117 C. E. to mark the start of the road. A temple dedicated to Isis, the patron of Beneventum, was built during the reign of Domitian.
Berenice (b. 28 c. e.) Jewish princess Berenice was the daughter of Agrippa I and a sister of King Agrippa II of Judaea. She was first married to the brother of Tiberius Julius Alexander, the prefect of Egypt, and then, in 46 C. E., to her uncle Herod of Chalcis, a minor prince by whom she had two sons. Herod died in 48, and she moved back with her brother Agrippa, sharing in the rule of Judaea. In 50, she also ruled Chalcis, when Emperor Claudius granted Agrippa control of the region too.
Her relations with the populace of Judaea were never good. Rumors abounded that she carried on incestuously with her brother. A marriage to a Cilician priest-king, sometime around 54, neither lasted nor improved her standing with the Jews. In 67, Titus arrived in the province and fell in love with her, an affair that lasted for years.
When Agrippa visited Rome in 75, he brought Berenice with him, and she moved into the palace, living openly with Titus. According to various sources, she expected to marry Titus one day. The Romans took little pleasure in the thought of another Eastern princess involved in the imperial politics; with the name “Cleopatra” floating through the city, Titus was compelled to send Berenice away.
Berytus City in Phoenicia (later Syria), long prosperous under the Seleucid kings and the Roman Empire. In 32 B. C.E., Berytus played a role in the Civil War between Octavian (later Emperor Augustus) and Antony and Cleopatra, by revolting against the Egyptian queen. It declared its independence and issued its own coinage. As part of Augustus’s reorganization of the East, Marcus Agrippa settled veterans in the area, converting Berytus into a Roman colony. This transformation in 16 B. C.E. not only helped establish the city as part of the empire, but also provided the colony with territory stretching all the way to Baalbek.
Berytus was located on the major trade routes traversing Syria and drew the attention of others, such as Agrippa I of Judaea, who gave the people art works and an amphitheater. Romanization was complete by the second century, and, aside from the textiles for which the entire province was famed, Berytus’s reputation increasingly depended upon its school of law. Students from all over the empire traveled to the city to be instructed in law, and Berytus greatly influenced Roman legal development. Courses were given in Latin, not Greek. As a center for higher learning, the city remained integral to imperial education until at least the fifth century.
Betriacum See bedriacum.
Bibracte Capital of the powerful Gallic tribe, the Aedui, Bibracte was situated on a hill (now Mount Beu-vray in east-central France) in Gallia Lugdunensis. A battle was fought there in July of 58 B. C.E., between Julius CAESAR and the migrating Helvetians. After defeating the Helvetians at the battle of arar, Caesar took up a defensive position in the face of an enemy counteroffensive. He had at his disposal some 30,000 legionnaires, 2,000 Gallic auxiliaries and about 4,000 cavalry. Although the Helvetians had some 70,000 warriors, their attack was a disaster. Caesar’s legions stood firm and then shattered the increasingly confused barbarians. An all-out Roman assault ensued, driving the Helvetians back into their camp, where their women and children became entangled in the massacre. More than 120,000 Helvetians died on the site, and those who survived retreated into their homelands. The site was abandoned after the Gallic Wars in favor of AUGUSTODONUM.
Bibulus, Lucius Calpurnius (d. 32 or 31 b. c.e.) Son of Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus and Porcia Bibulus followed in his father’s footsteps, espousing antiCaesarean beliefs and joining his father-in-law, Marcus Brutus, against Marc Antony at the battle of philippi in 42 B. C.E. Although proscribed and eventually captured by Antony, he entered his service and over time reached an accord with the general. As Antony’s lieutenant, Bibulus acted as a messenger between the triumvir and his comrade Octavian (see Augustus) and then looked after his own affairs in Syria, where he died. Bibulus was noted for a history of Marcus Brutus and was a prose writer in the last Republican period.
Bibulus, Marcus Calpurnius (d. 48 b. c.e.) Roman politician in the late Republic
Bibulus was one of Julius Caesar’s early partners and served with him in the aedileship (65 b. c.e.), praetor-ship (62 b. c.e.), and the consulship (59 b. c.e.). He believed in the aristocratic party and looked disapprovingly on the growing powers of the first triumvirate. He was forced by violence to abandon his intentions of blocking Caesar’s agrarian laws, and thereafter withdrew from all public or political activities and fought Caesar’s legislation by viewing the stars for omens. His absence, it was said humorously, created the consulship of Julius and Caesar.
In 52 B. C.E., Bibulus took up the cause of Pompey, proposing him for the consulship. As the civil wars erupted, he first governed Syria for Pompey and then commanded the Adriatic fleet, where he worked himself to death. He was married to Porcia, who gave him a son, Lucius Calpurnius bibulus. Dio noted that so great an admiral was Bibulus that Antony had not dared to sail from Brundisium.
Bithynia Roman province in asia minor, bordered by ASIA, Galatia, and the Black Sea. Bithynia was a pivotal territory in the empire, for it served as the geographical, economic, and cultural bridge over the Bosporus for East and West. its importance, moreover, increased as imperial power shifted eastward in the fourth century c. e.
In 74 B. C.E., Nicomedes IV, a Mithridatic king, bequeathed to Rome his kingdom along the Black Sea, and when Augustus established the empire, Bithynia was classified as a senatorial province, under a proconsul. Bithynia shared in the development of economic wealth that characterized the entire region of Asia Minor. Located on direct trade routes, the communities benefited from a local economy based on agriculture, timber, and iron. Its major cities included such metropolises as NICOMEDIA, NICAEA, and Prusa. It was governed as a senatorial province, with the seat at Nicomedia on the Black Sea, though the Nicaeans repeatedly tried to gain that advantage.
