DOCSLIB.ORG

Front Matter

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Front Matter Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-87687-2 - Agricola: Tacitus Edited by A . J . Woodman Frontmatter More information CAMBRIDGE GREEK AND LATIN CLASSICS General Editors P. E. Easterling Regius Professor Emeritus of Greek, University of Cambridge Philip Hardie Senior Research Fellow, Trinity College, and Honorary Professor of Latin, University of Cambridge Richard Hunter Regius Professor of Greek, University of Cambridge E. J. Kenney Kennedy Professor Emeritus of Latin, University of Cambridge S. P. Oakley Kennedy Professor of Latin, University of Cambridge © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-87687-2 - Agricola: Tacitus Edited by A . J . Woodman Frontmatter More information © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-87687-2 - Agricola: Tacitus Edited by A . J . Woodman Frontmatter More information TACITUS AGRICOLA edited by A. J. WOODMAN Basil L. Gildersleeve Professor of Classics, University of Virginia with contributions from C. S. KRAUS Thomas A. Thacher Professor of Latin, Yale University © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-87687-2 - Agricola: Tacitus Edited by A . J . Woodman Frontmatter More information University Printing House, Cambridge cb2 8bs, United Kingdom Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge. It furthers the University’s mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of education, learning and research at the highest international levels of excellence. www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521700290 C Cambridge University Press 2014 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2014 Reprinted 2015 Printed in the United Kingdom by Clays, St Ives plc. A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library isbn 978-0-521-87687-2 Hardback isbn 978-0-521-70029-0 Paperback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urls for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-87687-2 - Agricola: Tacitus Edited by A . J . Woodman Frontmatter More information CONTENTS List of maps and figures page vi Preface vii List of abbreviations ix Introduction 1 1 The author and his work 1 2 Tacitus’ Britain 11 3 Imperialism, freedom and servitude 15 4 The Agricola as history 25 5 Language and expression 30 6 The manuscripts 35 CORNELII TACITI DE VITA IVLII AGRICOLAE 39 Commentary 65 Appendixes 331 1 Roman legions in Britain during Agricola’s career 331 2 Chronological tables for Agricola and Tacitus 332 Works cited 333 Indexes 349 General 349 Latin words 354 Names 355 v © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-87687-2 - Agricola: Tacitus Edited by A . J . Woodman Frontmatter More information MAPS AND FIGURES MAPS 1 Identifiable places and peoples mentioned inthe Agricola page xii 2 Places and peoples mentioned in the Introduction and Commentary xiii FIGURES 1 The Rudge Cup (mid- or late 2nd century ad ?). C The Trustees of the British Museum 14 2 Lead pipe from Chester (ILS 8704a = IRB 25) showing Agricola’s full name. Courtesy of The Grosvenor Museum, Chester 95 3(a) Bronze coin of Nero (ad 50–54, RPC 2381), the reverse showing a double axe (bipennis). From coinarchives.com, Ex Lanz sale 117, 2003, 587 134 (b) Denarius of L. Procilius (80 bc, RRC 379/2), the reverse showing Juno Sospita with her scutulum. C The Trustees of the British Museum 135 4 Claudius subduing Britannia (relief from the Sebasteion at Aphrodisias). Courtesy of the NYU Excavations at Aphrodisias 245 vi © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-87687-2 - Agricola: Tacitus Edited by A . J . Woodman Frontmatter More information PREFACE For almost half a century the standard English commentary on Tacitus’ Agricola has been that by R. M. Ogilvie and Sir Ian Richmond, which was published in 1967. It began life as a revision of the commentary produced by J. G. C. Anderson in 1922, which itself was a revision of the commentary by H. Furneaux published in 1898, when the United States and Spain were at war with each other and the British fought at Omdurman. The present commentary differs from that of Ogilvie and Richmond in three principal ways. First, it is not a revision of any predecessor but is an entirely new and independent work. The text, for example, is different from, and considerably more open to conjecture than, others currently available. Second, the commentary lacks the heavy archaeological content which characterised their book and which was in many ways intellectually misleading: Tacitus in his biography of Agricola