Ancient Britain and the Invasions of Julius Caesar

Contents

	PAGE
Preface	iii
List of Illustrations	xv
PART I
CHAPTER I
Introduction	1
CHAPTER II
THE PALAEOLITHIC AGE
Reasons for devoting a chapter to the Palaeolithic Age	13
Tertiary Man	13
The Ice Age	14
Continental Britain	19
The relation of palaeolithic man to the Ice Age	22
‘Eolithic’ man?	25
The environment of palaeolithic man in Britain	30
Whence did he come?	30
Chronological puzzles	31
Palaeolithic skeletons	33
Palaeolithic artists	35
Range of the palaeolithic hunters in Britain	35
Where their tools have been found	36
Inhabited caves	37
Cave implements and river-drift implements	38
Divers forms of tools	41
Palaeolithic workshops	42
Handles	44
Uses of tools	45
Culture of the palaeolithic inhabitants of Britain	45
Religion	49
Totemism	51
Was the domestication of animals a result of totemism?	55
Magic	57
Was there a ‘hiatus’ between the Palaeolithic and the Neolithic Age?	59
CHAPTER III
THE NEOLITHIC AGE
The early neolithic immigrants	62
The origins of British civilization were neolithic	63
Geography of neolithic Britain	64
Who were the later neolithic invaders?	64
Evidence from dolmens	65
Relics of the neolithic population: their settlements	67
Flint mines and implement factories	69
Difficulty of determining age of stone implements	71
Indefiniteness of the prehistoric ‘Ages’	72
Stone implements	73
The two main divisions of flint implement	73
How flint implements were made	73
Celts	75
Their uses	77
Chisels and gouges	77
Axes, axe-hammers, anvils, and mullers	78
Implements made of flakes	79
Javelin-heads and arrow-heads	80
Bone implements	82
Pygmy flints	82
Specialization of industries	83
A lost art	83
Dwellings	84
Food and cookery	88
Agriculture	89
Treatment of women	91
Duration of life	91
Clothing and ornaments	91
Trepanning	92
The couvade	94
Hill-forts	95
Primitive writing	99
Sepulture: barrows and cairns	100
Inhumation and incineration	110
Human sacrifice	112
Traces (?) of cannibalism	113
Interment of animals	114
Religion	115
An alien invasion: period of transition	119
CHAPTER IV
THE BRONZE AGE AND THE VOYAGE OF PYTHEAS
A Copper Age preceded the Bronze Age in certain countries, but has not been proved to have existed in Britain	121
Bronze implements used for many centuries in Europe before the Iron Age	123
Where did the European bronze culture originate?	124
Origin and affinities of the bronze culture of Britain	126
Period of its commencement	126
Physical characters of the late neolithic and early bronze-using invaders of Britain	127
Their social organization	128
Character and results of the invasions: the invaders poor in bronze weapons	129
Evidence of finds as to the settlements of the invaders	129
Stone implements used long after the introduction of bronze	132
Hill-forts	132
Primitive metallurgy	139
Bronze implements:—celts	139
Sickles	144
The Arreton Down hoard	145
Halberds	145
Shields, swords, spears	145
Moulds	148
Decoration of weapons	149
Hoards	149
Pasturage	150
Agriculture	151
Signs of amelioration in the conditions of life	152
Dwellings	153
Lake-dwellings	153
Hut-circles	154
Inhabited camps	156
The Heathery Burn Cave	157
Dress	160
Pins and buttons	161
Weapons mounted with gold or amber	162
Ornaments	163
Distribution of wealth: sources of gold, ivory, and amber	167
Why was Wiltshire exceptionally rich in ornaments?	169
British trade and the spiral	170
Comparative backwardness of culture in Britain	171
The information obtainable from graves	172
Round barrows, cairns, and sepulchral circles	173
Chronology of the barrows	181
Cremation and inhumation	184
Sepulchral pottery	191
The ‘drums’ of Folkton Wold and their significance	199
Sepulchral evidence as to religion	200
Engraved stones	205
Sun-worship	207
Stone circles and other megalithic monuments	207
Stonehenge	213
The voyage of Pytheas	217
Ictis	221
‘Ultima Thule’	224
Pytheas and the ethnology of Britain	227
The passing of the Bronze Age	230
CHAPTER V
THE EARLY IRON AGE
Iron probably introduced into Britain by Gallic invaders	231
The Belgae preceded by other Brythons, who began to arrive about 400 B.C.	232