Beginning with Trajan, special legates, based in Nico-media, were appointed to aid in the administration of Bithynia, rooting out corruption among civil servants, auditing city accounts, and suppressing political movements and Christianity. Bithynia’s political environment is understood more clearly than virtually any other province because of the writings of pliny the younger, who served as the first legate from 109 c. E. Pliny constantly communicated with Rome, especially with Trajan, and proposed building a canal for Nicomedia, along the coast, and a series of aqueducts, though neither project was ever completed. The legates in Bithynia exercised greater imperial control and were given the right to examine the accounts of the free cities of Anisus and CHALCEDON, a temporary but significant authority Marcus Aurelius finally redesignated Bithynia as an imperial province. Another famous Bithynian politician was the philosopher Dio Chrysostom (dio cocceianus), who represented his native Prusa in a delegation to Trajan at his accession in 98 c. e. He requested from the emperor the right to a larger city council, permission to redevelop the city and a waiver on taxes, which was denied, not surprisingly.
Bithynia was not immune to the decline of imperial power in the third century. Starting in 256 C. E., a terrible seaborne invasion of goths devastated much of the province. Chalcedon, Nicomedia, Prusa, and Nicaea were all captured and plundered. By the late third century, Diocletian rejected the Roman establishment and made Nico-media his capital for a time. Constantine the Great, however, was most responsible for Bithynia’s role in the Eastern Empire. He created Constantinople and favored Nicaea, where he held the great council in 325 c. e.
Nicaea was the appropriate location for a Christian council. Bithynia was the gateway for Christianity into Europe, and Pliny had written of the new sect in his province. Its popularity increased, and with Constantine was legitimized. During the era of the Christian Empire, the Bithynian bishops were involved with the Arian heresy (see arianism). Because of the territorial grants made by Nicomedes, the province was also known as Bithynia-Pontus. of note is the terrible earthquake that flattened Nicomedia on August 24, 358 c. e. Under the late empire, Bithynia was part of the Eastern provinces and was spared some of the ravages that befell the West.
Black Sea Body of water that stretched from the northern shores of the province of bithynia to the rest of Asia Minor, to the Caucusus, Thrace, Moesia, and Scythia. The Black sea was of considerable importance to the Romans because of its location and because of the economic activity centered upon it.
Seaborne goods ranging from cloths to wine and agricultural products crossed the Black sea. The most important was grain from the kingdom of the Bosporus, whose fields in southern Russia supplied Bithynia and Asia. Roman fleets also scoured the Black Sea in search of pirates. The fleet operating out of nicomedia was effective and increased the influence of the empire along the northern costs. Determined military alertness was essential, given the presence of the hostile sarmatians and scythians. By the third century, with the arrival of the GOTHS, Rome’s domination was seriously opposed. Starting in 254, the Bosporus nations were compelled to supply ships to the Goths, and the barbarians swept over the Black Sea and pillaged Asia Minor. arrian wrote Circumnavigation of the Black Sea; the Latin name for the sea was Pontus Euxinus (a Latin transliteration of the Greek, meaning “hospitable sea”).
Blaesus, Quintus Junius (d. 31 c. e.) General and governor of Pannonia and Africa
Blaesus’s military career of successes and failures was ended by association with his nephew, the Praetorian Prefect SEJANUS. Blaesus was the governor of Pannonia in 14 C. E., a very important frontier post, but when Emperor Augustus died, his three legions, the VIII Augustus, IX Hispania and XV Apollinaris, mutinied. Under the urg-ings of a soldier Percennius, the troops erupted, demanded better service conditions, tried to kill Blaesus and tortured his slaves. Blaesus sent envoys to the new Emperor Tiberius, informing him that the frontier was now virtually defenseless. Drusus, Tiberius’s son, arrived with several cohorts of the Praetorian Guard, and only by the good fortune of a lunar eclipse was order restored. Blaesus had lost control of his legions, but by 21 c. e. was supported by the powerful political arm of his nephew, Sejanus. He became proconsul of Africa in 21, where he conducted himself well; and his command was extended. He soon after achieved his greatest success, defeating the famed African pirate tacfarinas. In 22, Tiberius granted him the title of imperator. When Sejanus fell from power, however, Blaesus was one of the first on Tiberius’s long list of victims. In 31, Blaesus was killed, and his two sons committed suicide.
Bolanus, Vettius (d. after 71 c. e.) Governor of Britannia in 69 C. E.
Bolanus first appeared as a legate under General Gnaeus Domitius corbulo (2) in his campaigns in Armenia in 62. Seven years later he was in Rome as part of the court of the new emperor, VITELLIUS, when word arrived that the governor of Britannia under GALBA, Trebellius Maximus, was evicted from his post by his own troops and sought refuge with the new emperor. Bolanus was sent to take his place.
As governor he did nothing personally to aid Vitel-lius and remained inactive as far as administering Britannia was concerned. His forces were reduced sharply due to demands for troops in the Civil War in Rome. He was recalled by VESPASIAN in 71 but later served as proconsul in Asia.
Bona Dea Roman goddess worshiped in festivals attended exclusively, with one famous exception, by women. She was traditionally the wife or daughter of Faunus, hence her other name, Fauna, and her role as the patroness of chastity. The vestal virgins conducted her festival on the first of May, always in the home of the chief consul or praetor, with his wife presiding. A sow was sacrificed to her. It was long a tradition that no male was allowed at the sacrifices, made on behalf of the Roman people. On one occasion this custom was violated. In 62 B. C.E., CLODIUS PULCHER entered the house of Caesar dressed as a woman and thus committed a great outrage against the tradition and the religious ideals of the nation.