provides very few specific details of events or localities which can be illustrated by reference to evi- dence on the ground; for the most part he talks in general terms, designed to portray his father-in-law as an ideal military commander and provin- cial governor. Readers should therefore not turn to the present book for the latest information on Roman Britain, which is in any case a scholarly field subject to rapid change and revision. Third, and most important, the main aim throughout has been to explain the nature and meaning of Tacitus’ Latin. In keeping with the general principles of the series Cam- bridge Greek and Latin Classics, an effort has been made to provide ‘all the guidance with grammatical and syntactical matters’ needed by today’s undergraduate and graduate students. At the same time, it is hoped that the work will not be deemed negligible by fellow scholars. If there has been no reluctance in quoting parallels, that is partly to illustrate the texture of Tacitus’ language, partly to correct any misleading inferences that may be drawn from the commentary of H. Heubner (1984), who wrote without the benefit of modern computerised search programmes and the like. It was extremely helpful to test-drive the commentary with an under- graduate Latin class in the spring of 2013 at the University of Virginia. Much gratitude is also owed to those scholarly friends from whom help and advice has been sought and received, notably J. N. Adams, S. Bartera, E. Courtney, C. H. George, P. R. Hardie, N. Holmes, T. A. Joseph, M. Lavan, J. E. Lendon, the late R. H. Martin, S. P. Oakley, C. B. R. Pelling, J. G. F. Powell, B. D. Shaw, J. B. Solodow and C. L. Whitton. An especial debt of gratitude is owed to A. R. Birley, who has read through the whole of the commentary and given the benefit of his unrivalled knowledge of Roman Britain; he is certainly not to be held responsible for any mistakes or mis- conceptions which may remain. vii © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-87687-2 - Agricola: Tacitus Edited by A . J . Woodman Frontmatter More information viii PREFACE It was originally intended that this book be written jointly with C. S. Kraus. In the event, she was unable to write much toward this collabora- tion, which she greatly regrets. She is responsible only for the commen- tary on 10–12, some occasional notes elsewhere, and some revisions. She would like to thank the many friends who helped her talk through Agri- colan matters, and the series editors for their forbearance. A. J. W. © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-87687-2 - Agricola: Tacitus Edited by A . J . Woodman Frontmatter More information ABBREVIATIONS Tacitus is abbreviated as T., Agricola as A.; T.’s works are abbreviated as A.(Annals), Agr.(Agricola), D.(Dialogus), G.(Germania)andH.(Histo- ries). References to Agr. normally omit the title; references within the same chapter normally omit the chapter-number. A–G Allen and Greenough’s New Latin Grammar (rev. A. Mahoney, Newburyport, MA 2001) BMC Emp. H. Mattingly, Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum,Vol.3:Nerva to Hadrian (London 1936, corr. repr. 1966) BNP Brill’s New Pauly, Vols. 1–15 (Leiden 2002–10) CCRH The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Historians (ed. A. Feldherr, Cambridge 2009) CCT The Cambridge Companion to Tacitus (ed. A. J. Woodman, Cambridge 2009) CGRH A Companion to Greek and Roman Historiography (ed. J. Marincola, Malden, MA/Oxford 2007) CIL Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (Berlin 1863–) C–L J.-P. Chausserie-Lapree,´ L’expression narrative chez les historiens latins (Paris 1969) CLE F. Buecheler and E. Lommatzsch, Carmina Latina Epigraphica, Vols. 1–3 (Leipzig 1895–1926) CT A Companion to Tacitus (ed. V. E. Pagan,´ Malden 2012) F. H. Furneaux, Cornelii Taciti Vita Agricolae (Oxford 1898) F–A H. Furneaux and J. G. C. Anderson, Cornelii Taciti De Vita Agricolae (Oxford 1922) FIRA S. Riccobono, Fontes iuris Romani anteiustiniani (Florence 1941) FLP E. Courtney, The Fragmentary Latin Poets (2nd edn, Oxford 2003) G. F. R. D. Goodyear, The Annals of Tacitus.Vol.1Annals 1.1–54,Vol.2Annals 1.55–81 and Annals 2 (Cambridge 1972, 1981) G–G A. Gerber and A. Greef, Lexicon Taciteum (Leipzig 1877–90) G–L B. L. Gildersleeve and G. Lodge, Latin Grammar (repr. 1992, Walton on Thames) H. H. Heubner: either P. Cornelius Tacitus: Die Historien. Kommentar. Vols. 1–5 (Heidelberg 1963–82) or Kommentar zum Agricola des Tacitus (Gottingen¨ 1984) ix © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-87687-2 - Agricola: Tacitus Edited by A .
