Primary-source dossier
The excerpts below are reproduced from the Ictis Anthology — a working paper produced during research for the project. Some of the results were spun off into New Perspectives on the Ictis of Pytheas of Massalia.
The text used is:
Bill Thayer, LacusCurtius: Cassius Dio — Historia Romana
Book 39 Chapter 50
Caesar, then, at this time was the first of the Romans to cross the Rhine, and later, in the consulship of Pompey1 and Crassus2, he crossed over to Britain. This country is sixty miles distant3, by the shortest way, from the Belgic mainland, where the Murini4 dwell, and extends alongside the rest of Gaul and nearly all of Spain, reaching out into the sea. To the very earliest of the Greeks and Romans it was not even known to exist5, while to their descendants it was a matter of dispute whether it was a continent or an island6; and accounts of it have been written from both points of view by many who knew nothing about it, because they had not seen it with their own eyes nor heard about it from the natives with their own ears, but indulged in surmises according to the scholarly sect or the branch of learning to which they severally belonged. In the lapse of time, however, it has been clearly proved to be an island, first under Agricola7, the propraetor, and now under the emperor Severus8.
Book 60 Chapter 19
Here Dio Cassius paints a portrait of what the British Isles were to Rome at the time of the Claudian invasion; namely that it was perceived as “outside the limits of the known world”.
While these events were happening in the city, Aulus Plautius9, a senator of great renown, made a campaign against Britain; for a certain Bericus10, who had been driven out of the island as a result of an uprising, had persuaded Claudius to send a force thither. Thus it came about that Plautius undertook this campaign; but he had difficulty in inducing his army to advance beyond Gaul. For the soldiers were indignant at the thought of carrying on a campaign outside the limits of the known world, and would not yield him obedience.
Book 60 Chapter 21
This chapter appears to describe the trading passage between the British Isles and Rome, perhaps the same as described in Diodorus Siculus but in reverse.
When the message reached him, Claudius entrusted affairs at home, including the command of the troops, to his colleague Lucius Vitellius, whom he had caused to remain in office like himself for a whole half-year; and he himself then set out for the front. He sailed down the river to Ostia, and from there followed the coast to Massilia; thence, advancing partly by land and partly along the rivers, he came to the ocean and crossed over to Britain, where he joined the legions that were waiting for him near the Thames.
Book 77 Chapter 16
In this connexion, a very witty remark is reported to have been made by the wife of Argentocoxus, a Caledonian, to Julia Augusta. When the empress was jesting with her, after the treaty, about the free intercourse of her sex with men in Britain, she replied: “We fulfil the demands of nature in a much better way than do you Roman women; for we consort openly with the best men, whereas you let yourselves be debauched in secret by the vilest.” Such was the retort of the British woman.
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Pompey was Consul in 70, 55 & 52 BC
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Publius Licinius Crassus (c. 84 – 53 BC) whose biography was written by Plutarch. He was the son of Marcus Licinius Crassus, who formed the the Triumvirate political alliance with Caesar & Pompey. He died at the Battle of Carrhae where the Partians were victorious, retaining the Roman Eagle (aquilae) legionary standards. The return of these were negotiated by Augustus with Phraates IV in 20 BC and is depicted centrally on his cuirass in his sculpture from Prima Porta. The Publius Crassus mentioned by Caesar (BG 3.8) and perhaps Strabo (3.5).
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The English Channel is actually 21 miles wide at its shortest point, Dover-Calais.
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Sic; for Morini.
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For example, Herodotus (3.115) “But concerning the farthest western parts of Europe I cannot speak with exactness … nor for all my diligence have I been able to learn from one who has seen it that there is a sea beyond Europe” and Diodorus (5.21) “In ancient times [Britain] remained unvisited by foreign armies; for neither Dionysus, tradition tells us, nor Heracles, nor any other hero or leader made a campaign against it”
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I cannot find any example of Britain being misidentified for a continent.
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Roman Governor of Britain; his circumnavigation took place in AD 83 (Tac. Ag. 38).
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Severus’ expedition took place in A.D. 208–11 (Herodian 3.14.1), however there is no mention of a circumnavigation in Hodgson, N. (2014) ‘The British Expedition of Septimius Severus’, Britannia, 45, pp. 31–51. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0068113X1300055X.
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Roman general who began the invasion of Britain in AD 43, and subsequently became its first Governor AD 43-6.
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Verica, “rex” of the Atrebates tribe c. AD 15-42 and ally of Rome. His deposition by the Catuvellauni gave Claudius his casus belli for the invasion of Britain in AD 43.
Bibliography and editions
Critical editions and further reading
- Greek / English. E. Cary, Dio’s Roman History, Loeb Classical Library, vol. III for Book 39. Open reference.
- Later books. E. Cary, Dio’s Roman History, later Loeb volumes (including vol. VIII). Open reference.
Rights boundary. Ancient texts and public-domain images are not relicensed by Kassiteros. Modern editions and translations retain their own rights. Only Kassiteros-authored commentary and original project metadata are intended to fall under the project’s CC BY 4.0 policy.
Why this source matters
Cassius Dio returns to Caesar’s invasion and the later Roman conquest from a much later imperial perspective. The anthology uses his repeated emphasis on Britain’s remoteness and imperfect earlier knowledge as a check on retrospective certainty.