Ethnology of the invaders	234
The order in which the various tribes arrived unknown	235
‘Late Celtic’ art	236
Coral and enamel	237
Swords and scabbards	238
Mirrors	239
Brooches and pins	240
Ornaments	241
Woodwork	241
Pottery	242
The noblest creation of Late Celtic art	244
Imported objects of art	246
British ships and coracles	247
Trackways	247
Coinage	248
Iron currency bars	250
Mining	251
Agriculture	252
Dwellings of the rich	254
Towns	254
Hill-forts	255
Some permanently inhabited	257
Hunsbury	259
Inhabited caves; pit-dwellings; ‘Picts’ houses’; beehive houses; and brochs	260
The Glastonbury marsh-village	263
Dress	264
Reading and writing	265
Inequalities in culture	266
Intertribal war and political development	268
Instances of female sovereignty: the condition of women	269
Political and social conditions of Britain and Gaul compared	270
Religion	271
Sepulchral usages	286
The Druids	289
Ties between Britons and Gauls	299
How the Britons were affected by Caesar’s campaigns in Gaul	300
CHAPTER VI
CAESAR’S FIRST INVASION OF BRITAIN
Caesar obliged to secure his rear before invading Britain	301
He contemplated invasion as early as 56 B.C.	301
Campaign against the Veneti necessary in order to secure command of the Channel	303
Campaign against the Morini	305
Its failure leaves Caesar’s base not quite secure	305
Caesar determines to sail from the Portus Itius (Boulogne)	306
He attempts to obtain information about Britain from Gallic traders	307
Gaius Volusenus sent to reconnoitre the opposite coast	308
Envoys from British tribes sent to Caesar to promise submission	308
He commissions Commius to return with them and gain over tribes	309
Volusenus’s voyage of reconnaissance	309
Kentishmen prepare for resistance	312
Certain clans of the Morini spontaneously promise to submit	312
Caesar’s expeditionary force	313
Sabinus and Cotta sent to punish the recalcitrant Morini and the Menapii	314
Caesar’s voyage	314
His cavalry transports fail to put to sea in time	314
He anchors off the Dover cliffs	315
Late in the afternoon he sails on to Walmer—Deal	316
The landing vigorously resisted	316
Caesar’s victory indecisive owing to want of cavalry	317
The Romans encamp	317
British chiefs sue for peace	318
The cavalry transports dispersed by a gale	318
Caesar’s fleet partially wrecked	319
The British chiefs prepare to renew hostilities	320
Caesar labours to retrieve the disaster	320
The 7th legion surprised and attacked while cutting corn	321
Military operations suspended owing to bad weather	322
The Britons, attempting to rush Caesar’s camp, are defeated with heavy loss	323
Caesar compelled by the approach of the equinox to return to Gaul	323
Causes of his partial failure	323
Two transports fail to make the Portus Itius: the troops whom they carried attacked by the Morini	324
Punishment of the Morini and Menapii	324
Thanksgiving service at Rome for Caesar’s success	325
CHAPTER VII
CAESAR’S SECOND INVASION OF BRITAIN
Caesar builds a fleet for a second expedition	326
Mandubracius flees from Britain and takes refuge with Caesar	327
Caesar winters in Cisalpine Gaul and Illyricum	327
His correspondence with Cicero	327
Cicero’s hopes and fears about the second British expedition	329
Caesar returns to Gaul	329
He is obliged to march to the country of the Treveri	330
Returning to the Portus Itius, he finds fleet and army assembled	331
He resolves to take Gallic chiefs of doubtful fidelity as hostages to Britain	331
Dumnorix resolves not to go	332
The fleet weatherbound	332
The fate of Dumnorix	333
Caesar sets sail, leaving Labienus in charge of Gaul	333
The fleet drifts north-eastward out of its course	334
The landing-place, between Sandown Castle and Sandwich, reached by rowing	335
Leaving the fleet at anchor in charge of a brigade, Caesar marches against the Britons	335
forces the passage of the Stour near Canterbury	337
and storms a fort to which they had retreated	337
Next morning he sends three columns in pursuit	337
but is forced to recall them by news that many of his ships had been wrecked	338