Boniface (fl. early fifth century c. e.) Also Bonifatius, a magister militum in Africa
In 421, Boniface was assigned the task of aiding the general and come domesticorum, castinus, in his campaigns against the vandals in Spain. Already a noted soldier, Boniface quarreled immediately with Castinus and departed for Africa. Castinus’s subsequent defeat was blamed on Boniface and the influence of the empress, Galla Placidia, wife of Emperor Constantius III. When the powerful Honorius exiled Placidia in 422, Boniface sent Placidia money and in 423-425 defended Africa loyally for her and her son, valentinian III, against the usurper John. John’s defeat simply opened the door for the more cunning magister militum, aetius.
By 427, Boniface was strengthening his own hold over Africa. He was a close friend of St. Augustine but isolated himself politically with a marriage to an Arian woman named Pelagia. Under the influence of the magister utriusque militiae Felix, Galla Placidia recalled Boniface to
Ravenna. He refused and then defeated the armies sent to subdue him. In an effort to strengthen his position, he invited the Vandals to invade. In 429, geiseric, the Vandal king, led the entire Vandal nation across the Mediterranean. Galla Placidia sought Boniface’s support through an intermediary named Darius, and Boniface once more represented imperial interests but was soundly defeated by the Vandals and besieged for a year at hippo in Africa in 431. The city was sacked and effective resistance in Africa collapsed. Galla Placidia welcomed Boniface, and, faced with two great generals, she removed Aetius and elevated her favorite to the patricianate. Outraged, Aetius gathered an army and stormed over the Alps. At Arminium the two met, and Aetius was defeated. Though victorious, Boniface was wounded and died three months later. Aetius left Italy, gained the alliance of rugila, the king of the Huns, and returned to negotiate with Galla Placidia. Boniface’s wife was compelled to marry Aetius and thus to deliver up the army of Boniface to him.
Bordeaux See burdigala.
Bosporus kingdom Domain located on the north shore of the Black sea and one of the most important buffer states for Rome. The Bosporus kingdom controlled the region opposite Asia Minor and was closely connected to pontus, which it once ruled. The kingdom was of interest to the Romans for several reasons. The fields of the Ukraine and southern Russia (Crimea), though populated by the nomadic sarmatians, provided the bulk of the agricultural resources for Asia Minor. More important were the geopolitical realities of the Black sea area. The Bosporus buffered the Roman provinces from potential invasions by the Sarmatians and the scythians, who inhabited all of the Crimea and much of the steppes. Parthian expansion was also checked there.
After the battle of zela in 47 B. C.E., Asander, the slayer of mithridates of pergamum, gained the throne and ruled for the next 30 years. In 17 B. C.E., Emperor AUGUSTUS desired greater control and assigned to agrippa the task of finding a reliable king. Agrippa compelled Dynamis, the daughter of Pharnaces, who was defeated by CAESAR at Zela, to marry Polemo of Pontus. The marriage proved unsuccessful, and Polemo was ousted in favor of Dynamis and her new husband, the sarmatian Aspurgus.
After Emperor gaius Caligula gave the Bosporus lands to Polemo II of Pontus, Emperor Claudius, in 39 C. E., decided upon one of Aspurgus’s two sons, mithridates (2) (the other was Cotys). Mithridates, however, had to share his rule with a Thracian stepmother, Ge-paepyris (the natural mother of Cotys). cotys (2) alerted Claudius in 44 or 45 c. e. that Mithridates planned rebellion. Didius Gallus, the governor of Moesia, removed Mithridates and installed his brother on the throne.
Mithridates, however, found Sarmatian allies but was defeated in battle and sent to Rome.
By 62 C. E., the coinage of Cotys ceased being issued, an indication of the loss of independence. nero, planning to conquer the Sarmatians, annexed the kingdom. Cotys was dead, deposed, or reduced to a figurehead. Roman occupation of the region lasted until Nero’s fall in 68 C. E., and Cotys’s son Rhescuporis regained a client status. Semi-independent once more, the Bosporus continued its trade with Asia Minor, despite the arrival in the first century C. E. of the ALANS. Although the Scythians were aggressive and threatening, relations with the Sarmatians were so favorable that by the second century a Sarmatian influence dominated the kingdom.
Boudicca (d. 61 c. e.) Also called Boadaecia or Boadecia; leader of one of the most famous and bloody revolts ever mounted against Rome
Boudicca was ruler of the powerful tribe, the ICENI, with her husband prasutagus. They reigned in an area north of Cambridge and Colchester, in what is now Norfolk and Sussex in Britain. In 61 c. e. Prasutagus died and left his kingdom to Emperor Nero, believing that client status would assure its survival. The imperial response was, according to Tacitus, appalling: Roman legionnaires plundered the realm, flogged the queen and ravished her daughters. catus, the procurator of Britain, fomented the revolt further by demanding funds back from the Iceni, given by the Romans in the past as gifts. seneca also called for the return of 40 million sesterces he had forced the Britons to accept as a loan.
Boudicca gathered her warriors and with the blessings of her druids called for a war against Rome. While the legate of the local legions, Suetonius paulinus, was away on a campaign to subjugate the Druids on Anglesey Island, the queen’s force grew to some 120,000 men.
The strength of Boudicca’s attack was compounded by surprise. Suetonius had made no preparations for a revolt. CAMULODUNUM (Colchester), the center of Roman administration, was undefended as Boudicca stormed it easily, burning it to the ground. The Iceni collided with the legions of Petillius cerealis, and the cohorts were destroyed, retreating to lindum; Catus fled to Gaul. When Paulinus received word of the rebellion and returned, Boudicca was threatening Lincoln, and more importantly, londinium (London). Paulinus was forced to abandon London; the city fell to Iceni, and its inhabitants were massacred. Verulamium was captured next, while the Romans regrouped for war.
