The Roman Emperors of Britain, page 3
One of the earliest references to Britain may have been by the Greek historian Herodotus in the fifth century BC. He can say little about these islands off the west coast of Europe except that it was known for its trade in tin, giving it the name Cassiterides, ‘tin islands’. A poem from the fourth century AD, Ora maritima, ‘The Sea Coast’, claimed to contain an even earlier reference from a Greek navigational manual from the sixth century BC. This describes two islands inhabited by two peoples, the Hierni and Albiones, referring to Ireland and Britain respectively.
Our first eye-witness account is from c. 320 BC in On the Ocean, when the Greek explorer Pytheas travelled from Massalia to Armorica and from there circumnavigated Britain. The book did not survive but was referenced by later writers. One such was another Greek, Diodorus Siculus, in the first century BC. He called the island Pretanni, making the Britons the Pretani or Priteni. This can be translated as the ‘painted ones’ or ‘tattooed folk’, which ties in with Caesar’s observation of the use of woad, a blue paint used in body decoration.
Strabo in the first century AD uses the spelling Pretannia, but Britannia was by now being used as an alternative. Pliny the Elder refers to the cluster of islands as Britannias but the largest of them as Albion. The survival of the P-spelling may be heard in the later name for the tribes in the north, the Picti, and the Welsh name for Britain, Prydain. Ptolemy in the second century AD refers to Brettania and it was the B-spelling that became dominant.
Strabo, a young man when Caesar invaded Britain, gave a detailed description in Geographica.11 Triangular in shape, Britain lies opposite Celtica, Gaul, and is 4,300 stadia in length. A stadia was roughly 157 metres, which equates to 675 kilometres or 420 miles. The distance from Kent to Lands End is about a hundred miles shorter but Strabo seems to be measuring the northern coast of Gaul from the Rhine. He names four main crossing points: from the mouths of the Rhine and Seine facing Britain and the Loire and Garonne on the western Atlantic coast of Gaul.
The island is described as flat but with some regions hilly and ‘overgrown with forests’. It produces grain, cattle, gold, silver and iron, which are exported along with hides, slaves and hunting dogs. These latter they use in war, as do the Celti in Gaul. Compared to these the Britons are taller with a ‘looser build’ and ‘not so yellow-haired’. Strabo claims he saw ‘mere lads’ in Rome, presumably slaves, ‘half a foot above the tallest people in the city’. Yet they are ‘bandy-legged and presented no fair lines anywhere else in their figure’. They had similar customs to the Celts but were ‘simpler and more barbaric’. According to Strabo, they have no knowledge of gardening or ‘agricultural pursuits’ and place their cities in forests, fencing in a ‘spacious circular enclosure with trees which they have felled and in that enclosure make huts for themselves and also pen up their cattle’. Strabo claims these are only temporary camps and goes on to comment about the weather: ‘Their weather is more rainy than snowy; and on the days of clear sky fog prevails so long a time that throughout a whole day the sun is to be seen for only three or four hours round about midday.’
Strabo was writing during the reign of Augustus and makes an interesting comment about the treaty arrangements existing at the time, presumably a result of Caesar’s second invasion. Chieftains from Britain sent embassies and ‘dedicated offerings in the Capitol, but have also managed to make the whole of the island virtually Roman’. Heavy duties on imports and exports from Britain bring in much gold, the former from Gaul consisting of ‘ivory chains and necklaces, and amber-gems and glass vessels and other petty wares’ of that sort). The Britons are so subdued that Strabo states there is no need to garrison the island. In fact only ‘one legion, at the least, and some cavalry would be required in order to carry off tribute from them, and the expense of the army would offset the tribute-money’. As we shall see, Claudius was to bring four legions and a similar number of auxiliary troops.
Some of this we must take with a pinch of salt, as we see from his description of Ireland. The inhabitants, even more savage than the Britons, are cannibals and ‘openly have intercourse, not only with the other women, but also with their mothers and sisters’. However, he admits he has no trustworthy witnesses. He also mentions Thule, thought to be the Orkneys or Shetland islands, where the people live on ‘millet and other herbs, and on fruits and roots; and where there are grain and honey’, the latter of which is used to make a beverage.
