Aulus Plautius
Encyclopedia
Aulus Plautius was a Roman
politician and general of the mid-1st century. He began the Roman conquest of Britain
in 43, and became the first governor of the new province, serving from 43 to 47.
, probably in 24, alongside Marcus Aelius Celer. He was suffect consul
for the second half of 29, and held a provincial governorship, probably of Pannonia
, in the early years of Claudius
's reign: another inscription shows he oversaw the building of a road between Trieste
and Rijeka
at this time.
Claudius appointed him to lead his invasion of Britannia
in 43, in support of Verica
, king of the Atrebates
and an ally of Rome, who had been deposed by his eastern neighbours the Catuvellauni
. The army was composed of four legions
, IX Hispana
, then in Pannonia, II Augusta
, XIV Gemina
, and XX Valeria Victrix
, plus approximately 20,000 auxiliary troops, including Thracians
and Batavians
. In this occasion, II Augusta was commanded by the future emperor Vespasian
. Three other men of appropriate rank to command legions are known to have been involved in the invasion: Vespasian's brother Titus Flavius Sabinus II and Gnaeus Hosidius Geta
appear in Dio Cassius
's account of the invasion; Gnaeus Sentius Saturninus
is mentioned by Eutropius, although as a former consul he may have been too senior, and perhaps accompanied Claudius later.
On the beaches of northern Gaul
Plautius faced a mutiny by his troops, who were reluctant to cross the Ocean
and fight beyond the limits of the known world. They were persuaded after Claudius's freedman
and secretary Narcissus
addressed them: seeing a former slave in place of their commander, they cried "Io Saturnalia!" (Saturnalia
being a Roman festival in which social roles were reversed for the day) and the mutiny was over.
The invasion force sailed in three divisions, and is generally believed to have landed at Richborough
in Kent
, although parts may have landed elsewhere (see Site of the Claudian invasion of Britain
). The Britons, led by Togodumnus
and Caratacus
of the Catuvellauni, were reluctant to fight a pitched battle, relying on instead on guerrilla tactics
. However, Plautius defeated first Caratacus, then Togodumnus, on the rivers Medway
and Thames
. Togodumnus died shortly afterwards, although Caratacus survived and continued to be a thorn in the invaders' side.
Having reached the Thames, Plautius halted and sent for Claudius, who arrived with elephants and heavy artillery and completed the march on the Catuvellaunian capital, Camulodunum (Colchester
). A Roman province
was established in the conquered territory, and alliances made with nations outside direct Roman control. Plautius became governor of the new province, until 47 when he was replaced by Publius Ostorius Scapula
. On his return to Rome and civil life, Plautius was granted an Ovation
, during which the emperor himself walked by his side to and from the Capitol.
. Quintus Plautius, who was consul in 36, was probably his younger brother. His sister married Publius Petronius; their (adopted?) son, Publius Petronius Turpilianus
, was later consul and governor of Britain.
Plautius's wife, Pomponia Graecina
, after the execution of her kinswoman Julia Drusi Caesaris
by Claudius and Messalina
, remained in mourning for forty years in open, and unpunished, defiance of the emperor. In 57 she was charged with a "foreign superstition", interpreted by some to mean conversion to Christianity
. According to Roman law, she was tried by her husband before her kinsmen, and was acquitted.
Plautius was probably the uncle whose "distinguished service" saved Plautius Lateranus from the death penalty in 48 after his affair with Messalina
. By the time Lateranus was eventually executed, in 65 for his part in a conspiracy against Nero
, his uncle was probably dead and could no longer help him.
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
politician and general of the mid-1st century. He began the Roman conquest of Britain
Roman conquest of Britain
The Roman conquest of Britain was a gradual process, beginning effectively in AD 43 under Emperor Claudius, whose general Aulus Plautius served as first governor of Britannia. Great Britain had already frequently been the target of invasions, planned and actual, by forces of the Roman Republic and...
in 43, and became the first governor of the new province, serving from 43 to 47.
Career
Little is known of Aulus Plautius's early career. An inscription reveals he was involved in the suppression of a slave revolt in ApuliaApulia
Apulia is a region in Southern Italy bordering the Adriatic Sea in the east, the Ionian Sea to the southeast, and the Strait of Òtranto and Gulf of Taranto in the south. Its most southern portion, known as Salento peninsula, forms a high heel on the "boot" of Italy. The region comprises , and...