Suetonius had assembled his troops near Veru-lamium (St. Alban’s), where he awaited the Iceni. With their wives and children in nearby wagons to watch, the warriors of Boudicca swept forward, screaming as they came to grips with the enemy. The Romans held firm, however, and then counterattacked, smashing the Briton forces. Boudicca’s troops broke but were hemmed in by their own wagons, and men, women, and children were thus annihilated by the vengeful cohorts. Tacitus put the number of Iceni dead at 80,000, a suspicious number. The losses were unquestionably high, however, and Boudicca’s power was crushed. Rather than face Roman retaliation, she returned to her home and committed suicide.
Boudicca reportedly wiped out 70,000 colonists and townsfolk, ending imperial policies of colonization without fortifications. Dio described Boudicca in some detail, stating:
In stature she was very tall, in appearance most terrifying, in the glance of her eye most fierce, and her voice was harsh; a great mass of the tawniest hair fell to her hips; around her neck was a large golden necklace; and she wore a tunic of diverse colours over which a thick mantle was fashioned with a brooch.
Brigantes The most populous and powerful tribe in Britain until the era of Emperor Vespasian (69-79 c. e.). Brigantian influence stretched from the River Tyne to the Trent, and included such cities as Isurium (Aldborough), Olicana (Ilkley), Mancunium (Manchester), and the legionary fort at eburacum (York). Not one specific people like the celts, the Brigantes were actually a confederation of tribes acting in mutual cooperation. The Romans first encountered the Brigantes during the era of E Osto-rius SCAPULA, in 50 c. e., when they joined the iceni in an assault. The Brigantes were driven off, and circa 51 the queen of the Brigantes, Cartimandua, signed a treaty with Emperor Claudius, bringing a short-lived peace. When the queen parted violently from her husband Venutius, civil war resulted in his exile. A counterattack threw her off the throne. Remembering that she had handed over the British rebel, Caratacus, Claudius supported her cause. She was reinstated by the Roman army and ruled over a divided people. In 68, Venutius, who had reconciled with Cartimandua, was again ousted from the palace, and Vespasian intervened. CEREALIS led the campaign to establish Roman domination in 71, driving the Brigantes northward and establishing superiority all the way to Eburacum. His work was carried on by agricola, who pacified the region and established roads and forts.
The Brigantes had not surrendered, however, and in 138, the WALL OF HADRIAN was breached and they attacked Roman areas. The new governor, lollius URBICUS, beat the tribes back beyond the wall and then established a new perimeter of defense, the wall of ANTONINUS, farther north. The tribes attacked again in 154, and the Antonine Wall did not stem their invasion. Legions from Germany were dispatched to the scene to restore order. By this time, however, the strength of the Brigantes had been sapped.
Britain See Britannia (1).
Britannia (1) The British Isles, also called Albion; the focus of numerous Roman invasions and colonization.
ROMAN RULE
Britannia (or Britain) was originally known as Insulae Britannicae and contained several cultures of interest, the most important being that of the celts, transplanted from Gaul (see gallia). Celtic society was isolated by the now-English Channel in many respects. Thus druidism, a cornerstone in the life of the Celts, developed more richly than in Gaul and was far more powerful. It was only in the first century b. c.e. that new waves of people crossed the water and attempted to establish themselves in Britain. The belgae took over much of the countryside in the southwest, while maintaining strong ties with their homeland in Gallia Belgica. In 55 b. c.e., as a sidebar campaign to his gallic wars, Julius caesar crossed the Channel. Sailing with two legions, he landed at Dover on August 26 and moved on to Kent. Fierce battles ensued with the local inhabitants. Victory was delayed because of further uprisings and a storm that wrecked many of the Roman transports. After putting down the last of the Kentish tribes, caesar left Britannia in september.
The following year, in July, the Romans began a second invasion. This time 600 transports, five legions, and around 2,000 Gallic horsemen arrived in Kent to discover no unified opposition from the local tribes. A quick advance could have concretized Caesar’s position, but another storm wrecked many of his ships and allowed time for the chieftain cassivellaunus and his chariotdriving Belgae near the Thames to organize. The chieftain was beaten in a pitched battle. Mandubracius, leader of an oppressed tribe, the Trinovantes, then joined Caesar’s cause. These tribesmen helped the legions subdue cas-sivellaunus and shared in the subsequent treaty. Because the Gallic peoples, in his absence, had started another revolt, Caesar retreated to Kent and set sail from Britain for the last time.
Caesar had done little to convince the Britons of Roman supremacy in arms. Cassivellaunus probably never paid his promised tribute, and no doubt conquered the Trinovantes. A strong kingdom was established in southern Britannia, centered at Lexden near camulo-DUNUM (Colchester), under Cassivellaunus and his son Tasciovanus. They were joined by the Gallic chief COM-MIUS, who had fled Gallia Belgica during Caesar’s war against vercingetorix (52 b. c.e.). An extensive Belgian influence was consequently felt throughout the island’s southern domains. By Augustus’s era, cunobellinus, son of Tasciovanus, ruled much of the isles, coexisting with the kingdoms of the iceni, the brigantes and the Silures. Cunobellinus ran his affairs most intelligently Local Britons were never so oppressed as to revolt, and his organization was strong enough that an actual invasion by the Romans would have been a massive and precarious undertaking. Augustus refused to mount any expedition, considering such a venture wasteful, although Dio reported that he planned twice to invade, once in 34 B. C.E. and again in 27 b. c.e. He was prevented by more pressing matters in the empire. Division ripped the Colchester kingdom, meanwhile, as Cunobellinus’s sons differed over policy Amminius favored Rome, while CARATACUS and Togodumnus despised the Romans. Amminius fled and promised the realm to gaius CALIGULA, who made a rash display of Roman power along the coast to receive Amminius. He then wrote to the senate that all of Britain had surrendered. When Cunobellinus finally died c. 41 C. E., his two remaining sons pledged their hatred of Rome. In 43, CLAUDIUS put forward the plan for conquest that Caesar had envisioned so long ago.