Julius Caesar provides a fascinating first-hand account of events but also a glimpse into how the Romans viewed Britain.12 He believed that ‘in almost all the Gallic campaigns’ the enemy had received support from Britain. He describes the coastal tribes as having migrated from northern Gaul and taken their names with them, suggesting the Belgae and Atrebates. The population is ‘innumerable’ and unlike Strabo, Caesar describes a rich agricultural tradition similar to Gaul with ‘farm-buildings very close together’, and a ‘great store of cattle’. Gold and bronze coins or iron ‘tallies’ are used. The weather gets a better press than with Strabo: ‘The climate is more temperate than in Gaul, the cold seasons more moderate.’ He too describes a triangular island with a smaller one to the west (Ireland) and inbetween an island called Man. He states that the people of Kent are the most civilised while those in the interior ‘do not sow corn, but live on milk and flesh and clothe themselves in skins’. We then get a famous descriptor of the physical appearance of the Britons: they ‘dye themselves with woad, which produces a blue colour, and makes their appearance in battle more terrible. They wear long hair, and shave every part of the body save the head and the upper lip.’ Households of ten or twelve men, often related, hold wives in common. Any children are said to belong to the house.
Yet the Britons were not a culturally homogenous society living peacefully side by side. Caesar tells of ‘continuous wars’ between Cassivellaunus and the other tribes. While the Britons came together and appointed him as leader, Caesar was eventually able to exploit these differences. A century later, Claudius was confronted with the same patchwork of competing tribes.
Tacitus, writing two generations after the invasion of AD 43, provides more information.13 The soil is fertile and the weather rainy and cloudy, though the temperature is moderate. The red-haired, large-limbed Caledonians, Tacitus claims, are Germanic in origin. The Silures in south Wales have a swarthy complexion and curled hair. Those in the south-east resemble the Gauls and share some of their sacred rites and superstitions and the language is similar, though perhaps importantly not the same. The Britons are more ferocious in war than their Gallic cousins but even here some have been softened by peace.
Their strength lay in their infantry, while some tribes use chariots, the ‘most honourable person guides the reins’, while others fight from the platform. The Britons had kings and chieftains but were fractious and their disunity allowed the Romans to divide and conquer. The conquered Britons submitted to levies and tributes ‘if they are not treated injuriously’. Tacitus was writing after Agricola’s victory at Mons Graupius in c. AD 83, by which time much of southern Britain had been under Roman rule for several decades.
We see here how the Romans slowly won hearts and minds to their cause. A liberal education was provided for the sons of the chieftains and the Britons ‘who lately disdained to make use of the Roman language, were now ambitious of becoming eloquent’. Roman habits began to be emulated and ‘held in honour’. The toga became common and they became used to luxuries of baths and dining. This slow seduction by Roman civilisation is noted by Tacitus as causing the Britons’ enslavement. All this was in the future. Tacitus appears more doubtful as to Julius Caesar’s legacy. Caesar won some battles and gained the shore but he ‘discovered rather than possessed the island’.
Then the island was neglected by successive emperors until an abortive attempt by Caligula. It was left to Claudius to finally accomplish the undertaking.
Julius Caesar: appearance and personality
Before we end this chapter on the ‘first contact’ between the Britons and the military might of Rome, we will take a brief look at the man who instigated it. Julius Caesar was born c. 100 BC into a Republic that was already prone to political instability and violence. In his childhood ‘The Social War’ was fought between the Roman Republic and some of its autonomous allies, resulting in much of Italy becoming ‘Romanised’ and a significant increase in Roman citizenship. As a young adult he survived Sulla’s civil war and served with distinction in the army. In his mid-twenties, on his way to Rhodes to study, he was captured and later ransomed by pirates. It is likely he served as a military tribune during the rebellion of Spartacus in the ‘Third Servile War’, 73–71 BC.
His appearance and personality is described by Suetonius in The Lives of the Twelve Caesars:14 He was ‘tall of stature with a fair complexion, shapely limbs, a somewhat full face, and keen black eyes’. His health was good except towards his later years he was ‘subject to sudden fainting fits and to nightmare as well’. Twice he was attacked by ‘the falling sickness’ on campaign, very likely epilepsy. He took care of his appearance and shaved both his face and excess body hair. Troubled by his baldness, he combed his ‘scanty locks forward’ to cover it.
