Claudius
apparently left Rome in July, and was absent for six months, but his
stay in Britain is said to have lasted only sixteen days.
In the pacification which occupied the next three years there are two
points of interest to notice. The first is a series of minor campaigns
conducted by Vespasian--Emperor 69-79--who subdued the Isle of Wight
and penetrated from Hampshire, perhaps, to the Mendip Hills. The
second is the submission of Prasutagus, the British philo-Roman prince
of the Iceni.
It is conjectured that his policy led a certain number of patriots
under a rival prince, Antedrigus, to migrate towards the unoccupied
west. A coin (25) of Antedrigus, with an extremely barbarous head in
profile on the obverse and a horse on the reverse, was found on the
Roman area at Aldington. The types of this coin are ultimately derived
from those on the gold staters struck by Philip of Makedon, father of
Alexander the Great. The original had a young male head (? of Apollo)
on obverse and a two-horse chariot as reverse type. The influence came
to Britain from Gaul, where the coins of Makedon may have arrived by
the valleys of Danube and Rhine; but it is not improbable that the
types reached Gaul through Massilia (Marseilles).
In 47 Plautius was succeeded by P. Ostorius Scapula, who pressed
westwards and fought a great battle with the nationalist army of
Caratacus in 51.
Pages:
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420