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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.

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