Aulus Plautius

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Aulus Plautius was the general commanding the Roman invasion of Britain in ad 43. Consul in 29, he had probably governed the military province of Pannonia on the middle Danube; experience together with political and family influence made him a suitable choice for Claudius' British expedition. After a delay caused by the troops' fear of Britain as the island beyond Ocean, the invasion was successfully mounted with four legions and an equivalent number (c.20,000) of auxiliary troops. The major settlement at Camulodunum (Colchester) surrendered in the presence of the emperor. By the time Plautius left Britain in 47, the greater part of the island south-east of the Humber–Severn line was under Roman control. On his return to Rome he was accorded an ovatio (a lesser form of triumph), the last recorded instance of this ceremony.

Alan Simon Esmonde Cleary