention the Romans, but he alludes to "giants" (entas) who once built cities in England (perhaps like Bath). Anglo Saxons of the Dark Ages did not have access to a written historical record, so their expressions attempting to describe past events were mythological rather than historical in the modern day sense of the word. The narrator was not referring to the Danes. Clearly the Anglo Saxons of ancient Britain were mesmerized by Roman ruins and tried to describe them as best they could, given limitations they were facing
