The Arrival Of The Romans

What was the impact of the arrival of the Romans on the British Isles?

People arrived in the British Isles possibly two thousand years before the Romans.

By 100 BC, Britain, Wales, and Ireland, were ruled by many kings with small kingdoms, while most of Scotland was ruled by chiefs of wandering tribes.  

The major difference was the kingdoms had somewhat fixed boundaries, while the tribes had overlapping territory.  Also, the kingdoms had reached the point of creating their own iron weapons, while the tribes of the Picts mostly had to rely on acquiring iron weapons through trade or raids.

The kingdoms had small hill forts, while the tribes had some even less impressive fortifications.  Many were made of wood, but some were made of stone.  The largest walls were no more than 30 feet (9 meters) high and about 1 yard (1 meter) thick.

For example, the Bulwarks were a hill fort at Breedon on the Hill that were first constructed at that time.

One of these settlements with a small hill fort in Britain was the capital of King Lud.  This settlement was named after King Lud.  He was perhaps the strongest king in Britain, so was likely the High King of the British.

When High King Lud died, his sons Androgeus and Tasciovanus, were too young to rule.  So, his brother Cassivellaunus took the throne.  High King Cassivellaunus held sway over most of England.

King Beli Mawr was the strongest king in Wales.  King Imanuentis ruled in Cornwall.

Conaire More ruled from the hill of Tara with the title of High King of the Irishs.

In Scotland, there was continual warring between a few small kingdoms in parts of eastern Scotland for dominance as well the various tribes that occupied the rest of Scotland.

According to the Greek historian Diodorus Siculus, Armorica in western France had a long established trading system with the British Isles when he wrote about Armorica before 60 BC.  He also noted that the Celts in the mainland of Europe reported that they had the same language as the Celts of the British Isles.

Then came the Romans.

As the Romans moved into the lands of the Druids, they systematically wiped out the Druids everywhere they went.  They found the brutal practices of the Druid as barbaric and incompatible with Roman ideas of civilization.

When the Romans were conquering the Gauls, they found it harder than they had anticipated.  

In 56 BC, the Romans realized that the Gauls were getting help from the mysterious islands that Pytheas had written about.  They wanted to stop this help at its source.

Part of the kingdom of King Diviciacus was in western Celtica (most of Gaul) and another small part was in southern Britain.  He was recruiting mercenaries from Britain to help fight against the Romans.

So, the Romans sailed west from Gaul with the help of the Pictones, who had been trading with the British Isles.  They launched from the Pictone port at Ratiatum.  

The Pictones by this time were a civilized Celtic tribe that lived in cities and built ships that could handle the rough waters of the English Channel.  

Thus, the Romans first invaded Britain in 55 BC during their conquest of the Gauls in modern France.   

They were repelled the first two times.

Then a dispute arose between High King Cassivellaunus and Androgeus.  This forced Androgeus to flee to Julius Caesar for protection.  

Soon, the Romans invaded a third time and were not repelled thanks to the help of Androgeus.

King Imanuentius, the king of Cornwall, was killed by High King Cassivellaunus right after Julius Caesar arrived.  The son of King Imanuentius, Mandubracius, then fled to the Romans for protection.

High King Cassivellaunus led a combined army of many of the British kingdoms against the Romans.  

However, the Romans soon overcame the forces of High King Cassivellaunus with the help of Mandubracius. Thus, High King Cassivellaunus surrendered to the Romans 

So, client kingdoms of the Romans were established in Britain. 

Mandubracius was made the first client king of Roman Britain.  He was recognized as the High King of the British in the place of King Cassivellaunus.

Then a food shortage in Gaul forced the Romans to leave in 54 BC.  Androgeus left with Julius Caesar, never to return.

Julius Caesar left High King Mandubracius instructions to rule on behalf of the Romans until they returned.  

Britain would continue as several client kingdoms - without Roman occupation - as long as they paid tribute and did not cause the Romans trouble.  They also were not to fight with each other.

This arrangement was quite profitable for both the client kingdoms and the Romans.  

The Roman client kingdoms in eastern Britain gained great wealth by becoming trade centers between the Romans and the rest of the kings of the British Isles.  

The Romans made more money off customs and duties on the trade than they could have made from taxation - without the cost of military occupation.

The Roman also brought in the Latin language, which was not related to the Celtic language called British,that was spoken by the natives at this time.  This was the first time the British Isles had a written language.

 

It was soon being combined with native British to form British Latin.  This allowed British words to be written using the Latin alphabet.

 

At this time, according to Diodorus Siculus and Strabo, the people of Ireland commonly practiced cannibalism and incest.  It appears to have been part of the religion of the Druids.