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Trimontium Trust
    Welcome News Museum Trust Fort Getting There The Stone Amphitheatre Finds Aerial Photography Summerhouse Annexes and Amphitheatre The Three Peaks First Phase Second Phase The Annexes Third Phase Fourth Phase Walks Schools Contact Us Sitemap Downloads Fort The Roman Capital of South Scotland Tons of Stuff about Trimontium Fort THE ROAD TO NEWSTEAD and the SITE THE TRIMONTIUM STONE THE FORT, ANNEXES and AMPHITHEATRE "THE PLACE OF THE THREE PEAKS" THE MARCHING CAMPS and the FORT: FIRST PHASE - THE AGRICOLAN FORT THE FORT - SECOND PHASE - THE DOMITIANIC FORT (after the Emperor, Domitian) THE ANNEXES or VICI FIRST ABANDONMENT or GAP in OCCUPATION: TRIMONTIUM - THIRD PHASE 1 of 10 RE-OCCUPATION and REFURBISHMENT: TRIMONTIUM - FOURTH PHASE: OUTPOST FORT RE-ORGANISED and 'REDUCED' FORT: TRIMONTIUM - FIFTH PHASE FRONT-LINE FIGHTING BASE: TRIMONTIUM - SIXTH PHASE: EXTENSION COMING TO AN END: TRIMONTIUM - SEVENTH PHASE BOOKS ON TRIMONTIUM PROFESSOR J K S St JOSEPH, CBE THE IMPORTANCE OF TRIMONTIUM: A 'SCOTSMAN' LETTER , 1989 3. THE FORT, ANNEXES and AMPHITHEATRE The fields behind the Stone, to right and left, up to the foothills of Eildon Hill North on your right (a Bronze Age tribal capital of the Votadini, twinned with Traprain Law in East Lothian) contained a very large Roman fort surrounded in the second century by a 20' high stone wall, backed on the inside by an enormous 'wedge' of earth ie a 'rampart' 40' across at its base, and 'fronted', on the outside, by a set of three ditches (the barbed wire of the ancient world), the first of which was 20' across and 10' deep.
    [Show full text]
  • THE MYTHOLOGY, TRADITIONS and HISTORY of Macdhubhsith
    THE MYTHOLOGY, TRADITIONS and HISTORY OF MacDHUBHSITH ― MacDUFFIE CLAN (McAfie, McDuffie, MacFie, MacPhee, Duffy, etc.) VOLUME 2 THE LANDS OF OUR FATHERS PART 2 Earle Douglas MacPhee (1894 - 1982) M.M., M.A., M.Educ., LL.D., D.U.C., D.C.L. Emeritus Dean University of British Columbia This 2009 electronic edition Volume 2 is a scan of the 1975 Volume VII. Dr. MacPhee created Volume VII when he added supplemental data and errata to the original 1792 Volume II. This electronic edition has been amended for the errata noted by Dr. MacPhee. - i - THE LIVES OF OUR FATHERS PREFACE TO VOLUME II In Volume I the author has established the surnames of most of our Clan and has proposed the sources of the peculiar name by which our Gaelic compatriots defined us. In this examination we have examined alternate progenitors of the family. Any reader of Scottish history realizes that Highlanders like to move and like to set up small groups of people in which they can become heads of families or chieftains. This was true in Colonsay and there were almost a dozen areas in Scotland where the clansman and his children regard one of these as 'home'. The writer has tried to define the nature of these homes, and to study their growth. It will take some years to organize comparative material and we have indicated in Chapter III the areas which should require research. In Chapter IV the writer has prepared a list of possible chiefs of the clan over a thousand years. The books on our Clan give very little information on these chiefs but the writer has recorded some probable comments on his chiefship.