General Aulus plautius sailed to Kent with some four legions and auxiliaries. Plautius landed unopposed and defeated first Caratacus and then Togodumnus, who died in battle. When Claudius himself arrived, with elephants no less, Caratacus’s kingdom collapsed. The fallen domain became a province, with Plautius as its first governor. In 47, P Ostorius scapula took over the governorship and pacified all of the old territories of the Belgae. Caratacus, however, refused to yield, and stirred up the silures in Wales, leading a revolt. When it was crushed, Caratacus fled to cartimandua, the queen of the Brigantes, who by treaty handed him over to the Romans for punishment. prasutagus, the king of the Iceni, opposed the new frontier of 47 and was suppressed. upon his death the Romans seized his lands and caused the dangerous revolt of boudicca, his widow. SUETONIUS PAULINUS defeated the rebellion, but the position of the occupying Roman forces had been seriously threatened.
The FLAVIANS initiated a series of campaigns in Britain. Beginning in 71, the commander Petillius cere-ALIS destroyed the power of the Brigantes, marching past EBURACUM (York). His successor, frontinus, subjugated much of Wales and the hard-fighting Silures. agricola conquered the rest of the Welsh lands and the island of Mona, the Druid stronghold. The advance units of Agricola entered scotland, as he penetrated into the Grampian Mountains and Caledonia. Forts were established along the Forth and Clyde, and a Roman presence permeated the entire country In six short years (78-83/84 C. E.) Rome had annexed vast amounts of territory. The province of Britannia was called Britannia Romana, while the wild north was Britannia Barbara.
Three legions were subsequently allotted to the new governor, and Roman policy assumed a far more defensive approach. The wild tribes were again pressing the frontiers, and a retreat was made to the Tyne-solway line. Around 120, this new boundary was fortified by the wall OF HADRIAN, 80 miles long. A few years later, the shorter WALL OF ANTONINUS was built.
In 196, CLODIUS ALBINUS attempted to seize the throne from Emperor Septimius severus. He took his legions in Britannia to Gaul, leaving the province unprotected. The Caledonians beyond the walls burst through the perimeters. Massacres and devastation ensued, and Emperor Severus himself went to the isles. He repaired Hadrian’s Wall and constructed a new one, just a short distance to the north, called the Severan Wall. A campaign began in Scotland, and in 209, several battles relieved the pressure on the frontier. The Caledonians still threatened, when Severus died at Eburacum while preparing for another attack. After his death the province was fortified again and made secure. Henceforth, Britannia was divided into two provinces, as the emperor could not trust a sole governor with three legions.
The next years witnessed the preservation of Roman rule, but two important new developments as well. SAX-
ONS were beginning to harass the coasts, and the empire found itself increasingly unable to recover from such assaults. The usurper CARAUSIUS proved that a usurper could wreak havoc among the provinces, gaining the support of the Britons while doing it. DIOCLETIAN and CON-STANTIUS I CHLORUS eventually defeated him and his murderer, allectus, restoring Roman dominance in 297. The provinces were divided yet again, as a result, into four separate regions. Constantine the great launched his bid for rule from Eburacum in 306. As he pursued his goal, the walls in Britain stood unmanned; the picts and Scots plundered by land and the Saxons ravaged by sea. In 407, the usurper Constantine iii withdrew the remaining isle troops for use in Gaul, effectively ending Roman rule in Britannia.
CULTURE AND COLONIZATION
Britannia’s culture was Celtic in origin. Throughout the southernmost regions there were Belgae Gallic influences, but the Celtic character remained predominant (an ancient lifestyle once enjoyed by the Gauls as well). The Celts painted themselves blue, the sacred Druid color, and herodian wrote that tattoos were also common. He described the Britons as savage and warlike, armed with spears and shields, and with swords suspended from their waists. They also used chariots to great effect.
Roman imperial civilization began in Claudius’ reign, when Camulodunum (Colchester) fell in 43 C. E. Subsequent occupation saw the construction of harbor settlements near modern Fishbourne, just outside of Colchester; in 49, an actual colony was begun. Roman veterans helped establish the colonia, building a town with a provincial cult, a theater and baths. By the middle of the first century small towns were populating the Roman possession. Camulodunum was the capital, while other influential towns like verulamium (St. Alban’s) and the trading center of londinium (London) sprang up. As with the other major towns and fledgling homesteads, London could not defend itself, a fact that became catastrophically evident in61 C. E., during the revolt of Boudicca. Sweeping across the countryside, the vengeful Britons sacked Colchester, St. Albans and London, as well as every farm and estate in between. Although Tacitus’ figure of 80,000 dead was high, losses were severe enough to ensure that all subsequent building was fortified.
After the campaigns of Cerealis, Frontinus and Agricola from 71 to 84 C. E., towns were walled and economic prosperity increased. London came to serve as a vital link in the military control of the south and had a garrison, while more veterans arrived to establish colonies, such as those of Lincoln and Gloucester. In urban areas, Latin was used, and native art and culture waned. Outside of the cities, farming was an essential way of life, and the Romans relied upon this agricultural base. Considerable gentry holdings, the villas, ensured that agricultural products were pumped into the cities. But in the country, even in the villas, elements of Celtic culture endured.
An excellent road system connected cities, which now sported public baths and temples, including ones to the IMPERIAL CULT. By Hadrian’s reign (117-138 C. E.) many municipalities used street grid systems to expand. Under Cunobellinus the economy had fared well, and the Roman occupation following his reign merely tapped into that abundance. Agriculture, supported by the villas, was the source of Britannia’s wealth. Wheat was grown to feed the natives and the legions and was used as an export. Aside from its verdant fields, the province boasted numerous mineral deposits. Tin was important in the first century C. E., and again in the fourth century, when Rome was forced to seek new resources to sustain itself. Iron exports helped the economy of the empire as a whole, and administrators in Britannia mined it extensively. The geographer strabo noted Britannia’s economic wealth and exports in corn, cattle, gold, iron, and silver.
