The Roman Invasion of Britain

241 Pages·1993·6.394 MB·English

by  Graham Webster

THE ROMAN
INVASION OF
BRITAIN
To the memory of
Donald Dudley
Graham Webster
THE ROMAN
INVASION OF
BRITAIN

London and New York
First published 1980 by B.T. Batsford Ltd
Revised edition 1993

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group

This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003.

© 1980, 1993 Graham Webster
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording,
or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress

ISBN 0-203-46284-X Master e-book ISBN

ISBN 0-203-77108-7 (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0-415-21828-4 (Print Edition)
Contents

Preface 7
Preface to the Revised Edition 8
Acknowledgments 9
List of Illustrations 10
Introduction 13
1 The Sources of Evidence 15
2 The Celts and Julius Caesar 31
3 The Tribes of South-East Britain and their Rulers 41
4 The Opposing Forces 76
5 The Invasion and Advance to Camulodunum 94
6 The Shape of the Roman Province 111
7 The Claudian Celebrations and Departure of Plautius 168
References 173
Appendices:
Translation of Dio 200
The number of units in the army of Plautius 203
Abbreviations 204
Bibliographical references 205
a) ancient sources
b) modern works
Glossary of Latin terms 206
Glossary of technical terms 210
Place names in the modern and Roman forms 211
Index 214

5

Preface
My interest in the Roman invasion and early campaigns in Britain
was first aroused by an investigation of the legionary fortress at Lincoln,
1938–45 (JRS 39 (1949) 57–78). There was little opportunity for doing
any serious research work until I was appointed as Senior Edward
Cadbury Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham in 1953–
57. This led to the publication of ‘The Roman Military Advance under
Octorius Scapula’ (Archaeol J 115 (1960) 49–98), and subsequently,
with the collaboration of Professor Donald Dudley, of a volume in the
British Battle Series entitled The Roman Conquest of Britain in 1965.
But new information continued to be collected and studied, so that
constant revisions were necessary (‘The Claudian Frontiers in Britain’
Studien zu der militärgrenzen Rome 1967, 42–53 and ‘The Military
Situation in Britain AD 43 and 71’ Brit 1 (1970) 179–197).
In 1972, my old friend and collaborator, Donald Dudley, died and
I revised the Conquest book of 1965 for a new paperback edition by
Pan in 1973. In the six years since much new evidence has come to
light, mainly through aerial archaeology and major rescue excavations.
Not only are there many new military sites but a radical reconsideration
has been needed of the contacts of Rome with the tribes in south-
eastern Britain in the period post-dating Caesar, as evidence of extensive
trade has been discovered. It became evident as work proceeded on
this book, that it was quite impossible to include all the events from
AD 43 to 58, and the evidence for them into the space between the
covers. So the publishers kindly agreed to allow me two volumes, the
present one takes the conquest down to the end of the governorship
of Aulus Plautius (AD 47/48) and a second volume will continue the
study up to the short governorship of Q Veranius (AD 57/58).
I have been very fortunate in having the collaboration of Professor
A Barrett of University of British Columbia, who has been carrying
out a careful study of the historical sources of this period and my
gratitude to him will be evident from the footnotes. The only historical
account of the invasion of AD 43 is that of Cassius Dio and I
acknowledge the help of two Cambridge scholars, Mary Beard and
Neil Wright, for their entire reappraisal of this difficult text and new
translation (Appendix 1). I must also thank Professor Antony Birley
of Düsseldorf University for his kind help with Roman personalities
who came to Britain as comites with Claudius and Barry Eccleston for
his skill and patience in drawing his maps.
7
8 Preface
It will be abundantly clear from the text that I have had from
many excavators, aerial photographers, museum curators and
colleagues, a vast amount of help and information freely given,
much of it before publication. To list them all would be difficult and
I hope that full credit has been given in the text and footnotes. I am
sorry for any omissions, due to carelessness or forgetfulness. To my
wife, Diana, I owe a special word of thanks for improving the
quality of the text and excising any over-fanciful ideas and humble
gratitude to my secretary Mary Pinder, who has had to re-type so
many pages so often. My thanks also to Peter Jennings and Tony
Barrett for their careful proof reading.
Preface to the revised edition
Since 1980 when this was published, a considerable amount of new
information has come to light through excavations, air photography
and casual finds. The best general account has been that of Dr Valerie
Maxfield1 and that of the legionary fortresses of the period is in Fortress
into City, 1988, which I edited and contributed to.2 The fortress sites
which have produced new evidence are Colchester, Lincoln, Gloucester,
Manchester and Exeter and a new one of Legio II Aug has been found
by Professor M Fulford in his excavation of the town of Calleva
(Silchester).3 This last site throws doubt on the interpretation of the
early military site found at Chichester4 and which now must be
considered as auxiliary. The presence of an auxiliary fort at Camerton
on the Fosse Way has been established by the discovery by metal
detectors of a large quantity of military metal-work. This was collected
together by Bill Wedlake and presented to the BM. A full report was
subsequently written by Ralph Jackson and published by the Trustees.5
A paper on Exeter by Christopher Henderson which adds to the
chapter in Fortress into City was published in the Proceedings of the
XVth International Congress of Roman Frontier Studies.6 This paper
also includes a hypothetical plan of a fort at Lake Farm near
Wimbourne, Dorset,7 and which, it has been suggested housed part of
Legio II Aug before it moved to Exeter.
Dr Maxfield in her paper (fn 1) questioned the validity of the Fosse
Way as part of a frontier stating that, ‘The static frontier has no place
Preface 9
in the dynamic campaigning situation of the mid-first century…’ But
it can be demonstrated that every subsequent forward move made by
Rome was not a continuing conquest, but was forced upon Rome by
the Britons, first by Caratacus, then by the Silures and later by the
quarrel between Q.Cartimandua and her husband Venutius. Hadrian
eventually built the Wall, but this was not the final answer.
The discovery of a graffito and lead seals has led to a correction of
the tribe previously known as the Coritani, which is now known to
have been the Corieltauvi.8
1 Research on Roman, Britain, 1960–89 ed. Malcolm Todd, Brit. Monograph Ser. No. 11
1989, ‘Conquest and Aftermath’, pp. 19–30
2 Batsford, 1988, this includes accounts by their excavators of Colchester, Lincoln, Gloucester
and Cirencester (auxiliary fort)
3 Fulford, M.G., 1984, Silchester Defences 1974–1980. Britannia Monograph 5
4 Invasion 1980, pp. 124–5
5 Camerton, The Late Iron Age and Early Roman Metalwork, B.M., 1990
6 Roman Frontier Studies 1989, ed. V.A.Maxfield and M.J.Dobson, 1991
7 Fig. 13.13; see also Christopher Henderson on Exeter in Fortress into City, 1987, p. 91 and
Fig. 1.2
8 Ant.J. 63 (1983), p. 353 and Roman Finds Group, Newsletter V, 1992 pp. 4–5
Acknowledgments
The author and publisher wish to thank the following for
permission to reproduce the photographs appearing in this book: the
Trustees of the British Museum, 10. Committee for Aerial
Photography, Cambridge University, 13 and 17. Colchester and
Essex Museum, 1 and 19. Corinium Museum, 9. Professor S S Frere,
12. Curator of the Newark Museum, 12. Society of Antiquaries of
London, 4, 6, 7, 8, and 18.