Aulus Plautius was a Roman politician and general of the mid-1st century. He began the Roman conquest of Britain in 43,and became the first governor of the new province,serving from 43 to 46.
Little is known of Aulus Plautius's early career. It was previously believed that he was involved in the suppression of a slave revolt in Apulia,which possibly happened in 24,alongside Marcus Aelius Celer.[1] However,the "A·PLAVTIO" of the inscription is now identified as Aulus' father of the same name,Aulus Plautius.[2] The younger Plautius was suffectconsul for the second half of 29,with Lucius Nonius Asprenas as his colleague.[3] Subsequently,he held a provincial governorship,probably of Pannonia,in the early years of Claudius's reign;another inscription shows he oversaw the building of a road between Trieste and Rijeka at that time.[4]Anthony Birley suspects Plautius also played a role in suppressing the coup by Lucius Arruntius Camillus Scribonianus in 42.[5]
Claudius appointed Plautius to lead his invasion of Britannia in 43. The casus belli was to restore Verica,king of the Atrebates and an ally of Rome,to the throne;he had been deposed by his eastern neighbours,the Catuvellauni. Birley argues that Plautius was selected not only out of gratitude for his loyalty the previous year,but for his established familial connections to Claudius and the Imperial family.[5]
On the beaches of northern Gaul Plautius faced a mutiny by his troops,who were reluctant to cross the Ocean and fight beyond the limits of the known world. They were persuaded after Claudius's freedman and secretary Narcissus addressed them. Seeing a former slave in place of their commander,they cried "Io Saturnalia!" (Saturnalia being a Roman festival in which social roles were reversed for the day) and the mutiny was over.[citation needed]
The invasion force is generally believed to have landed at Richborough in Kent,although elements may have landed elsewhere (see Site of the Claudian invasion of Britain). The Britons,led by Togodumnus and Caratacus of the Catuvellauni,were reluctant to fight a pitched battle,relying instead on guerrilla tactics. However,Plautius defeated first Caratacus on the River Medway,then Togodumnus on the River Thames. Togodumnus died shortly afterwards,although Caratacus survived and continued to be a thorn in the invaders' side.[citation needed]
Having reached the Thames River,Plautius halted and sent for Claudius,who arrived with elephants and heavy artillery and completed the march on the Catuvellaunian capital,Camulodunum (Colchester). Claudius claimed in a triumphal inscription that he accepted the surrender of 11 British kings at Camulodunum. A Roman province was established from the conquered territory and Plautius was appointed its governor.[7]
Conquests under Aulus Plautius, focused on the commercially valuable southeast of Britain.
Beginning in the year following the successful conquest, the four legions that comprised the provincial garrison proceeded to extend the boundaries of the new province: Legio IX pushed north along the course of what became Ermine Street to construct a camp at what later became Lincoln; Legio XIV advanced into the Midlands along the course of Watling Street, then turned north to set up its base at what later became Leicester; Legio II, under the command of Vespasian, marched through the south reducing over 20 hill forts, conquering the Isle of Wight, and subduing two powerful tribes, to eventually set up its own base most likely at Exeter; the fourth major unit, Legio XX, Plautius likely kept at Camulodunum with some auxiliaries as a reserve force. Some years would pass before the provincial seat would be moved to Londonium, which came into existence later in Plautius' tenure.[8]
In 47, Plautius was replaced by Publius Ostorius Scapula.[9] On his return to Rome and civil life, Plautius was granted an ovation, during which the emperor himself walked by his side to and from the Capitol.[10]
Aulus Plautius married Pomponia Graecina, whom Birley has identified as the daughter of Gaius Pomponius Graecinus, suffect consul in 16.[15] After the execution of her kinswoman Julia Drusi Caesaris by Claudius and Messalina, Pomponia remained in mourning for forty years in open and unpunished defiance of the emperor.[16] In 57 she was charged with a "foreign superstition", interpreted by some to mean conversion to Christianity. According to Roman law, she was tried by her husband before her kinsmen, and was acquitted.[16] There are no attested children of this marriage; though it has been suggested that a later Aulus Plautius, alleged to be the lover of Agrippina the Younger, may have been their son.[17] However, some modern historians, such as Birley, have suggested that, despite the shared name, this Aulus Plautius is the son of Aulus Plautius' brother, Quintus Plautius.[18]
Aulus Plautius was the uncle whose "distinguished service" saved his nephew Plautius Lateranus, (another son of Quintus Plautius)[11] from execution in 48 after his affair with Messalina was discovered. Lateranus was removed from his senatorial position and exiled instead.[19] Lateranus was later executed for his involvement in the Pisonian conspiracy against Nero in 65, from which it is concluded that his uncle Aulus Plautius was by that time deceased.[20]
In the film Quo Vadis (1951), based on Sienkiewicz's novel, Plautius (played by Felix Aylmer) and his wife Pomponia are (ahistorically) Christians.[citation needed]
Plautius is played by David Morrissey in the streaming TV series Britannia (2018), which portrays a fantasy version of the Roman conquest, where he serves as the series' primary antagonist.[citation needed]
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The Roman conquest of Britain was the Roman Empire's conquest of most of the island of Britain, which was inhabited by the Celtic Britons. It began in earnest in AD 43 under Emperor Claudius, and was largely completed in the southern half of Britain by AD 87, when the Stanegate was established. The conquered territory became the Roman province of Britannia. Attempts to conquer northern Britain (Caledonia) in the following centuries were not successful.