Then war broke out in Britain over the religion of the Romans.

The client kings also adopted the Roman religion as well.  

Their kingdoms had reasoned that Roman gods could protect them from the Druids, since the Druids had been destroyed out of every kingdom that the Romans occupied.

However, the rest of the kingdoms in the British Isle continued in the religion of the Druids.  

Those kingdoms that continued in the religion of the Druids were greatly opposed to those kingdoms that had adopted the religion of the Romans.  They sought to restore the British Isles to the religion of their ancestors.

In 48 BC, High King Mandubracius died and Tasciovanus became the new king over that Roman client kingdom.  He was also recognized as the High King of the British.

High King Tasciovanus then used the technology and tactics that he had acquired from the Romans to conquer the surrounding kingdoms that still followed the religion of the Druids.  The Druids were driven out of every kingdom he conquered.

High King Tasciovanus continued to keep up good relations with the Romans, acting as their client king awaiting their return.

High King Tasciovanus made Camulodunon (Colchester) his capital city and began minting coins like the Romans - with Latin inscriptions.

However, British kings opposed to the Romans, attacked another client kingdom of the Romans in 35 BC.  This forced King Dubnovellaunus to flee to Rome to seek help.

So, Emperor Augustus planned to lead the Romans back to Roman Britain in 34 BC, but internal revolts forced him to call off an invasion.

In 27 BC, Emperor Augustus planned a second attempt, but the British kings came to terms with Romans instead.  So, King Dubnovellaunus returned to ruling as a client king for the Romans.

Then in 25 BC, other British kings opposed to the Romans, attacked another Roman client kingdom in Britain.  This forced King Tincomarus to flee to Rome to seek help.

So, Emperor Augustus planned a third attempt at invasion that year, but internal revolts forced him again to call off an invasion.  

However, King Tincomarus was restored as the client king to prevent Emperor Augustus from needing to plan a fourth attempt.

In 8 AD, a revolt forced King Tincomarus to flee to Rome again.  This time, Emperor Augustus made his brother Eppillus the client king in his place to placate his subjects.

When High King Tasciovanus died in 9 AD, he was succeeded by his son Cunobeline, who had been raised in the court of Emperor Augustus.

High King Cunobeline was recognized as High King of the British by the Romans and continued to rule Roman Britain as a client king awaiting the return of the Romans. 

Around this time, Emperor Augustus made a decree that no one could be a Roman citizen who followed the religion of the Druids.  

In 15 AD, King Eppillus died and his brother Verica became the new client king of the Romans. 

Then the Romans encountered the Picts.

In 16 AD, Roman ships that Emperor Tiberius had sent to Germany were blown off course and landed on the British Isles.  The Roman soldiers were terrified by what they described as "monsters"- most likely the Picts.

The Picts lived in the eastern part of modern Scotland and possibly parts of northeastern England.  According to Irish history, they were the inhabitants of all of Northern Ireland, before assimilating with the invading Irish.  

The Picts were given this name by Ptolemy - who also encountered the Pictones.  They most likely migrated from the area occupied by the Pictones.  

(The Pictones were a related tribe with a similar appearance, who lived in the south of Armorica in western France.  They were much more civilized than the Picts.)

The Picts had also intermarried with descendants of Alba according to Irish history.  This is the name used by Ptolemy for all of Britain and Scotland ("insula Albionum" means "island of the descendants of Alba").

(The Gaelic word "Alba" meant "white", just like the Greek word "Gala" meant "milk white".  This is where the word "Galatians" came from, meaning "people with milk white skin".  So, Alba, the progenitor of the Celts was apparently the same as the progenitor of the Germans - Gomer.)

The Picts in Scotland later were pushed out of western Scotland by the Caledonii.  The area occupied by the Caledonii was called Caledonia.

The Picts had no real towns, just some larger settlements.  They had herds of cattle, sheep, horses, and pigs.  They moved their herds from place to place as needed.  They also raised some crops.  Hunting and fishing supplied a good part of their diet as well as gathering nuts, berries, and roots.

The Picts were a confederacy of hostile tribes of wild men known for going into battle wearing nothing by blue body paint. (The Latin word "Picti", where "Pict" came from, means "painted people".  It is the same place that the word "picture" came from.)  

The Picts had no formations in battle.  The Picts simply ran as fast as they could into the battle screaming at the top of their lungs and swinging their weapons in a wildly, unpredictable manner.  

Many Romans believed that the Picts were possessed by demons and were genuinely terrified of them. 

Yet, even the Picts were terrified of the Druids.  They would not enter the stone circles of the Druids like Stonehenge. 

However, events were already in motion to deliver the British Isles from the terror of the Druids. 