He was fond of ‘elegance and luxury’ and often wore a senator’s tunic with fringed sleeves with, unusually, a girdle around it. He is described as ‘unbridled and extravagant in his intrigues’ and also a ladies-man: ‘he seduced many illustrious women... had love affairs with queens too’, most famously Cleopatra. This appetite did not extend to food and drink, both of which he was indifferent to. Popular with the troops, he was ‘highly skilled in arms and horsemanship, and of incredible powers of endurance’. Time and again he proved his personal bravery by leading his men into battle, placing himself in positions of great personal danger. His oratory skills were as high as his generalship. We can see a contemporary sculpture picturing his likeness in figure 5.
Figure 5. Bust of Julius Caesar (Wikimedia Commons)
Our next emperor to set foot in Britain was a very different man, both physically and temperamentally. Julius Caesar started his career gambling his life when he crossed the Rubicon and advanced on Rome. Many times before and after this momentous decision he’d placed himself in harm’s way at critical moments in battles. Our next emperor began his reign very differently: hiding behind a curtain in the palace shaking with fear as praetorian guards went on a murderous rampage following the assassination of their beloved emperor, Caligula.
Chapter Two
Claudius and the Invasion of Britain
Tiberius Claudius Nero Germanicus was born at Lugdunum in Gaul in 10 BC He was the youngest son of Drusus the Elder, the brother of Emperor Tiberius. He was also the grandson of Mark Antony. His older brother, Germanicus, had an illustrious military career, married into the imperial family (a daughter of Tiberius’s second wife) and was adopted by the emperor, becoming the natural heir to the throne. When Germanicus died in AD 19 some suspected poison. Tiberius was to rule for a further eighteen years, after which the son of Germanicus, Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, became emperor. We know him today as Caligula. At the beginning of his reign the sources are as kind to him as they were to his father. Four years later, after his assassination, the sources widely condemn him for his cruelty.
Suetonius1 states Caligula was ‘sound neither of body nor mind’ and had the ability to have both ‘extreme assurance and, on the other hand, excessive timorousness’. His acts and words were equally cruel and he indulged in ‘reckless extravagance’ and ‘unspeakable cruelty’. Even before he was emperor it was said ‘he could not control his natural cruelty and viciousness, but he was a most eager witness of the tortures and executions of those who suffered punishment, revelling at night in gluttony and adultery’.
What then of Claudius, uncle to the now reviled Caligula? He grew up during the reign of the first emperor and was in his mid-twenties when Augustus died. He lived through the reign of Tiberius and saw the rise of his young nephew Caligula. Yet Claudius himself played little part in the political struggles of the day, held no notable civic posts and did not have a military career, let alone one to rival his brother. He was a most unlikely emperor when greatestnedd was thrust upon him by the praetorian guard at the age of 50. He was perhaps an even less likely conqueror of Britain.
He was a sickly child and Suetonius tells us this dulled ‘both his mind and his body’.2 So much so that even when he reached adulthood he was not thought capable of any public or private office and retained a guardian. His own mother, Antonia, called him ‘a monster of a man, not finished but merely begun’, and when insulting others would say they were ‘a bigger fool than my son Claudius’. His grandmother Augusta also treated him with contempt. When learning of his ascension his sister Livilla ‘openly and loudly prayed’ that Rome would be spared her brother’s rule.
Suetonius quotes a letter from Augustus to his wife Livia where he discusses the ‘Claudius problem’. He suggests they decide once and for all if he is fit for public office. If he is ‘wanting and defective in soundness of body and mind’ then they should avoid the potential ridicule and embarrassment. However, he finishes noting ‘where his mind does not wander, the nobility of his character is apparent enough’. Ultimately, Augustus decided Claudius just wasn’t up to it and he served no offices except a priesthood. It wasn’t until his nephew was emperor that he held high office as joint consul.
Caligula was stabbed to death by multiple assailants in a scene reminiscent of the murder of Julius Caesar. Caligula’s guard went on a killing spree to avenge their fallen emperor. Innocent bystanders were caught up as well as some of the murderers and co-conspirators. In the bloodletting Caligula’s wife, Caesonia, was stabbed by a centurion, while his daughter’s brains were dashed out against a wall. The future conqueror of Britain was found cowering in hiding. While the praetorians sacked, looted and murdered anyone they came across, a single guardsman wandered through the palace and noticed toes poking out the bottom of some curtains. Drawing them back, he found Claudius shaking with fear and the fate of the empire hung on the guardsman’s decision.
