Britain and Rome: Caesar to Claudius: The Exposure of a Renaissance Fraud

by P J O'Gorman

Overview

This is a bold reassessment of one of the pivotal points in British history. PJ O’Gorman analyses the sources for the period from Julius Caesar’s first forays into these islands to the invasion under the Emperor Claudius and the conclusions he reaches are nothing short of radical and call into question much of the accepted narrative of Roman invasion and conquest.

The author starts by showing that Caesar’s initial cross-Channel adventures were motivated not so much by seeking the glory of taming primitive savages but to gain control of an economic powerhouse. His treatment of the period leading up to the Claudian invasion and the invasion itself is even more shocking. Most significantly he argues convincingly that two of the most important Roman sources underpinning the conventional narrative are in fact Renaissance fakes and that their acceptance has distorted the interpretation of modern archaeological evidence. Meanwhile he reinstates a discounted British source. The result is a startlingly different version of Britain’s early history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781526769510
Publisher:	Pen and Sword
Publication date:	06/07/2022
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x (d)

About the Author

PJ O’Gorman enjoyed many years in his family bloodstock business – buying, training and rehabilitating racehorses in Newmarket, before indulging his true vocation: History. P J demonstrated his aptitude for both researching and writing when he received a First-Class honors degree in History and won acclamation for his dissertation on the causation of Caesar’s invasions of Britain – the inception of this current work. PJ is married to Rebecca, with whom he has six children.

Table of Contents

Preface vii

Introduction ix

Chapter 1 Caesar's Invasions of Britain 1

Chapter 2 Traditional Sources and their Reliability 17

Chapter 3 The Brittonic Source 37

Chapter 4 Understanding the traditional narrative of the Claudian invasion 52

Chapter 5 The traditional archaeological evidence for the Claudian invasion 65

Chapter 6 The Claudian Invasion 77

Chapter 7 Examining the major claims of the Brittonic source 88

Chapter 8 Antonia Augusta: The daughter of Claudius 104

Chapter 9 Academia and Roman-Britain 114

Chapter 10 Britain's history from the beginning: Cassibelanus to Arivargus 129

Appendix I Extracts from Caesar's Commentarii de Bello Gallico 139

Appendix II An extract from The Historia Regum Britanniae of Geoffrey of Monmouth 155

Appendix III Extracts from Suetonius, Lives of the Caesars 159

Appendix IV Ancient Authors' references to Britain 183

Bibliography 191

Index 201