In the balance of trade, Gaul supplied pottery, manufactured goods and art, while Britannia exported minerals and agricultural products. There was little incentive for developing other industry, and the quality of life in the province was better than in many other imperial domains.
While the Britons appeared highly Romanized, Celtic culture persisted, especially in the rural areas. Druidism was pervasive and hence viewed as dangerous; Suetonius Paulinus attacked the island of Mona, a Druid stronghold, and the Druids were massacred. Christianity faced the same resistance, and upon its arrival, which coincided with the decline of Roman power, it struggled to attract vast numbers of followers in the isles.
Suggested Readings: Allason-Jones, Lindsay Women in Roman Britain. London: British Museum Publications, 1989; Arnold, C. J. Roman Britain to Saxon England. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1984; Askew, Gilbert. The Coinage of Roman Britain. London: Seaby Publications, 1980; Birley, Anthony The People of Roman Britain. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980; Campbell, J. B. Roman Britain. London: Jonathan Cape, 1963; Collingwood, R. G. Roman Britain. New York: Barnes & Noble in cooperation with Oxford University Press, 1994; Coulston, J. C. Hadrian’s Wall West of the North Tyne and Carlisle. Oxford, U. K.: Published for the British Academy by the Oxford University Press, 1988; Dark, Petra. The Landscape of Roman Britain. London: Sutton Publishing, 1997; Frere, Sheppard Sunderland. Britannia: A History of Roman Britain. 3rd ed. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1987; Hanson, William and Maxwell, Gordon. Rome’s Northwest Frontier: The Anto-nine Wall. New York: Columbia University Press, 1983; Hingley, Richard. Rural Settlement in Roman Britain. London: B. A. Seaby, 1989; Holder, P. A. The Roman Army in Britain. London: B. T. Batsford, 1982; Johnson, Stephen. Later Roman Britain. New York: Scribner, 1980; Jones Michael. The End of Roman Britain. Cornell: Cornell University Press, 1996; Manning, William H. The fortress excavations, 1968-1971. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1981; Marsden, Peter R. Roman London. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1981; Marsh, Henry. Dark Age Britain. New York: Dorset Press, 1987; Milne, Gustav. The Port of Roman London. London: B. T. Batsford, 1985; Morgan, Kenneth, ed. The Oxford History of Britain: Roman and Anglo-Saxon Britain. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992; Peddie, John. Conquest: The Roman Invasion of Britain. London: Palgrave, 1997; Place, Robin. The Romans: Fact and Fiction. Adventures in Roman Britain. Cambridge, U. K.: Cambridge University Press, 1988; Sal-way, Peter. A History of Roman Britain. Oxford, U. K.: Oxford University Press, 1997; Salway, Peter. The Oxford Illustrated History of Roman Britain. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993; Scullard, H. H. Roman Britain: Outpost of the empire. London: Thames and Hudson, 1986; Stead, Ian M. Verulamium, the King Harry Lane site. London: English Heritage in association with British Museum Publications, 1989; Webster, Graham, ed. Fortress into City: The Consolidation of Roman Britain, First Century
A. D. London: Batsford, 1988.
Britannia (2) The name given to a coin minted by emperors Hadrian (117-138 c. e.) and antonius pius (117-161 C. E.) to celebrate their victories in Britain. The coin was decorated with the personified figure of Britannia. Its value was that of a sestertius.
See also coinage.
Britannicus (41-55 c. e.) Son of Emperor Claudius and Messalina and the legitimate heir to the throne Britannicus lived under a cloud from birth, being the offspring of MESSALINA, whose scandalous life had shocked Rome and resulted in her death. His position as heir was thus questioned and was hampered even further by the arrival of Agrippina as Claudius’s new wife, together with her son nero. Britannicus appears to have done little to ingratiate himself with his stepmother and adopted brother. He refused the goodwill of Agrippina, referred to Nero by his original family name “Domitius” and later, in 55 C. E., went so far as to accuse Nero of being a usurper.
With Claudius’s death and Nero’s claim to the throne supported by the Praetorian Guard and the Prefect BUR-RUS, Britannicus was left politically impotent. Already sensitive to the inflammatory accusation of usurper hurled at him. Nero plotted to remove Britannicus and charged a tribune of the Guard, Pollio Julius, with the task. The poison administered proved ineffective, and LUCUSTA, who had arranged the poison, died as a result.
A second attempt worked perfectly. Britannicus, dining with the court, became ill, and many fled the scene in horror. Nero commented to the onlookers that Britannicus was subject to epileptic fits.
Bructeri Germanic people living near the Ems and Lippe rivers; fought extensively in the wars against Roman expansion along the northern Rhine. In 4 C. E., TIBERIUS, campaigning in Germany, forced them to accept his domination, and in 14-15 C. E., Roman supremacy was certified in the defeat the Bructeri suffered from CAECINA SEVERUS, the legate of germanicus. Although Germanicus thus avenged the annihilation of varus in 9 C. E. at the hands of arminius, the Bructeri simply waited for another moment in which to strike at the Romans. In 69 C. E., when Julius CIVILIS led the batavi in revolt, the Bructeri joined in the fray but were put to flight by Petil-lius CEREALIS. Undaunted, the Bructeri priestess Veleda became the heart of the Bructeri resistance, and the target of Roman operations.
In 75-78 C. E., rutilius gallicus successfully crushed the Germans with several sorties, one of which captured Veleda. The Bructeri then ousted one of their kings, who fled across the Rhine and convinced the Romans, under Vestricius spurinna, the governor of Lower Germany, to force his people to take him back. Subsequent fighting supposedly cost the Bructeri some 60,000 men. Following the disaster, the Bructeri were subdued, eventually joining with the migratory franks.
