Over the next few posts, something that I'll be doing a lot when I'm looking into the conquest is looking back at what the ancient authors themselves wrote, for a number of reasons. Firstly, this means I can come to my own conclusions based on the evidence, rather than relying on other people's interpretations, as much as possible. Another reason is that some of these will be the same sources which Claudius and his advisors would have had access to when deciding whether to invade Britain. While I wasn't able to translate those sources written in Greek by historians such as Strabo and Dio, (who come up quite a lot, unfortunately), I decided to translate all of the sources in Latin myself, as it allowed me to understand the original texts far better. More importantly, it made the essay look far better when I could say that I'd translated the sources myself! |
So, out of all the topics I could have picked, why did I choose the conquest of Britain? When I was younger I'd go to re-enactments quite often, and these would often depict some of the legions involved in the invasion (in particular Legio XX Valeria Victrix, better known as the Ermine Street Guard). In addition, I've visited a number of Roman sites across Britain, and one of my favourites is the fort at Richborough, near to where the initial legions probably set up camp. As a result, I've always found the Roman conquest and occupation a fascinating topic - plus, it's arguably among the most important moments in British history!
Christopher