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Caesars Campaign Route in Britain - Printable Version

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Caesars Campaign Route in Britain - John1 - 05-06-2019

Any thoughts on this one;

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6994203/Julius-Caesar-landed-Dover-crossed-Thames-East-Tilbury-Roman-invasion.html

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/05/04/forget-thames-way-essex-caesar/


RE: Caesars Campaign Route in Britain - Nathan Ross - 05-06-2019

I'm inclined to disbelieve anything reported by the Daily Mail - the comments below the line on this article are exactly what one might expect! Although this looks like it was first in the Telegraph (which isn't much better these days...)

Its not clear what evidence "amateur historian Roger Nolan" has used to identify his camps - did he first decide on that dead-straight line of march between Dover and Wheathampstead, then work out approximate 20-miles intervals, then look for suitable camp-like traces where the dots fell, so to speak?

20 miles a day is Vegetius's march distance 'on good roads' - when advancing into unknown enemy territory the distance would be considerably less (as shown by camp frequency in Scotland, for example).

"Denge Wood appears on old ordnance survey maps as a cattle pen... "There are ramparts and ditches redolent of Roman marching camps elsewhere." - Any ditched enclosure can look a bit like a 'Roman marching camp', but I think we'd need a bit of further corroboration on these...


RE: Caesars Campaign Route in Britain - Renatus - 05-06-2019

Apparently Roger Nolan has a book forthcoming, so we will have the opportunity of assessing the validity of his evidence.

EDIT https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Julius-Caesars-Invasion-of-Britain-Hardback/p/16245


RE: Caesars Campaign Route in Britain - Ross Cowan - 05-07-2019

(05-06-2019, 07:04 PM)Nathan Ross Wrote: I'm inclined to disbelieve anything reported by the Daily Mail - the comments below the line on this article are exactly what one might expect! Although this looks like it was first in the Telegraph (which isn't much better these days...)

A crafty pre-publication promo piece like this in the Mail and Telegraph is actually quite impressive. One might expect the readers of the Mail/Tele to be a more obvious market for popular military history than, say, the Guardian.  Cool


RE: Caesars Campaign Route in Britain - Nathan Ross - 05-07-2019

(05-07-2019, 12:05 PM)Ross Cowan Wrote: One might expect the readers of the Mail/Tele to be a more obvious market for popular military history than, say, the Guardian.

That's true! It will have to get through several more scepticism-filters before the likes of the Guardian handle it...