    [Show full text]
  • A Very Rough Guide to the Main DNA Sources of the Counties of The
    A Very Rough Guide To the Main DNA Sources of the Counties of the British Isles (NB This only includes the major contributors - others will have had more limited input) TIMELINE (AD) ? - 43 43 - c410 c410 - 878 c878 - 1066 1066 -> c1086 1169 1283 -> c1289 1290 (limited) (limited) Normans (limited) Region Pre 1974 County Ancient Britons Romans Angles / Saxon / Jutes Norwegians Danes conq Engl inv Irel conq Wales Isle of Man ENGLAND Cornwall Dumnonii Saxon Norman Devon Dumnonii Saxon Norman Dorset Durotriges Saxon Norman Somerset Durotriges (S), Belgae (N) Saxon Norman South West South Wiltshire Belgae (S&W), Atrebates (N&E) Saxon Norman Gloucestershire Dobunni Saxon Norman Middlesex Catuvellauni Saxon Danes Norman Berkshire Atrebates Saxon Norman Hampshire Belgae (S), Atrebates (N) Saxon Norman Surrey Regnenses Saxon Norman Sussex Regnenses Saxon Norman Kent Canti Jute then Saxon Norman South East South Oxfordshire Dobunni (W), Catuvellauni (E) Angle Norman Buckinghamshire Catuvellauni Angle Danes Norman Bedfordshire Catuvellauni Angle Danes Norman Hertfordshire Catuvellauni Angle Danes Norman Essex Trinovantes Saxon Danes Norman Suffolk Trinovantes (S & mid), Iceni (N) Angle Danes Norman Norfolk Iceni Angle Danes Norman East Anglia East Cambridgeshire Catuvellauni Angle Danes Norman Huntingdonshire Catuvellauni Angle Danes Norman Northamptonshire Catuvellauni (S), Coritani (N) Angle Danes Norman Warwickshire Coritani (E), Cornovii (W) Angle Norman Worcestershire Dobunni (S), Cornovii (N) Angle Norman Herefordshire Dobunni (S), Cornovii
    [Show full text]
  • Annals of the Caledonians, Picts and Scots
    Columbia (HnitJer^ftp intlifCttpufUmigdrk LIBRARY COL.COLL. LIBRARY. N.YORK. Annals of t{ie CaleDoiuans. : ; I^col.coll; ^UMl^v iV.YORK OF THE CALEDONIANS, PICTS, AND SCOTS AND OF STRATHCLYDE, CUMBERLAND, GALLOWAY, AND MURRAY. BY JOSEPH RITSON, ESQ. VOLUME THE FIRST. Antiquam exquirite matrem. EDINBURGH PRINTED FOR W. AND D. LAING ; AND PAYNE AND FOSS, PALL-MALL, LONDON. 1828. : r.DiKBURnii FIlINTEn I5Y BAI.LANTTNK ASn COMPAKV, Piiiri.'S WOKK, CANONGATK. CONTENTS. VOL. I. PAGE. Advertisement, 1 Annals of the Caledonians. Introduction, 7 Annals, -. 25 Annals of the Picts. Introduction, 71 Annals, 135 Appendix. No. I. Names and succession of the Pictish kings, .... 254 No. II. Annals of the Cruthens or Irish Picts, 258 /» ('^ v^: n ,^ '"1 v> Another posthumous work of the late Mr Rlt- son is now presented to the world, which the edi- tor trusts will not be found less valuable than the publications preceding it. Lord Hailes professes to commence his interest- ing Annals with the accession of Malcolm III., '* be- cause the History of Scotland, previous to that pe- riod, is involved in obscurity and fable :" the praise of indefatigable industry and research cannot there- fore be justly denied to the compiler of the present volumes, who has extended the supposed limit of authentic history for many centuries, and whose labours, in fact, end where those of his predecessor hegi7i. The editor deems it a conscientious duty to give the authors materials in their original shape, " un- mixed with baser matter ;" which will account for, and, it is hoped, excuse, the trifling repetition and omissions that sometimes occur.