Brundisium City in the Calabria region of southern Italy, on the Adriatic; it became one of the most important ports and harbors in the empire. With its natural port facilities and location, Brundisium was the gateway for shipping activity in the southern Adriatic, in Greece and in much of Asia. Commerce and trade to all of Italy started through the city and moved along the via appia, which stretched northward. Roman domination of the sea lanes relied upon Brundisium as a naval cornerstone, along with ravenna, aquileia and misenum for the eastern Mediterranean. In the Civil War between Caesar and Pompey in 48 B. C.E., Marc Antony used it as the launching point of an invasion of Asia.
Brundisium, Treaty of Pact signed in the later part of October 40 b. c.e. between Marc Antony and Octavian (Augustus), after the battle of philippi in 42 c. e., in which the forces of the second triumvirate had defeated the LIBERATORS led by CASSIUS and brutus.
Following Philippi, great tension remained between the forces of Antony and Octavian, with all of Italy prepared for war. The death of Antony’s troublesome wife FULVIA paved the way for peace. Two envoys, Asinius Pol-lio representing Antony and Maecenas representing Octa-vian, hammered out an accord. Marcus lepidus (1) was to remain in Africa as the impotent third triumvir, but the rest of the Roman world was split between Antony and Octavian. Antony received the east, and Octavian the west, the boundary line running through dalmatia, with Italy accessible to both. They could both appoint consuls, and Octavian ceded Antony five legions belonging to CALENUS. Individuals proscribed by both parties were pardoned. The two triumvirs embraced. Antony then warned his new ally of a plot against him instigated by Salvidi-enus Rufus, Octavian’s general in Gaul, while Octavian gave Antony his sister octavia in marriage—a union doomed to failure. As the men grew distant, so did the spirit of the treaty. Though reaffirmed in 37 b. c.e., with the Treaty of tarentum, Antony’s infatuation with the East, and Octavian’s increasing power in the West, propelled them into conflict that was finally resolved at the battle of ACTIUM in 31 b. c.e.
Bruttidius Niger (d. c. 31 c. e.) Aedile, or administrator, during the reign of Tiberius (14-37 c. e.)
Niger was responsible, with Mamercus Scaurus and Junius Otho, for the persecution of the proconsul of Asia Gaius Silanus, on charges of maiesta, or treason. Niger was a student of Apollodorus and was both a rhetorician and historian. His friendship with Lucius Aelius sejanus, prefect of the Praetorian Guard, was a powerful aid in his career, but, like for so many others, in 31 C. E., that friendship cost him his life.
Brutus, Marcus Junius (d. 42 b. c.e.) One of the prime movers in the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 b. c.e. and a champion of the Republican cause
Brutus was the son of Marcus Junius and Servilia, the half sister of cato uticensis, and was brought up in a staunchly Republican environment. Though his father had been killed by pompey in 77 b. c.e. Brutus allied himself to the general in 49 b. c.e., at the outbreak of the civil WAR against caesar, who was at the time his mother’s lover. The battle of pharsalus in 48 b. c.e. brought him once more into contact with Caesar, who expressed faith in him, appointing Brutus the governor of Cisalpine Gaul in 46 B. C.E. In 44 b. c.e. he was made praeter and was promised not only the governorship of Macedonia but the consulship in 41 as well.
Brutus, however, suffered a change of heart while in Rome in 44 b. c.e., coming under the influence of CASSIUS, who worked on his desire to ensure the survival of the Republic. On the Ides of March, the liberators, as they called themselves, murdered Caesar. Brutus had underestimated the sentiment of the Roman people and was forced to flee the city and eventually to abandon Italy altogether. The Senate gave him a command in the Balkans, and in 43 b. c.e. he was put in charge of the provinces of Greece-Macedonia. Brutus demanded tribute from the provinces in Asia Minor, earning their enmity
With Caesar’s deification by the Senate in January of
42 B. C.E., the campaign against all of the Liberators began. By October of that year the forces of the second TRIUMVIRATE were pressing the attack at philippi, and on October 23, the Republican forces fell to Antony and Octavian. In defeat, Cassius and Brutus committed suicide and with them perished the Republican cause. Brutus was known as a literary man, writing numerous now lost histories, and was a friend of cicero. His second wife was the beautiful porcia, daughter of Cato Uticensis.
Brutus Albinus, Decimus Junius (d. 43 b. c.e.) Onetime officer under Julius Caesar who joined in the conspiracy to assassinate his former commander Brutus Albinus had had a successful military career with CAESAR as his legate in the gallic wars and then his supporter in the civil war (49-45 b. c.e.). He served as propraetor in Gaul from 48 to 46 b. c.e. and was promised a proconsulship in the area of Cisalpine Gaul. But before he took up the position, the conspirator CASSIUS drew him into the plot. presumably in the belief that a true Republic would be reinstated, he joined in the murder. He then fled to Cisalpine Gaul, pursued by the avenging Marc ANTONY, who besieged him at mutina. In April of
43 b. c.e., Brutus Albinus was rescued by the combined legions of Hirtius, Pansa, and Octavian. Octavian turned against him, however. Fleeing to Gaul, and hoping to make his way to Macedonia and his coconspirator Marcus BRUTUS, he was trapped by Antony and slain.
Bucolici Tribe of herdsmen and nationalists living near the Nile Delta just northeast of Alexandria in Egypt. In 172-175 c. e., they revolted against Rome in a widespread uprising. Under the leadership of the local chief Isidorus, a priest, the Bucolici first killed Roman troops stationed nearby in Alexandria, then defeated larger forces sent against them. Fearing the loss of such an important city as Alexandria, the governor of Syria, Gaius Avidius Cassius, marched into Egypt. His war on Isidorus was aided by dissension among the tribesmen, and by 173 c. E. the region was pacified and the rebels crushed. Dio remarked on their bravery They were also called the Bucoli, and the Boukolai.