, probably in 24, alongside Marcus Aelius Celer. He was suffect consul
Consul
Consul was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and an appointive office under the Empire. The title was also used in other city states and also revived in modern states, notably in the First French Republic...
for the second half of 29, and held a provincial governorship, probably of Pannonia
Pannonia
Pannonia was an ancient province of the Roman Empire bounded north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia....
, in the early years of Claudius
Claudius
Claudius , was Roman Emperor from 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, he was the son of Drusus and Antonia Minor. He was born at Lugdunum in Gaul and was the first Roman Emperor to be born outside Italy...
's reign: another inscription shows he oversaw the building of a road between Trieste
Trieste
Trieste is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of land lying between the Adriatic Sea and Italy's border with Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south and east of the city...
and Rijeka
Rijeka
Rijeka is the principal seaport and the third largest city in Croatia . It is located on Kvarner Bay, an inlet of the Adriatic Sea and has a population of 128,735 inhabitants...
at this time.
Claudius appointed him to lead his invasion of Britannia
Roman Britain
Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...
in 43, in support of Verica
Verica
Verica was a British client king of the Roman Empire in the years preceding the Claudian invasion of 43 AD.From his coinage, he appears to have been king of the Atrebates tribe and a son of Commius. He succeeded his elder brother Eppillus as king in about 15 AD, reigning at Calleva Atrebatum,...
, king of the Atrebates
Atrebates
The Atrebates were a Belgic tribe of Gaul and Britain before the Roman conquests.- Name of the tribe :Cognate with Old Irish aittrebaid meaning 'inhabitant', Atrebates comes from proto-Celtic *ad-treb-a-t-es, 'inhabitants'. The Celtic root is treb- 'building', 'home' The Atrebates (singular...
and an ally of Rome, who had been deposed by his eastern neighbours the Catuvellauni
Catuvellauni
The Catuvellauni were a tribe or state of south-eastern Britain before the Roman conquest.The fortunes of the Catuvellauni and their kings before the conquest can be traced through numismatic evidence and scattered references in classical histories. They are mentioned by Dio Cassius, who implies...
. The army was composed of four legions
Roman legion
A Roman legion normally indicates the basic ancient Roman army unit recruited specifically from Roman citizens. The organization of legions varied greatly over time but they were typically composed of perhaps 5,000 soldiers, divided into maniples and later into "cohorts"...
, IX Hispana
Legio IX Hispana
Legio Nona Hispana was a Roman legion, which operated from the first century BCE until mid 2nd century CE. The Spanish Legion's disappearance has raised speculations over its fate, largely of its alleged destruction in Scotland in about 117 CE, though some scholars believe it was destroyed in the...
, then in Pannonia, II Augusta
Legio II Augusta
Legio secunda Augusta , was a Roman legion, levied by Gaius Vibius Pansa Caetronianus in 43 BC, and still operative in Britannia in the 4th century...
, XIV Gemina
Legio XIV Gemina
Legio quarta decima Gemina was a legion of the Roman Empire, levied by Julius Caesar in late 58 B.C. The cognomen Gemina suggests that the legion resulted from fusion of two previous ones, one of them being the Fourteenth legion that fought in the Battle of Alesia, the other being the Martia ...
, and XX Valeria Victrix
Legio XX Valeria Victrix
Legio vigesima Valeria Victrix was a Roman legion, probably raised by Augustus some time after 31 BC. It served in Hispania, Illyricum, and Germania before participating in the invasion of Britannia in 43 AD, where it remained and was active until at least the beginning of the 4th century...
, plus approximately 20,000 auxiliary troops, including Thracians
Thrace
Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. As a geographical concept, Thrace designates a region bounded by the Balkan Mountains on the north, Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea on the south, and by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara on the east...
and Batavians
Batavians
The Batavi were an ancient Germanic tribe, originally part of the Chatti, reported by Tacitus to have lived around the Rhine delta, in the area that is currently the Netherlands, "an uninhabited district on the extremity of the coast of Gaul, and also of a neighbouring island, surrounded by the...