Writing a few decades later, Suetonius tells us Claudius ‘fell at his feet in terror’ but the soldier hailed him as emperor and dragged him to his comrades, who continued to run amok in ‘purposeless rage’. It’s easy to imagine Claudius being killed then and there and history may have taken a different turn. Perhaps no invasion of Britain at all and a completely different list of emperors. But the soldiers placed him in a litter and carried him to their camp. Claudius was apparently terrified and held overnight in despair. A standoff ensued, with the consuls and senate holding the Forum and Capitol. They ordered Claudius to attend but his message back claimed he was held ‘by force and compulsion’. The senators descended into bickering and factionalism. Suetonius tells us it was the people themselves who called for Claudius, who, it is implied, reluctantly allowed the army to swear allegiance to him. The price was 15,000 sesterces each.
The invasion very nearly didn’t happen. There was an abortive attempt on his life in 42 and at least six further attempts during the rest of his reign.3 Scribonianus had revolted in Dalmatia but his legions refused to support the coup, earning them the title Claudia Pia Fidelis (‘Cladius’ own, loyal and true’). By the end of 42, with the ringleaders dead and confident that the legions were behind him, he had decided the invasion was on.
This was not the first time Rome had cast its eyes across the ocean since Julius Caesar had received the surrender of several tribes in 54 BC. The Catuvellauni had been required to agree not to invade their eastern neighbours, the Trinovantes of Essex. Within sixty years these two tribes had been unified under the Catuvellaunian king, Cunobelin, making the Trinovantian capital, Camulodunum, modern Colchester, his base. This might indicate Rome’s influence had waned over the decades. Caesar had also demanded tribute, although there is debate about if it was ever collected, and if so, for how long. It has been suggested it was these events that put the Romans and Britons on a collision course. Three of Cunobelin’s sons played a part: Adminius, who fled to Rome during the reign of Caligula; and Caratacus and Togodumnus. These latter two had a very different attitude towards Rome than their brother or father. It was their hostility and attack on Verica, a king of Atrebates who were friendly to Rome, that was ultimately to bring the legions to Britain.
There were several other times when Rome considered following up on Caesar’s last expedition in 54 BC.4 Augustus called off a planned invasion in 34 BC due to a Dalmatian revolt. Seven years later another proposed expedition was called off due to unrest in Gaul. Cassius Dio reports that Augustus had set out to ‘make an expedition into Britain’ but, after heading north, lingered in Gaul. The reasons given were twofold:5 First, the Gauls were still unsettled with civil wars among the subjugated tribes; and second, the Britons seemed likely to make terms.
Just two years later Cassius Dio reports the Britons reneged, but this time Augustus was thwarted by a revolt of the Salassi in Liguria and Cantabri and Astures in Northern Spain. It has been suggested this marks the cessation of the tribute payments agreed by Caesar.
Augustus himself in Res Gestae Divi Augustus, ‘The Deeds of the Divine Augustus’, records two British kings who also requested aid: Tincommius of the Atrebates and Dubnovellaunus of the Trinovantes. Both tribes were under pressure from the Catevellauni, the very tribe Julius Caesar had forced a sort of non-aggression agreement on. Here then we have two further instances that might have persuaded the Romans to invade. It wasn’t until the reign of Caligula that another potential invasion was planned.
Suetonius tells us Caligula had just the one experience of war. This quickly descended into farce. He was seized with the idea of a campaign into Germany and gathered together legions and auxiliary units. Clearly no fan, Suetonius described him as ‘lazy and luxurious’, insisting on being carried in a litter by eight bearers. The roads ahead were ordered to be swept and sprinkled with water to keep the dust down. However, he found himself with very little to do apart from antagonising the army. He dismissed generals and long-serving centurions just days from retirement, and reduced the pay of those reaching full service. Finding no one to fight, he resorted to faking skirmishes, once by sending his bodyguard ahead to pretend to be barbarians.
