Rome against Caratacus. The Roman Campaigns in Britain AD 48-58.

'Dr. Graham Webster has completed a valauble trilogy about the early years of the conquest of Britain (the other works are 'The Roman Invasion of Britain' and 'Boudica: the British Revolt against Rome A.D. 60). The new volume covers the years of the push through the West Midlands and into Wales against Caratacus. It deals rathers more briefly with the work of consolidation in the 50s by Scapula's successors. P. Ostroisu Scapula died a frustrated and broken man. Webster is sceptical about his generalship: 'All through his period of office in Britain Scapula had made hasty decisions without full consideration of the long-term consequences.' Webster has evolved an interesting format for his books. First comes a judicious narrative based on the ancient literary sources (a translation of Tacitus 'Annals 12.31ff. is included in an appendix), in which Webster's determination to extract as much information as possible from the text is only occasionally marred by strained and oversubtle interpretations of Tacitus' words. The historical narrative is followed by an attempt to dig up from a multiple of excavation reports and aerial photography any information which may illuminate or supplement the account. Potentially it is a frustrating task, because he had to deal with the earliest levels of most sites. Much has to be left to conjecture. Webster is never afraid of conjecture. From an accumulation of scraps of evidence he produces a convincint picture of the Scaplan frontier systems. Readers unfamiliar with the Welsh Borders may find themselves having to refer constantly to the maps. With appendices on the Roman army and other matters and with glossaries on Latin military terms this is a very useful book. The whole titlogy is a vivid testament to the ways in which archaeology in the hands of an acute scholar can enrich hisotry. Webster notes that Tacitus' account of the crucial battle with Caratacus is very unsatisfactory and the site difficult to lacate. (.) It may be doubted that Tacitus had either the information or the desire to offer a more accurate narrative.' (JEREMY J. PATERSON in Greece and Rome, 1983, p.96-97).