. In this occasion, II Augusta was commanded by the future emperor Vespasian
Vespasian
Vespasian , was Roman Emperor from 69 AD to 79 AD. Vespasian was the founder of the Flavian dynasty, which ruled the Empire for a quarter century. Vespasian was descended from a family of equestrians, who rose into the senatorial rank under the Emperors of the Julio-Claudian dynasty...
. Three other men of appropriate rank to command legions are known to have been involved in the invasion: Vespasian's brother Titus Flavius Sabinus II and Gnaeus Hosidius Geta
Gnaeus Hosidius Geta
Gaius or Gnaeus Hosidius Geta was a Roman Senator and General who lived in the 1st century. Geta was a praetor some time before 42...
appear in Dio Cassius
Dio Cassius
Lucius Cassius Dio Cocceianus , known in English as Cassius Dio, Dio Cassius, or Dio was a Roman consul and a noted historian writing in Greek...
's account of the invasion; Gnaeus Sentius Saturninus
Gnaeus Sentius Saturninus
Gnaeus Sentius Saturninus was the name of two Roman senators, father and son.* The elder Gnaeus Sentius Saturninus was one of three sons of Gaius Sentius Saturninus, who was imperial legate to Syria in 9-6 BC. He was suffect consul when his older brother, Gaius Sentius Saturninus, was consul...
is mentioned by Eutropius, although as a former consul he may have been too senior, and perhaps accompanied Claudius later.
On the beaches of northern Gaul
Gaul
Gaul was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gauls were the speakers of...
Plautius faced a mutiny by his troops, who were reluctant to cross the Ocean
Oceanus
Oceanus ; , Ōkeanós) was a pseudo-geographical feature in classical antiquity, believed by the ancient Greeks and Romans to be the world-ocean, an enormous river encircling the world....
and fight beyond the limits of the known world. They were persuaded after Claudius's freedman
Freedman
A freedman is a former slave who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, slaves became freedmen either by manumission or emancipation ....
and secretary Narcissus
Tiberius Claudius Narcissus
Tiberius Claudius Narcissus was one of the freedmen who formed the core of the imperial court under the Roman emperor Claudius. He is described as praepositus ab epistulis ....
addressed them: seeing a former slave in place of their commander, they cried "Io Saturnalia!" (Saturnalia
Saturnalia
Saturnalia is an Ancient Roman festival/ celebration held in honour of Saturn , the youngest of the Titans, father of the major gods of the Greeks and Romans, and son of Uranus and Gaia...
being a Roman festival in which social roles were reversed for the day) and the mutiny was over.
The invasion force sailed in three divisions, and is generally believed to have landed at Richborough
Richborough
Richborough is a settlement north of Sandwich on the east coast of the county of Kent, England. Richborough lies close to the Isle of Thanet....
in Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, although parts may have landed elsewhere (see Site of the Claudian invasion of Britain
Site of the Claudian invasion of Britain
The site of the Claudian invasion of Britain in AD 43 is a matter of some controversy. Although it is generally believed that the force left from Gesoriacum , it is possible that part of the fleet sailed from near the mouth of the Rhine. And while Rutupiæ is often stated as the site of the landing...
). The Britons, led by Togodumnus
Togodumnus
Togodumnus was a historical king of the British Catuvellauni tribe at the time of the Roman conquest. He can probably be identified with the legendary British king Guiderius....
and Caratacus
Caratacus
Caratacus was a first century British chieftain of the Catuvellauni tribe, who led the British resistance to the Roman conquest....
of the Catuvellauni, were reluctant to fight a pitched battle, relying on instead on guerrilla tactics
Guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare and refers to conflicts in which a small group of combatants including, but not limited to, armed civilians use military tactics, such as ambushes, sabotage, raids, the element of surprise, and extraordinary mobility to harass a larger and...
. However, Plautius defeated first Caratacus, then Togodumnus, on the rivers Medway
River Medway
The River Medway, which is almost entirely in Kent, England, flows for from just inside the West Sussex border to the point where it enters the Thames Estuary....
and Thames
River Thames
The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...
. Togodumnus died shortly afterwards, although Caratacus survived and continued to be a thorn in the invaders' side.