    [Show full text]
  • Art. IIL—The PEOPLES of ANCIENT SCOTLAND
    (60) Art. IIL—the PEOPLES OF ANCIENT SCOTLAND. Being the Fourth Rhind Lecture. this lecture it is proposed to make an attempt to under- IN stand the position of the chief peoples beyond the Forth at the dawn of the history of this country, and to follow that down sketchil}' to the organization of the kingdom of Alban. This last part of the task is not undertaken for its own sake, or for the sake of writing on the history of Scotland, which has been so ably handled by Dr. Skene and other historians, of whom you are justly proud, but for the sake of obtaining a comprehensive view of the facts which that history offers as the means of elucidating tlie previous state of things. The initial difficulty is to discover just a few fixed points for our triangulation so to say. This is especially hard to do on the ground of history, so I would try first the geography of the here obtain as our data the situation country ; and we of the river Clyde and the Firth of Forth, then that of the Grampian ]\Iountains and the Mounth or the high lands, extending across the country from Ben Nevis towards Aberdeen. Coming now more to historical data, one may mention, as a fairly well- defined fact, the position of the Koman vallum between the Firth of Forth and the Clyde, coinciding probably with the line of forts erected there in the 81 it by Agricola year ; and is probably the construction of this vallum that is to be understood by the statements relative to Severus building a wall across the island.
    [Show full text]
  • Critical Dissertations on the Origin, Antiquities, Language, Government
    ExLtbkis p. KENNEDY, ANGLESEA-STREET, COLLEGE GREEN, DUBLIN. &^.i.n^ CRITICAL DISSERTATIONS O N T H E ORIGIN, ANTIQUITIES, LANGUAGE, GOVERNMENT, MANNERS, AND RELIGION, O F T H E ANTIENT CALEDONIANS, THEIR POSTERITY THE PICTS, AND THE BRITISH AND IRISH SCOTS. By JOHN MACPHERSON, D. D, Minifler of Slate, in the Isle of Sky. DUBLIN: Printed by Boulter Griersov, Printer to the King's mofl: Excellent Majcfty. mdcclxviii. TO THE HONOURABLE Charles Greville, Efq; De a r Sir, MY Father, who was the Author of the following DifTertations, would not, perhaps, have dedicated them to any man alive. He annexed, and with good reafbn, an idea of fervility to addrefles of this fort, and reckoned them the diigrace of literature. If I could not, from my foul, acquit myfelf of every felfifh view, in prefenting to you the poft- humous works of a father I tenderly loved, you would not have heard from me in this public manner. You know, my dear friend, the fincerity of my affection for you : but even that affedlion fhould not induce me to dedicate to you, had you already arrived at that eminence, in the ftate, which the abilities and fhining a 2 talents DEDICATION. talents of your early youth feem lb largely to promife, left what really is the voice of friendfhip and efteem, fhould be miftaken, by the world, for that of flattery and interefted defigns. I am on the eve of letting out for a very diftant quarter of the world : without afking your permit fion, I leave you this public tefti- mony of my regard for you, not to fecure your future favour, but to ftand as a finall proof of that attach- ment, with which I am, Dear Sir Your moft affedlionate Friend, and moft Obedient Humble Servant, John Macpherjfbn.
    [Show full text]
  • History Advanced Higher Finalised Marking Instructions
    National Qualifications 2017 History Advanced Higher Finalised Marking Instructions Scottish Qualifications Authority 2017 The information in this publication may be reproduced to support SQA qualifications only on a non-commercial basis. If it is reproduced, SQA should be clearly acknowledged as the source. If it is to be used for any other purposes written permission must be obtained from [email protected]. Where the publication includes materials from sources other than SQA (secondary copyright), this material should only be reproduced for the purposes of examination or assessment. If it needs to be reproduced for any other purpose it is the centre’s responsibility to obtain the necessary copyright clearance. SQA’s NQ Assessment team may be able to direct you to the secondary sources. These marking instructions have been prepared by examination teams for use by SQA appointed markers when marking external course assessments. This publication must not be reproduced for commercial or trade purposes. © General marking principles for Advanced Higher History This information is provided to help you understand the general principles you must apply when marking candidate responses to questions in this paper. These principles must be read in conjunction with the detailed marking Instructions, which identify the key features required in candidate responses. (a) Marks for each candidate response must always be assigned in line with these general marking principles and the detailed marking instructions for this assessment. (b) Marking should always be positive. This means that, for each candidate response, marks are accumulated for the demonstration of relevant skills, knowledge and understanding: they are not deducted from a maximum on the basis of errors or omissions.
