The Roman Invasion of Britain

The Ancients

History Hit

History

4.7 • 3.5K Ratings

🗓️ 16 January 2025

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

43 AD. A large Roman armada sails across the perilous English Channel intent on conquest. It is the dawn of one of the most seminal moments in Britain’s ancient history.

In this episode of The Ancients, Tristan Hughes is joined by archeologist Duncan Mackay to follow in the footsteps of Emperor Claudius, his general Aulus Plautius and the thousands of Roman soldiers charged with conquering Britain - a mysterious island at the edge of the world. Together they unpack the story of the invasion, exploring the rationale of the Roman leaders, the political contours of the British tribes who faced up to them and the arrival of the Emperor to Colchester on elephant-back.

Presented by Tristan Hughes. Audio editor is Aidan Lonergan, the producer is Joseph Knight. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.

Theme music from Motion Array, all other music from Epidemic Sound

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, I'm Tristan Hughes, and if you would like the ancient ad-free, get early access and bonus episodes, sign up to History Hit.
0:08.1	With a History Hit subscription, you can also watch hundreds of hours of original documentaries, including my recent documentary all about Petra and the Nabatans, and enjoy a new release every week.
0:19.3	Sign up now by visiting historyhit.com slash subscribe.
0:23.1	This podcast is brought to you by Exodus Adventure Travels. Now, I've always loved to
0:28.4	explore new places and I'm lucky enough to travel quite a bit with my job. Shout out to
0:33.0	our production team who make that possible. In my free time, however, I am a big fan of adventure holidays,
0:39.5	going to see a new place in the world and the amazing archaeology that they have there.
0:44.5	For adventure holidays, no one does it better than Exodus. Exodus provide high-quality small-group
0:50.3	trips across 90 different countries that span all seven continents, including Antarctica.
0:56.7	There are plenty of ancient history tours in there too. One that caught my eye is a tour of Jordan
1:01.5	and its big historical sites, including, of course, Petra. Exodus is great for both solo travellers
1:08.6	and if you're wanting to go on an adventure with a friend or partner.
1:12.8	So if you want a great itinerary and ensure magic moments you'll remember forever, well, Exodus are the people to piece that together.
1:20.8	To find your next adventure, visit exodus.co.uk It's 43 ADD.U.K.
1:37.1	It's 43 AD.
1:43.1	A large Roman armada sails across the perilous stretch of water that is today the English Channel.
1:45.2	On board these ships are thousands of soldiers, infantry, cavalry, siege equipment, engineers, you name it. This is
1:52.6	an invasion force. For more than a hundred years the Romans have known of Britain, this
1:58.2	mysterious island on the edge of the known world, now they sought
2:02.5	to conquer it.
2:05.3	It's the ancients on History Hit.
2:08.2	I'm Tristan Hughes, your host.
	...

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