Having reached the Thames, Plautius halted and sent for Claudius, who arrived with elephants and heavy artillery and completed the march on the Catuvellaunian capital, Camulodunum (Colchester
Colchester
Colchester is an historic town and the largest settlement within the borough of Colchester in Essex, England.At the time of the census in 2001, it had a population of 104,390. However, the population is rapidly increasing, and has been named as one of Britain's fastest growing towns. As the...
). A Roman province
Roman province
In Ancient Rome, a province was the basic, and, until the Tetrarchy , largest territorial and administrative unit of the empire's territorial possessions outside of Italy...
was established in the conquered territory, and alliances made with nations outside direct Roman control. Plautius became governor of the new province, until 47 when he was replaced by Publius Ostorius Scapula
Publius Ostorius Scapula
Publius Ostorius Scapula was a Roman statesman and general who governed Britain from 47 until his death, and was responsible for the defeat and capture of Caratacus.-Career:...
. On his return to Rome and civil life, Plautius was granted an Ovation
Ovation
The ovation was a lower form of the Roman triumph. Ovations were granted, when war was not declared between enemies on the level of states, when an enemy was considered basely inferior or when the general conflict was resolved with little to no bloodshed or danger to the army itself.The general...
, during which the emperor himself walked by his side to and from the Capitol.
Relatives
Plautius was a (probably distant) relative of Claudius's first wife, Plautia UrgulanillaPlautia Urgulanilla
Plautia Urgulanilla was the first wife of the Roman Emperor Claudius. They married sometime around the year 9 CE, when Claudius was 18 years old. According to Suetonius, Claudius divorced her in 24 on grounds of adultery by Plautia and his suspicions of her involvement in the murder of her...
. Quintus Plautius, who was consul in 36, was probably his younger brother. His sister married Publius Petronius; their (adopted?) son, Publius Petronius Turpilianus
Publius Petronius Turpilianus
Publius Petronius Turpilianus was a Roman politician and general.He was consul in AD 61, but in the second half of that year he laid down that office and was appointed governor of Britain, replacing Gaius Suetonius Paulinus who had been removed from office in the wake of the rebellion of Boudica...
, was later consul and governor of Britain.
Plautius's wife, Pomponia Graecina
Pomponia Graecina
Pomponia Graecina was a noble Roman woman of the 1st century who was related to the Julio-Claudian dynasty. She was the wife of Aulus Plautius, the general who led the Roman conquest of Britain in 43, and was renowned as one of the few people who dared to publicly mourn the death of a kinswoman...
, after the execution of her kinswoman Julia Drusi Caesaris
Julia (daughter of Drusus the Younger)
Julia Drusi Caesaris Filia was the daughter of Drusus Julius Caesar and Livilla and granddaughter to the Roman Emperor Tiberius.-Chronology:At the time of Emperor Augustus' death in 14 Julia was ill...
by Claudius and Messalina
Messalina
Valeria Messalina, sometimes spelled Messallina, was a Roman empress as the third wife of the Emperor Claudius. She was also a paternal cousin of the Emperor Nero, second cousin of the Emperor Caligula, and great-grandniece of the Emperor Augustus...
, remained in mourning for forty years in open, and unpunished, defiance of the emperor. In 57 she was charged with a "foreign superstition", interpreted by some to mean conversion to Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
. According to Roman law, she was tried by her husband before her kinsmen, and was acquitted.
Plautius was probably the uncle whose "distinguished service" saved Plautius Lateranus from the death penalty in 48 after his affair with Messalina
Messalina
Valeria Messalina, sometimes spelled Messallina, was a Roman empress as the third wife of the Emperor Claudius. She was also a paternal cousin of the Emperor Nero, second cousin of the Emperor Caligula, and great-grandniece of the Emperor Augustus...
. By the time Lateranus was eventually executed, in 65 for his part in a conspiracy against Nero
Nero
Nero , was Roman Emperor from 54 to 68, and the last in the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Nero was adopted by his great-uncle Claudius to become his heir and successor, and succeeded to the throne in 54 following Claudius' death....
, his uncle was probably dead and could no longer help him.
