11-05-2015, 02:03 PM
(11-05-2015, 09:41 AM)Robert Vermaat Wrote: They hailed the old chariots as a battlefield innovation
Yes, I was amused by that as well!
(11-05-2015, 09:41 AM)Robert Vermaat Wrote: they suggested that the British uprising was linked to Paulinus' campaign in Mona against the druids.
Which is an old idea, I think, that still remains popular. But druidism had been suppressed by Rome for a very long time, and the Iceni (Roman allies until recently) clearly didn't have a problem with that. So it was probably coincidence - and Tacitus's desire to add some dramatic scary druid action to his account...
Conceivably some among the Britons may have feared that, with the fall of Mona, the Roman army would be pulled back from the western frontier, where it had been operating for years, and would be more available for the quick suppression of tribal uprisings closer to home... Although the lack of any large-scale Roman military presence in the south-east for several centuries after the revolt suggests that these considerations might have been limited.
Nathan Ross