Caratacus was a 1st-century AD British chieftain of the Catuvellauni tribe, who resisted the Roman conquest of Britain.
Quintus Petillius Cerialis Caesius Rufus, otherwise known as Quintus Petillius Cerialis, was a Roman general and administrator who served in Britain during Boudica's rebellion and went on to participate in the civil wars after the death of Nero. He later crushed the rebellion of Julius Civilis and returned to Britain as its governor.
The Catuvellauni were a Celtic tribe or state of southeastern Britain before the Roman conquest, attested by inscriptions into the 4th century.
Togodumnus was king of the British Catuvellauni tribe, whose capital was at St. Albans, at the time of the Roman conquest. He can probably be identified with the legendary British king Guiderius. He is usually thought to have led the fight against the Romans alongside his brother, but to have been killed early in the campaign. However, some authorities now argue that he sided with the Romans and is one and the same person as the client-king Tiberius Claudius Cogidubnus, whose original name may have been Togidubnus or Togodumnus.
Publius Ostorius Scapula was a Roman statesman and general who governed Britain from 47 until his death, and was responsible for the defeat and capture of Caratacus.
Aulus Didius Gallus was a member of the Roman Senate and general active during the 1st century AD. He held a number of offices and imperial appointments, the most important of which were governor of Britain between 52 and 57 AD, proconsul of Asia, and suffect consul in the nundinium of September to December 39 as the colleague of Domitius Afer.
The site of the Claudian invasion of Britain in AD 43 has been a matter of academic debate. Although it is generally believed that the force left from Gesoriacum (Boulogne), it is possible that part of the fleet sailed from near the mouth of the Rhine. Rutupiæ has earthworks that defended a bridgehead dating from this period and is often stated as the site of the landing, though there are plausible arguments in favour of a landing further west along the south coast of Britain.
Pomponia Graecina was a noble Roman woman of the 1st century who was related to the Julio-Claudian dynasty. She was the wife of Aulus Plautius, the general who led the Roman conquest of Britain in 43 AD, and was renowned as one of the few people who dared to publicly mourn the death of a kinswoman killed by the Imperial family. It has been speculated that she was an early Christian. She is identified by some as Lucina or Lucy, a saint honoured by the Roman Catholic Church.
Titus Flavius T. f. T. n. Sabinus was a Roman politician and soldier. A native of Reate, he was the elder son of Titus Flavius Sabinus and Vespasia Polla, and brother of the Emperor Vespasian.
Events from the 1st century in Roman Britain.
The gens Vitellia was a family of ancient Rome, which rose from obscurity in imperial times, and briefly held the Empire itself in AD 69. The first of this gens to obtain the consulship was Aulus Vitellius, uncle of the emperor Vitellius, in AD 32.
Gaius Dillius Aponianus was a Roman senator and general, who played a role in the Year of Four Emperors. Aponianus ended up supporting Vespasian, and as a reward he was appointed suffect consul during the early years of that emperor.
Gaius Manlius Valens was a Roman senator of the late first century AD. He was selected as consul ordinarius in his ninetieth year, serving with Gaius Antistius Vetus in AD 96.
The gens Plautia, sometimes written Plotia, was a plebeian family at ancient Rome. Members of this gens first appear in history in the middle of the fourth century BC, when Gaius Plautius Proculus obtained the consulship soon after that magistracy was opened to the plebeian order by the Licinio-Sextian rogations. Little is heard of the Plautii from the period of the Samnite Wars down to the late second century BC, but from then to imperial times they regularly held the consulship and other offices of importance. In the first century AD, the emperor Claudius, whose first wife was a member of this family, granted patrician status to one branch of the Plautii.
Quintus Plautius was a Roman senator, who was active during the Principate.
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