He beaches the ships, constructs a naval camp, and repairs damage	338
Results of the disaster	338
Caesar again marches towards Canterbury. Cassivellaunus elected commander-in-chief of the Britons	339
The Romans harassed by British charioteers	340
Trebonius routs the Britons	341
The British infantry disperse	341
War-chariots versus Roman troops	341
Caesar marches for the country of Cassivellaunus	343
whose chariots harass his cavalry	344
Caesar crosses the Thames	345
Cassivellaunus orders the kings of Kent to attack the naval camp	346
Caesar enters the country of the Trinovantes, who furnish hostages and grain	346
Five of the confederate tribes submit	346
Attack on the naval camp repulsed	347
Caesar’s hurried journey to the coast and its significance	348
Cassivellaunus sues for peace	349
Caesar and his army return to Gaul	350
Caesar’s description of Britain	351
Review of Caesar’s invasions of Britain	352
CHAPTER VIII
THE RESULTS OF CAESAR’S INVASIONS OF BRITAIN
The importance of Caesar’s British expeditions underestimated by his contemporaries and by historians	355
Development of British commerce	357
The British inscribed coinage and its historical value	358
The dynasties of Cassivellaunus and Commius	361
Tasciovanus	361
Epaticcus and Cunobeline	361
Cunobeline’s coins prove growth of Roman influence in Britain	362
His conquests	362
Flight of Dubnovellaunus and Tincommius (?), the son of Commius, to Rome	363
The later adventures of Commius	364
His conquests in Britain	365
Tincommius, Verica, and Eppillus	365
Augustus contemplates an invasion of Britain	367
Why he abandoned his intention	367
Continued growth of Roman influence in Britain	368
Cessation of British coinage in certain districts which had belonged to the sons of Commius	368
Relations of Cunobeline with Rome	369
His exiled son, Adminius, takes refuge with Caligula	369
Death of Cunobeline	370
Unpopularity of his dynasty intensified on the accession of his sons, Caratacus and Togodumnus	370
Invasion of Britain by Aulus Plautius	371
Review of British history from 54 B.C. to A.D. 43	371
The Roman conquest and its results	372
Permanence in English history of prehistoric and Celtic elements	372

PART II
		PAGE
The Ethnology of Ancient Britain.—
I.	Introduction	375
II.	The methods of anthropology	376
III.	Eolithic man(?)	379
IV.	Palaeolithic man	380
V.	The Pygmies (?)	390
VI.	Neolithic man	393
VII.	The ‘Pictish Question’	409
VIII.	The Round-heads	424
IX.	The Celts	444
X.	Conclusion	455
The Names ΠΡΕΤΑΝΙΚΑΙ ΝΗΣΟΙ, Britanni, and Britannia		459
	The Birthday of Religion	461
	Dumbuck, Langbank, Dunbuie	463
	Inhumation and Cremation	465
	Sepulchral Pottery	467
	Stonehenge	468
The Cassiterides, Ictis, and the British Trade in Tin.—
I.	The Cassiterides	483
II.	Ictis and the British trade in tin	499
	Dene-holes	515
The Coast between Calais and the Somme in the Time of Caesar		517
	The Configuration of the Coast of Kent in the Time of Caesar	518
I.	Between Ramsgate and Sandown Castle	519
II.	Between Sandown Castle and Walmer Castle	521
III.	The Goodwin Sands	525
IV.	The South Foreland and the Dover Cliffs	528
V.	Dover Harbour	530
VI.	Between Dover and Sandgate	531
VII.	Romney Marsh	532
Portus Itius.—
I.	Review of the controversy	552
II.	The data furnished by Caesar, Strabo, and Ptolemy	554
III.	Caesar sailed from the Portus Itius on both his expeditions	556
IV.	The value of Caesar’s estimate of the distance between the Portus Itius and Britain	557
V.	The estuary of the Somme	558
VI.	Ambleteuse	563
VII.	Calais	565
VIII.	Wissant	565
IX.	Boulogne	585
The Place of Caesar’s Landing in Britain.—
I.	Introduction	595
II.	The data furnished by Caesar and other ancient writers	596
III.	The day on which Caesar landed in 55 B.C.	600
IV.	Did Caesar land at the same place in both his expeditions?	603
V.	The various theories about Caesar’s place of landing	604
VI.	The question of the tides	605
VII.	The theory that Caesar landed at Pevensey	611
VIII.	The theory that Caesar landed at Lympne or Hythe	622
IX.	The theory that Caesar landed at Hurst	638