In 31 AD, Saint Ilid, called a man of Israel in the earliest record of him in the British Isles, would have been at the Temple in Jerusalem for Pentecost (Shavuot), probably with his parents, when the baptism of the Spirit of Truth was poured out.  This set the expectation of power to accompany the preaching of the Good News.

(Saint is not used in the sense of the False Church of Rome in this post.  It is used in the sense of the Book of Truth (The Bible), where the term is used for all of the Children of Truth.  It is used to distinguish the Children of Truth from others in this post.)

In 32 AD, Saint Ilid and his parents apparently learned from the Apostles of Truth in the community of the Children of Truth in Jerusalem.  This showed him how people could best learn in a community.

In 33 AD, Saint Ilid fled with his parents to escape the persecution of the Children of Truth (those who obey The Father of Truth because they love Him) that rose up in the land of Israel. 

They appeared to have fled to Antioch (Syria).  While there, Saint Ilid became a disciple of Paul the Jew (Shaul aka Saul aka The Apostle Paul). (He is referred to as a disciple of Paul the Jew in many earliest records of him outside of the British Isles.)

This was the beginning of a series of events that would soon change the British Isles forever.

By 37 AD, Emperor Tiberius passed a law forbidding anyone inside the Roman Empire from practicing the religion of the Druids.

In 39 AD, High King Cunobeline forced his son King Adminius to go into exile to Rome, because he suspected that his brothers would lead a revolt against him for his allegiance to Rome.

In 40 AD, King Adminius tried to get Emperor Caligula to establish Roman rule over Roman Britain, but Caligula only made it as far as the shores of the English channel in Gaul (France).

When High King Cunobeline died in 40 AD, his son, King Caratacus ruled in his place.

Shortly after that, High King Caratacus decided to conquer a neighboring kingdom, because it was friendly with the Romans and had adopted their religion.  Their king, King Verica fled to Rome to ask Emperor Claudius for help.

Faraway in Israel, in 42 AD, a Roman Centurion named Cornelius came into the House of Truth without first being circumcised.  Everything was ready for the people of the British Isles to hear the Good News.

By then, the Romans could see that their lucrative arrangement of Roman client kingdoms in Britain was no longer sustainable.

So, in 43 AD, the Romans decided that they had to bring the British Isles into the Roman Empire.

However, the Romans did know that they had been in the British Isles for the purposes of the Father of Truth.

The Father of Truth brings about the rise and fall of empires for His own purposes.  The Romans arrived in Britain to prepare the people there for a better future.

They did not know about the Man of Truth (Yeshua HaMashiach aka Jesus Christ) and were lost without hope (Ephesians 2:12).

However, the Father of Truth had not forgotten them.  The arrival of the Romans were preparing them for their salvation.  

Far away in Israel, events were already at work that would bring about their salvation.

Fifty days after the Man of Truth rose from the dead, Jewish people and proselytes from as far away as Rome came were gathered at Jerusalem for Shavuot (Pentecost) (Acts 2:5-11).   They learned of his resurrection from the Apostles of Truth (Acts 2:32-36).  Three thousand of them then came into the House of Truth (Acts 2:37-41).  They then learned how to follow the Man of Truth from the Apostles of Truth before returning home to places like Rome (Acts 2:42-47).

A year after the Man of Truth had risen from the dead,  many of the Children of Truth in Israel, like Saint Ilid, were learning how to follow his teachings by living in a community that put those teachings into practice (Acts 4:32-35).

Two years after the Man of Truth had risen from the dead, many of the Children of Truth in Israel, like Saint Ilid, were scattered from Israel to as far away as Phenice, on the western end of Crete (Acts 11:19-20).  From there, it was easy to get a ship to Rome (Acts 27:11-13).

Cornelius, a Roman Centurion, called for Peter the Jew (Sh'mon aka Simeon aka Simeon aka Cephas aka the Apostle Peter) to hear the Good News (Acts 10:19-24).  He then came into the House of Truth - without being circumcised - a year before the return of the Romans to Britain (Acts 10:44-48). 

The hope of the Almodadi was now ready to be brought to those who lived in equal darkness in the British Isles.

Saint Ilid was also being prepared for this purpose.  He could have been a disciple of Paul the Jew in Antioch for almost ten years, until Paul the Jew left Antioch to go on his first mission (Acts 13:1-4).

The Romans were loved by some of the natives of the British Isles and hated by others.  However, the great changes they made in the British Isles were really made to prepare the Celts there for the waters of salvation that would soon be poured out.You can come into the House of Truth and drink those waters today.

Surrender control of your life not to a Roman Emperor, but to the Man of Truth, because your believe that the Father of Truth has raised him from the dead (Romans 10:9).

Come into the House of Truth!