Roman Britain and Celtic Ireland in Greek and Roman Sources (AD 60–500)

Ancient sources reveal Atlantic Celts’ contact and conflict with Rome, shaping northern Europe’s military and frontier history.

Dr Raoul McLaughlin presents ancient sources for the Atlantic Celts, providing new, annotated translations of Roman texts. These describe contact and conflict between Rome and the Celtic peoples of Britain and Ireland. This book is a valuable resource for anyone interested in the Celtic peoples of northern Europe, or the military and economic development of the Roman frontiers.

Roman forces conquered southern Britain in AD 43, establishing a seaboard province facing Gaul and the militarised Rhine frontier. But external threats and mass revolts revealed how easily this condensed province could be eradicated by warfare. Further expansion followed, but the Roman Empire struggled to locate and establish secure northern and western limits to Britannia. Despite large-scale military and political efforts, the Romans never conquered or fully subjugated the Celtic territories on the Atlantic edge of Europe

This book contains ancient sources ranging from AD 60 and the Boudiccan Revolt, to the disintegration of imperial rule in the AD 400s. Chapters cover ancient Ireland, the Flavian expansion of Roman Britain, the planned Irish conquest and the first Caledonian campaign (AD 77-83). Further ancient evidence reveals the withdrawal and consolidation of imperial frontiers behind barriers such as Hadrian’s Wall, while later texts outline the threat posed by the Picts and ancient Irish. The final chapters cover the Germanic migrations that led to the collapse of Roman Britain and the ethnogenesis of the Anglo-Saxons.