    [Show full text]
  • Roman Roads of Britain
    Roman Roads of Britain A Wikipedia Compilation by Michael A. Linton PDF generated using the open source mwlib toolkit. See http://code.pediapress.com/ for more information. PDF generated at: Thu, 04 Jul 2013 02:32:02 UTC Contents Articles Roman roads in Britain 1 Ackling Dyke 9 Akeman Street 10 Cade's Road 11 Dere Street 13 Devil's Causeway 17 Ermin Street 20 Ermine Street 21 Fen Causeway 23 Fosse Way 24 Icknield Street 27 King Street (Roman road) 33 Military Way (Hadrian's Wall) 36 Peddars Way 37 Portway 39 Pye Road 40 Stane Street (Chichester) 41 Stane Street (Colchester) 46 Stanegate 48 Watling Street 51 Via Devana 56 Wade's Causeway 57 References Article Sources and Contributors 59 Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors 61 Article Licenses License 63 Roman roads in Britain 1 Roman roads in Britain Roman roads, together with Roman aqueducts and the vast standing Roman army, constituted the three most impressive features of the Roman Empire. In Britain, as in their other provinces, the Romans constructed a comprehensive network of paved trunk roads (i.e. surfaced highways) during their nearly four centuries of occupation (43 - 410 AD). This article focuses on the ca. 2,000 mi (3,200 km) of Roman roads in Britain shown on the Ordnance Survey's Map of Roman Britain.[1] This contains the most accurate and up-to-date layout of certain and probable routes that is readily available to the general public. The pre-Roman Britons used mostly unpaved trackways for their communications, including very ancient ones running along elevated ridges of hills, such as the South Downs Way, now a public long-distance footpath.
    [Show full text]
  • Celtic Britain
    1 arfg Fitam ©0 © © © © ©©© © © © © © © 00 « G XT © 8 i imiL ii II I IWtv,-.,, iM » © © © © © ©H HWIW© llk< © © J.Rhjsffi..H. © I EARLY BRITAIN, CELTIC BRITAIN. BY J. RHYS, M.A., D.Litt. (Oxon/). Honorary LL.D. (Edin.). Honorary D.Litt. (Wales). FROFESSOR OF CELTIC IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD J PRINCIPAL OF JESUS COLLEGE, AND LATE FELLOW OF MERTON COLLEGE FELLOW OF THE BRITISH ACADEMY. WITH TWO MAPS, AND WOODCUTS OF COIliS, FOURTH EDITION. FUBLISHED UNDER THE D.RECTION OF THE GENERAL LITERATURE COMMITTEE. LONDON: SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE, NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, W.C. ; 43, queen victoria street, e.c. \ Brighton: 129, north street. New York : EDWIN S. GORHAM. iqoP, HA 1^0 I "l C>9 |X)VE AND MALCOMSON, LIMITED, PRINTERS, 4 AND 5, DEAN STREET, HIGH HOLBORN, LONDON, W.C. PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. These are the days of little books, and when the author was asked to add one to their number, he accepted the invitation with the jaunty simplicity of an inexperienced hand, thinking that it could not give him much trouble to expand or otherwise modify the account given of early Britain in larger works ; but closer acquaintance with them soon convinced him of the folly of such a plan— he had to study the subject for himself or leave it alone. In trying to do the former he probably read enough to have enabled him to write a larger work than this ; but he would be ashamed to confess how long it has occupied him. As a student of language, he is well aware that no severer judgment could be passed on his essay in writing history than that it should be found to be as bad as the etymologies made by historians are wont to be ; but so essential is the study of Celtic names to the elucidation of the early history of Britain that the risk is thought worth incurring.