Bulla Regia A town in the Roman province of Africa Proconsularis, in what is now Tunisia. The region was taken by Rome after the Third Punic War (149-146
B. C.E.) and was again claimed by Pompey in 81 b. c.e. It developed an imperial atmosphere sometime during the reign of Tiberius (14-37 c. e.), when buildings of an Italian design began appearing. Such construction came as part of the peaceful and prosperous development of Africa, in which the community shared. The archaeological remains of Bulla Regia display homes built both above and below ground, with ancient lighting and fountains.
Burdigala A major city, modern Bordeaux, in the province of Gallia aquitania. Burdigala may have been the provincial capital. The importance of the city did not begin with the Roman occupation of Gallia in 51 b. c.e. Burdigala, located on the Garonne River, was the center of activity for the fierce people of the region, the Aqui-tani. After Caesar’s conquest of Aquitania through his legate, Publius Crassus, pacification commenced, and in 27 b. c.e., Augustus declared the area a Roman province.
Burdigala was probably the administrative capital, although Saintes and Poitiers have both been identified as possible seats. Clearly, however, the emperor Vespasian gave it a municipal standing, and the city produced several senators, as did the province.
In the third century a wall was built around Burdigala to protect it from the increasingly dangerous migrations and invasions of the time. The construction apparently proved valuable, for in the later fourth century the poet Ausonius returned to Burdigala, his native city, and retired there in great comfort. Ausonius wrote of his own land and about his colleagues in the schools of the city
In the later period of the empire, however, as Roman power collapsed, several Gothic kings conquered the city Athaulf seized and then burned the city in 415. As part of a compact between Constantius and Wallia, the Gothic kingdom gained the city.
Burebista (d. 44 b. c.e.) King of Dacia responsible for the aggrandizement of his land from 60 to 44 b. c.e.
With the aid of his adviser, a prophet-priest named Dekaineos (of Decaeneos), Burebista changed much in the country, and then launched an assault on those neighboring peoples who either threatened dacia or proved detrimental to his royal ambitions. In succession Bure-bista crushed the Boii, a race of Celts, and the Taurini, moving into Thrace and facing the entire Danube frontier, which endangered Roman control and led to direct involvement in Roman politics. In 48 b. c.e., Pompey the Great sought Burebista’s aid, but Caesar ended any hope of an alliance at the battle of Pharsalus. Caesar had been aware of the Dacian king since his days governing Illyricum. After Pharsalus, Caesar planned to relieve the pressure on the Danube with a massive campaign against Burebista, really a preparatory move for the greater military programs planned against Parthia. Burebista was assassinated in 44 b. c.e. His rapidly created empire broke apart at his death, but whatever long-term plans Caesar had for Dacia were also cut short, as he too was murdered.
See also decebalus.
Burgundians A Germanic people originating in the region of the Vistula River, who possessed considerable power in Gaul in the fifth century c. e. The Burgundians first appeared around 250 c. e., in the vanguard of the
Goths, with whom they shared a common ancestry. Settling in the region of the Main, they then faded from view, resurfacing again in 406, when they seized the lands directly on the Rhine. By 413, the Burgundians had crossed the great boundary and were in control of Germania Superior. Emperor Honorius was forced to accept their presence and concluded a treaty with them, by which they became allies. A kingdom was born, centered on Worms and ruled by Gundohar. In 436, the realm of Worms was crushed by the Huns, with Gundohar and thousands of his men slain. The remnant of the Burgundians moved into Savoy and were settled there by 443. They aided the magister militum aetius in his campaign against ATTILA, marking a resurgence. The Burgundians were finally overwhelmed by the Franks in the sixth century.
Burrus, Sextus Afranius (d. 62 c. e.) Prefect of the Praetorian Guard during the reigns of Claudius and Nero Burrus was an important adviser and key figure in nero’s era. An inscription claims that he came from Vasio in Gaul. His military career prospered from the start, as he served as a tribune, then as a procurator in some private capacity for the Empress livia and later for tiberius and CLAUDIUS as well. Through Claudius he met agrippina THE YOUNGER. The empress found him useful and trustworthy, and in 51 c. E. recommended him as sole prefect of the Guard. The prefect pursued Agrippina’s interests, especially her desire to promote her adopted son Nero as
Claudius’s heir over his own son, britannicus. Thus, in 54, on the death of Claudius, Burrus presented the prince to the cohorts of the praetorians.
Early in Nero’s reign, Burrus settled into the role of adviser, together with Seneca. The two men managed to preserve the empire from Nero’s eccentricities and to break Agrippina’s hold on her son as well. In 59, Agrippina was murdered by her son, and the influence of Bur-rus and Seneca weakened. Burrus had already faced one charge of plotting against the throne, in 55, and had escaped the charge. in 62, he tried to dissuade Nero from divorcing OCTAVIA. He became ill, with a swelling in his throat and difficulties breathing, and suspected poison. When Nero visited him, Burrus reportedly turned his face away, saying only “With me all is well.” At his death soon after, he was replaced by tigellinus, whom Nero had been grooming for some time.
Tacitus wrote that Burrus was an officer of high reputation, and he was generally considered a gifted soldier and brilliant administrator and an honorable man. Dio wrote of his frankness, that when the emperor once asked him a second time for his opinions, Burrus responded: “When once I have spoken, do not ask me again.”
Byzantium A city founded by Dorian Greeks in the seventh century B. C.E. that was transformed by Constantine in November of 324 C. E. and became his capital in 330. Modern Istanbul occupies the site today.
See also Constantinople.
World History
