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Claudius's ‘Durbar’ in Britain, A.d. 43 —Roman Chelmsford?1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 January 2009

J. G. F. Hind
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Extract

Claudius's stay of sixteen days in Britain preceded one of the most famous triumphal celebrations in the history of the early Roman Empire. The emperor's own personal involvement in the conquest of Britain in A.d. 43 was negligible, but that he took the trouble to visit the new province and to receive the submission of eleven kings of Britannia is much to his credit. Claudius is known to have brought with him a great retinue of Roman senators, the Praetorian Guard, and perhaps also a detachment of Legio VIII, to overawe the defeated Britons. Four legions had been enough to crush them, yet here was the emperor with further reinforcements, including his crack Praetorians.

Type
Research Article
Information
Greece & Rome , Volume 21 , Issue 1 , April 1974 , pp. 68 - 70
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1974

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References

page 68 note 2 Dudley, D. R. and Webster, G., The Roman Conquest of Britain (London, 1965), 78Google Scholar; Frere, S., Britannia (London, 1967), 65–6.Google Scholar

page 68 note 3 Cass. Dio lx. 19–23, esp. lx. 21.

page 68 note 4 Suet. Claud, xvii. 21.Google Scholar

page 68 note 5 Burn, A. R., The Romans in Britain (Oxford, 1969), no. 1.Google Scholar

page 68 note 6 Suet. Claud, xxiGoogle Scholar; Josephus Bell. Jud. ii. 16. 4.Google Scholar

page 68 note 7 Dudley, and Webster, , op. cit. 78Google Scholar; Clarke, D., Camulodunum and the Temple of Claudius (Colchester Mus., 1966), 9.Google Scholar Clarke suggests that Caesaromagus was the site of a battle between Claudius and the Britons, but there seems to be little reason to believe that such a battle took place. Further, the -magus element seems to mean a market field rather than a battle field.

page 69 note 1 Itin. Ant. 471. 1, 480. 6Google Scholar; Geog. Rav. 429. 13.

page 69 note 2 Jackson, K., Britannia i (1970), 69Google Scholar; Glück, C. W., Die bei C.Julius Caesar vorkommenden keltischen Namen (Munich, 1857), 122 f.Google Scholar; Holder, A., Alt-Celtischer Sprachschatz, ii (Leipzig, 1904), 384 f.Google Scholar; RE iii. 1Google Scholar, ‘Caesaromagus’(Hübner). Hübner seems to suppose that it was named after Julius Caesar, as was the Gallic Caesaromagus, in the lands of the Bellovaci. In Britain it is more likely to commemorate Claudius.

page 69 note 3 RE ii. 2Google Scholar, articles by Ihm and Hübner. All these sites seem to have been founded or refounded by Caesar or Augustus.

page 69 note 4 Tac. Ann. xii. 36–7.Google Scholar

page 69 note 5 Stevens, C. E., ‘Gildas and the Civitates of Britain’, EHR lii (1937), 198CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Victoria County History, Essex, vol. III, (1963), 63–71.Google Scholar

page 69 note 6 The only other towns in Britain having the -magus ending were Noviomagus (Chichester) and Sitomagus (a lost site on the coast of East Anglia, perhaps near Dunwich). Sitomagus was probably an important market. There is no doubt concerning the importance of Roman Chichester.

page 70 note 1 ‘The Times’ 25/9/72. For further information on the Chelmsford finds see Rodwell, W., Roman Essex (Southend, 1972), 14–15Google Scholar, and Drury, P. J., Trans. Essex Arch. Soc. 1972.Google Scholar