The latter sources, combined with snippets from Greek and Roman authors describing the Gauls as well as the Britons, and material from other societies in other eras has fleshed out the depiction of the tribes in the story. It is reasonable to suppose that there were many differences between the tribal communities, in language, dress, customs and social and political structure. Therefore I created the tribal gathering of the Brigantes, and their ‘proverbial’ loyalty to friends. The duty of a host to shelter and protect guests under his roof appears in sources for the Celts and in many societies throughout history, so is reasonable to assume the some for the tribes of Britannia.
The druids are poorly recorded in our sources. Caesar tells us that they refused to commit anything to the written word, while they were one of very few cults actively suppressed by the Romans. In ad 60 Suetonius Paulinus crossed the Menai Straits to destroy the cult centres on Mona (modern-day Anglesey). He did not stay long, for news soon arrived of Boudicca’s rebellion, and the island is relatively large, which makes it unlikely that every shrine was destroyed. However, it does appear to have ended the religion as a formally organised cult, which in the past may well have arbitrated in disputes between the tribes. The Romans cannot have wanted a supra-tribal structure independent of their authority and this, combined with distaste at such rituals as human sacrifice, provoked Rome’s hostility. Druids who appear in later years seem little more than wandering medicine men – or occasionally women – making it clear that what survived of the cult bore little relation to its pre-Roman importance. Yet the beliefs did not die out instantly. We hear of a Gallic aristocrat who was a Roman and an equestrian being executed for possessing a druid’s egg, presumably some form of magic talisman. Acco and Prasto are inventions, as are their stories, and Longinus’ description of the landing on Mona substantially embellishes the account in Tacitus.
Scholars continue to debate the impact of Roman conquest on the communities in Britain – and indeed throughout the empire – and the reality was no doubt complicated and subject to constant change. It is easy to fall into the trap of sympathising more readily with one group rather than the other. In the story I have tried to present a mixed picture, with virtue and vice on display in every community and group, and with the towns and cities significantly more ‘Roman’ than some parts of the countryside. No one could have ignored the presence of Rome, since this meant taxation and regulation different from anything that had happened before. Even if someone in the countryside rarely saw a representative of the empire, the shadow of Roman rule was always there. Leaders inevitably came into far more contact with Roman authority and the culture of the empire. Tacitus tells us that his father-in-law, Agricola, encouraged the tribal aristocracy to have their children educated in the Roman fashion and to build monuments and houses in Roman style. No doubt other governors were just as enthusiastic.
Similar trends placed aristocrats in other provinces under great strain, as they spent lavishly to compete with each other in demonstrating how Roman they had become. Such competition replaced the political and military competition between and within the tribes prior to conquest. Inevitably some lost out, and many more ran up huge debts in the process and had little or no hope of paying their creditors. The desperation of indebted tribal aristocrats, most of them citizens and equites, underlay the rebellions in Gaul under Tiberius and contributed to Boudicca’s revolt and the disturbances in the Rhineland in ad 70. I drew upon all of these as inspiration for the rebellion in our story. The Batavian revolt in the Rhineland in ad 70 was led by Julius Civilis. We do not know his age at the time or what happened to him and his family, so this permitted the creation of Longinus, the old rebel leader living anonymously as an ordinary soldier.
Even by ad 100, Londinium was growing into the largest city in Roman Britain. Our knowledge of the city is patchy, since most lies under the heart of modern London, but it is steadily growing as rescue archaeology occurs before new building projects. A collection of writing tablets similar to the ones from Vindolanda was recently published and it is to be hoped that more will be found in due course. One of the surprises in these documents was the impression of just how quickly the city recovered after being sacked by Boudicca’s warriors. Many mysteries remain about the city at the time of our story. The abandoned earlier fort described in the story has been found, and within a generation a permanent fort was built, but so far we have no idea where any soldiers lived while in Londinium c. ad 100.
If you ever have the chance, then a visit to the Museum of London is highly recommended, not least for their reconstructions of a series of rooms dating pretty much to the time of our story – https://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/museum-london/permanent-galleries/roman-london. They also produce the very handy Londinium. A new map and guide to Roman London, which shows the traces of the Roman city overlaid on a modern map. It is also possible to see remains of a Roman amphitheatre under the Guildhall – https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/visit-the-city/attractions/guildhall-galleries/Pages/londons-roman-amphitheatre.aspx. Like the stone fort, this was built a little later than our story, and in the book the action takes place in its wooden predecessor.
A few years ago a TV documentary suggested that a grave of a woman from the Roman period in London was that of a gladiator. While possible, the evidence was poor, relying mainly on the inclusion of an oil lamp with a picture of a gladiator among several forming part of the grave goods. However, there is evidence for women gladiators from other parts of the empire, not least the stone monument from Asia Minor in honour of two fighters called Amazon and Achillia now in the British Museum. Domitian included a display of women fighting midgets at one of his games. More usually, female gladiators were matched against each other, and it is likely that they represented a small minority of the professional fighters.
More historical background will appear on my website – adriangoldsworthy.com, where you can also find supporting material for the other stories about Ferox.
GLOSSARY
accensus: senior clerk and doorman on the staff of a Roman governor.
ad stercus: literally ‘to the shit’, the expression was used in military duty rosters for men assigned to clean the latrines.
agmen quadratus: literally a square battle-line, this was a formation shaped like a large box and used by a Roman army threatened by attack from any side. Units were deployed to form a rectangle, sheltering baggage and other vulnerable personnel and equipment inside.
ala: a regiment of auxiliary cavalry, roughly the same size as a cohort of infantry. There were two types: ala quingenaria consisting of 512 men divided into sixteen turmae; and ala milliaria consisting of 768 men divided into twenty-four turmae.