X.	The theory that Caesar landed between Hurst and Kennardington	639
XI.	The theory that Caesar landed opposite Walmer and Deal	644
XII.	The theory that Caesar landed at Richborough or Sandwich	662
The Credibility of Caesar’s Narrative of his Invasions of Britain		666
The Disembarkation of the Romans in 55 B.C.		673
The Site of Caesar’s Camp in 55, and of his Naval Camp in 54 B.C.		673
The War-Chariots of the Britons		674
The Operations of the Britons during the last few Days of Caesar’s First Expedition		677
Where did Caesar encounter the Britons on the Morning after his Second Landing in Britain?		678
Caesar’s earlier Operations in 54 B.C. (B. G., v. 9-11)		685
Caesar’s Second Combat with the Britons in 54 B.C.		688
The Combat between Trebonius and the Britons		692
Where did Caesar cross the Thames?		692
Caesar’s Passage of the Thames		698
The Site of Cassivellaunus’s Stronghold		699
Did Londinium exist in Caesar’s Time?		703
The Julian Calendar and the Chronology of Caesar’s Invasions of Britain		706
Topographical Notes		735
Addenda		739
Index		743
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FIGURE		PAGE
1	Harpoon-head (Kent’s Cavern)	43
2	Flint flake (Reculver)	43
3	‘Tongue-shaped’ implement (Biddenham, Bedfordshire)	43
4	Oval implement (Dartford Heath)	43
5	Rough-hewn celt (Mildenhall, Suffolk)	75
6	Polished celt (Coton, Cambridgeshire)	75
7	Hafted celt (Solway Moss)	76
8	Chisel (Burwell, Cambridgeshire)	77
9	Double-edged axe-head (Hunmanby, Yorkshire)	78
10	Flint knife (Saffron Walden)	79
11	Curved blade (Fimber, Yorkshire)	80
12	Leaf-shaped arrow-head (Yorkshire Wolds)	81
13	Lozenge-shaped arrow-head (Yorkshire Wolds)	81
14	Triangular arrow-head (Amotherby, Yorkshire)	81
15	Barbed arrow-head (Rudstone)	81
16	Ground-plan of chambered barrow (Uley)	104
17	Horned cairn of Get	106
18	Flat bronze celt (East Riding of Yorkshire)	142
19	Flanged bronze celt (Norfolk)	142
20	Flanged bronze celt with stop-ridge (Northumberland)	142
21	Winged bronze celt (Dorchester, Oxfordshire)	143
22	Looped palstave (Brassington, Derbyshire)	143
23	Socketed celt (Kingston, Surrey)	143
24	Arreton Down blade	145
25	Bronze shield (Yetholm, Roxburghshire)	146
26	Leaf-shaped bronze sword (Battersea)	147
27	Bronze spear-head (Thames)	148
28	Jet button (Rudstone)	161
29	Bronze torque (Wedmore, Somersetshire)	164
30	Gold lunette (Llanllyfni, Carnarvonshire)	164
31	Amber necklace (Lake, Wiltshire)	166
32	Drinking-cup	192
33	Food-vessel	193
34	Cinerary urn (Goodmanham, Yorkshire Wolds)	193
35	Incense-cup (Bulford, Wiltshire)	194
36	Chalk ‘drum’ (Folkton Wold)	200
37	Bronze mirror (Trelan Bahow, Cornwall)	239
38	Brooch (Water Eaton, Oxfordshire)	240
39	Wooden bowl (Glastonbury)	242
40	Late Celtic urn (Shoebury, Essex),	243
41	Patterns on Late Celtic pottery (Glastonbury),	243
42	Late Celtic shield (Battersea)	245
43	Bronze open-work ring (Stanwick, N.R. Yorkshire)	265
44	Circle of interments (Aylesford)	287
MAPS
South-Eastern Britain		to face page 305
East Kent		to face page 313
Romney Marsh and Hythe harbour (illustrating theories of their topography in 55-4 B.C.)		531

[The maps of South-Eastern Britain and East Kent, like all maps of Ancient Britain, are inevitably inexact; but the errors are unimportant. The Dover cliffs, for instance, have lost by erosion, but one cannot say how much (see pages 528-30); nor is it possible to indicate the exact nature of the slight change which the coast has undergone between Sandown Castle and Walmer Castle (pages 521-5). Again, I have not attempted to delineate the coast west of Pevensey or west or north of Reculver precisely as it was in 55 B.C., because, even if such an attempt had been successful, nothing would have been gained for the purpose of this book. As far as possible, however, the maps represent the conclusions reached in the article on the configuration of the coast of Kent in the time of Caesar. The outline of Richborough harbour and of the estuary between Thanet and the mainland is intended to show approximately the high-water mark of spring tides. At low tide the channel was very narrow (page 519).]