    [Show full text]
  • The Britons in Late Antiquity: Power, Identity And
    THE BRITONS IN LATE ANTIQUITY: POWER, IDENTITY AND ETHNICITY EDWIN R. HUSTWIT Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Bangor University 2014 Summary This study focuses on the creation of both British ethnic or ‘national’ identity and Brittonic regional/dynastic identities in the Roman and early medieval periods. It is divided into two interrelated sections which deal with a broad range of textual and archaeological evidence. Its starting point is an examination of Roman views of the inhabitants of the island of Britain and how ethnographic images were created in order to define the population of Britain as 1 barbarians who required the civilising influence of imperial conquest. The discussion here seeks to elucidate, as far as possible, the extent to which the Britons were incorporated into the provincial framework and subsequently ordered and defined themselves as an imperial people. This first section culminates with discussion of Gildas’s De Excidio Britanniae. It seeks to illuminate how Gildas attempted to create a new identity for his contemporaries which, though to a certain extent based on the foundations of Roman-period Britishness, situated his gens uniquely amongst the peoples of late antique Europe as God’s familia. The second section of the thesis examines the creation of regional and dynastic identities and the emergence of kingship amongst the Britons in the late and immediately post-Roman periods. It is largely concerned to show how interaction with the Roman state played a key role in the creation of early kingships in northern and western Britain. The argument stresses that while there were claims of continuity in group identities in the late antique period, the socio-political units which emerged in the fifth and sixth centuries were new entities.
    [Show full text]
  • *Magiovinium, Dropshort Farm, Near Fenny Stratford, Buckinghamshire
    *Magiovinium, Dropshort Farm, near Fenny Stratford, Buckinghamshire Richard Coates University of the West of England, Bristol *Magiovinium was convincingly identified by Rivet (1970) with the major Roman settlement under the buildings and in the fields of Dropshort Farm (National Grid reference SP 888338), a little south-east of Fenny Stratford.1 The settlement is often stated to be in Little Brickhill parish, but in fact the partly conjectural site straddles Watling Street, which here forms the boundary with Bow Brickhill, and Dropshort Farm’s buildings are to be found on the Bow Brickhill side (Roucoux 1984: 18). Pottery from the first to the late fourth centuries, a coin manufacturing hoard (Zeepvat et al. 1994) and coins from as late as the reign of Valentinian (364-375 C. E.) have been found there, and there was a fort in use perhaps from Neronian to Flavian times (c.54-96 C. E.). Excavations in 1978-80 revealed probable fourth-century post-hole structures (Neal 1987). This place is registered three times in the Antonine Itinerary, which indicates that it was an inhabited place at least as early as the reign of Diocletian (284-305 C. E.), when the Itinerary is believed to have acquired its final form (Rivet and Smith 1979: 153), and possibly much earlier. It appears in the ablative case-form in itinera II, VI, and VIII as Magiovinto, Magiovinio, Magionvinio respectively.2 It is generally accepted, for example on the Ordnance Survey map of Roman Britain, that the second form is the correct one, and that will not be challenged since it seems to me that no plausible case can be made for either of the others.
    [Show full text]
  • Roman Scotland, the Tribes of Ancient Scotland
    Home > Narratives > Tribes of Ancient Scotland Home | Chronology | Narratives | Infrastructure | Campaigns | Arms & Armour | Services Introduction Snippets The Tribes of Ancient Scotland FAQs News Bites Authors note: Interviews Before we proceed, we would like to offer a quick explanation of the title of this article Eagle of the Ninth and the thoughts driving the articles production. Scotland is an ancient country, older The Agricola by Tacitus than most other modern European countries -including England- but as an understood Cassius Dio and Herodian named identity early Scotland (Alba-pronounced Alpa) did not exist till King Inchtuthil Nail Hoard Constantine IIs reign sometime around 920 AD, some 840 years after 79 AD when Tribes of Ancient Scotland Agricola and his legions marched over the line of the modern border between England Hawkshaw Head and Scotland intent on conquest, glory and assimilation. The term Scotland, like Traprain Treasure England is used in this work as a convenience to enable the reader to readily locate the The Deskford Carynx places being described within the text. Roman Scotland as a web based resource is primarily focussed on the Roman impact on and in their infrastructure within Scotland. However for balance we must address the reason Roman Scotland persisted and why the diverse peoples here did not culturally crumble as cultures did elsewhere under the imperial heel and continued to prove a trial and often a thorn in the Empires side for over three hundred years. Anglo- centric histories continue to be perversely dismissive of these peoples, a visitors notice for instance at Vindolanda on the Stanegate still persists in arrogantly describing them with a faux pas deserving of televisions comedy character Blackadder as "revolting barbarians".
    [Show full text]