Roma dupa Caligula !

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2-Istoria ramane pasiunea mea nr-1.

“Ho, Saturnalia!”

Claudius’ reign began remarkably smoothly, confounding his critics and returning stability to Rome after the chaos of Caligula. He legitimised his position by adopting the cognomen “Caesar”, feeling that he had a strong claim to the role of Princeps by virtue of being the grandson of Augustus’ sister, Octavia. He also used the title “son of Drusus”, while keeping the title of Germanicus, to remind people of his illustrious family. He began the trend of having a gem in the signet ring, and paid a handsome bribe to the Praetorian Guard for their support in elevating him to the role. Having been dropped into the post by the Guard, Claudius felt insecure in the early days of his reign.

Of course, the best thing for an insecure emperor to do to cement their position is to provide an external threat to focus against, which calls for military expansion. Claudius led the first significant expansion of the empire since the days of Augustus. Thrace, Noricum, Lycia and Judea were all formally annexed to the empire, and ceased to be merely vassal states. The annexation of Mauretania, which had began under Caligula, was completed with the defeat of rebel forces there. Though the most significant expansion under Claudius was north – to Britannia.

In 43 AD, Claudius dispatched Aulus Plautius with four legions, and a similar number of auxiliary troops, across The Channel. As with Caligula, there was great unrest at the prospect of heading north to the land that Julius Caesar himself had failed to conquer, and had since amassed a mythical reputation. Britannia was important to Rome and an attractive proposition, with great material wealth of mines, and an abundance of slaves. It had also served as a safe haven for Celtic rebels, proving a thorn in the side of Rome.

The two campaigns of Caesar had already established a number of allies and tribal vassals in Britannia, though he had never left occupying troops there, instead returning to quell civil unrest in Gaul, and then becoming embroiled in the Republican Civil War. He had recorded several victories over the native Celts, though also detailed their ferocious resistance in his autobiographies, and how even their beachhead was resisted, with his legions then fighting every step of the way back to their fleet. It was these legends, now 100 years in the past, that gave Britannia its aura of doom.

The legions due to invade mutinied, and Claudius was keen to bring them peacefully back on side to ensure the invasion. His trusted freedman Narcissus – one of the chief imperial advisors – travelled north to the Gallic coast, and there addressed many of the legionaries. Being a freedman, although his post as imperial advisor made him one of the most important men in the emperor, his status meant he was theoretically marginally above that of slave, and far below even penniless citizen, making him somewhat of a paradox. He spoke to the legions with dramatic flair, claiming that he was as Roman as they as he implored them to press north. Of course they found this display hugely entertaining, and fell about laughing at the pampered freedman comparing his lot with theirs. Cries of “Ho, Saturnalia!” pierced the air – Saturnalia being a festival where slaves swapped roles with masters for the day – as the legionaries delighted in Narcissus’ performance. However, the plans of shrewd Narcissus had worked, and his degrading of himself lifted the mood in the legionary camp from one of trepidation to delight. The invasion was back on.

Very little if formally recorded about the invasion of Britannia, with only 800 words remaining covering the landing, much of which is complemented by archaeological discoveries. The legions lands off the Kent coast on the Isle of Thanet, which provided an ideal base as it was separated from the mainland by the Wantsum Channel (today this no longer exists, and the “Isle of Thanet” is just a part of mainland Britain). Far from fighting their way to a landing as Caesar had, Claudius’ legions had a much easier time in landing and setting up camp, being welcomed by several of the friendly tribes in the region supporting Rome. Internal unrest and the threat to an allied tribe was ostensibly the reason for Roman intervention and invasion.

There was soon an organised opposition though, with a fierce battle seeing the Celtic warlord Togodumnus killed. His older brother Caratacus led the native opposition, and the legions faced fierce fighting as they forced crossings of both the Medway and Thames rivers. The campaigning in Britainnia also saw the early military career of the future Emperors Vespasion, legate to the Second Legion Augusta, while fellow future Emperor Vitellius also possibly served as a military tribune. The Roman advance temporarily halted north of the Thames, awaiting the arrival of Claudius himself. Turning up with 40 war elephants and Praetorian cohorts, he then ostensibly led the legions to again defeat the armies of Caratacus outside the walls of the Celtic capital, Camulodunum (Colchester), which sensibly surrender to the Romans without siege. Claudius then established it as his new provincial capital for Britannia, Colonia Claudia Victricensis, with a temple dedicated in his honour.

Camulodunum would not remain as Britannia’s most important Roman city for long, for the new colony on the Thames, Londinium, would soon eclipse it. Ever the pragmatists, and with a maritime empire built around supplying people of places by sea and river, Londinium proved perfectly located for continuing to support the legions’ push west into the Midlands, having established a foothold in East Anglia. Vespasian left as a detachment into the south west, one of his camps still visible today near Stonehenge. Claudius only spent 16 days in Britannia, though he did then spend much time in the provinces on his return to Rome. He was granted a triumph, and lifted the restriction on triumphs being prohibited for non-emperors, offering them to his generals. He accepted the cognomen “Britannicus”, though only on behalf of his son.

Britannia became somewhat of a thorn in the side for Claudius though, for far from being conquered in 43 AD, it remained defiant, and a drain on Rome’s resources, for years to come. Caratacus repeatedly escaped his numerous defeats, finding new enemies of Rome to lead against the legions, and causing them to become bogged down in the undulating terrain of Wales, in which they struggled. It would be seven years before his final defeat saw him flee to Cartimandua, queen of the Brigantes, with the powerful leader of Northern Britania handing him over to her Roman allies. When he was paraded for execution in Rome, he marvelled at the city, and questioned why Rome felt the need to come to his land of mud huts when they lived in buildings of marble. Moved by his words, Claudius spared Caratacus, and he lived out the rest of his days on a Roman estate in Italy, a highly unusual end for one of the empire’s resilient enemies. Despite his defeat and capture, Britannia would continue to be a problematic province for Rome, and Claudius’ successor came close to abandoning the island altogether when a fresh rebellion broke out ten years later that threated to turn all of Rome’s colonies there to ash.