Namesakes
Three other men of the same name are known:- Aulus Plautius, a tribuneTribuneTribune was a title shared by elected officials in the Roman Republic. Tribunes had the power to convene the Plebeian Council and to act as its president, which also gave them the right to propose legislation before it. They were sacrosanct, in the sense that any assault on their person was...
of plebs in 70, later the legate of PompeyPompeyGnaeus Pompeius Magnus, also known as Pompey or Pompey the Great , was a military and political leader of the late Roman Republic...
responsible for SicilySicilySicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
in the war against the pirates. AppianAppianAppian of Alexandria was a Roman historian of Greek ethnicity who flourished during the reigns of Trajan, Hadrian, and Antoninus Pius.He was born ca. 95 in Alexandria. He tells us that, after having filled the chief offices in the province of Egypt, he went to Rome ca. 120, where he practised as...
refers to him as Plautius Varus - Aulus Plautius, a tribuneTribuneTribune was a title shared by elected officials in the Roman Republic. Tribunes had the power to convene the Plebeian Council and to act as its president, which also gave them the right to propose legislation before it. They were sacrosanct, in the sense that any assault on their person was...
who read a letter from Ptolemy XII of EgyptEgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
before the SenateRoman SenateThe Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic, however, it was not an elected body, but one whose members were appointed by the consuls, and later by the censors. After a magistrate served his term in office, it usually was followed with automatic...
in 56 BC. Urban praetor in 51, later the governor of BithyniaBithyniaBithynia was an ancient region, kingdom and Roman province in the northwest of Asia Minor, adjoining the Propontis, the Thracian Bosporus and the Euxine .-Description:...
and PontusPontusPontus or Pontos is a historical Greek designation for a region on the southern coast of the Black Sea, located in modern-day northeastern Turkey. The name was applied to the coastal region in antiquity by the Greeks who colonized the area, and derived from the Greek name of the Black Sea: Πόντος...
. - Aulus Plautius, suffect consul in 1 BC
- Aulus Plautius (fl. 1st century), probably the son of the conqueror of Britain, and allegedly the lover of Agrippina the youngerAgrippina the YoungerJulia Agrippina, most commonly referred to as Agrippina Minor or Agrippina the Younger, and after 50 known as Julia Augusta Agrippina was a Roman Empress and one of the more prominent women in the Julio-Claudian dynasty...
, who was murdered by Agrippina's son NeroNeroNero , was Roman Emperor from 54 to 68, and the last in the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Nero was adopted by his great-uncle Claudius to become his heir and successor, and succeeded to the throne in 54 following Claudius' death....
.
Aulus Plautius in later art
- He is a character in Henryk SienkiewiczHenryk SienkiewiczHenryk Adam Aleksander Pius Sienkiewicz was a Polish journalist and Nobel Prize-winning novelist. A Polish szlachcic of the Oszyk coat of arms, he was one of the most popular Polish writers at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, and received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1905 for his...
's Quo VadisQuo Vadis (novel)Quo Vadis: A Narrative of the Time of Nero, commonly known as Quo Vadis, is a historical novel written by Henryk Sienkiewicz in Polish. Quo vadis is Latin for "Where are you going?" and alludes to the apocryphal Acts of Peter, in which Peter flees Rome but on his way meets Jesus and asks him why he... - In the 1951 film Quo VadisQuo Vadis (1951 film)Quo Vadis is a 1951 epic film made by MGM. It was directed by Mervyn LeRoy and produced by Sam Zimbalist, from a screenplay by John Lee Mahin, S. N. Behrman and Sonya Levien, adapted from Henryk Sienkiewicz's classic 1896 novel Quo Vadis. The music score was by Miklós Rózsa and the cinematography...
, based on the novel, Aulus Plautius (played by Felix AylmerFelix AylmerSir Felix Edward Aylmer Jones, OBE was an English stage actor who also appeared in the cinema and on television.-Early life and career:...
) is (unhistorically) a ChristianChristianA Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
with his wife Pomponia; he is later crucified and burned to death in the ColosseumColosseumThe Colosseum, or the Coliseum, originally the Flavian Amphitheatre , is an elliptical amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, the largest ever built in the Roman Empire...
near the end of the film.
Secondary sources
- William Smith (ed) (1870), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology Vol 4 p. 405
- George Patrick Welch (1963), Britannia: the Roman Conquest and Occupation of Britain
- Anthony R Birley (1981), The Fasti of Roman Britain, pp. 37–40