Ancient Britain and the Invasions of Julius Caesar

What It's About

This is a detailed historical study of Britain before and during the Roman period, culminating in an account of Julius Caesar's two expeditions to the island in 55 and 54 BC. Holmes draws on archaeological finds, coinage, and the surviving classical sources — chiefly Caesar's own commentaries — to reconstruct both the physical landscape of the time and the sequence of events surrounding the invasions.

Key Concepts

The book moves through the successive prehistoric periods of Britain — Palaeolithic, Neolithic, Bronze Age, and Iron Age — before turning to the Celtic tribes Caesar encountered and the geography of the Kent coast as it stood in the first century BC. Holmes treats the invasions themselves as a problem of historical evidence, weighing archaeological data against classical testimony to establish routes, landing sites, and the course of the campaigns.

About the Author

T. Rice Holmes (1855–1933) was a historian and classical scholar born in County Westmeath, Ireland, and educated at Christ Church, Oxford. After some years teaching at schools in England, he turned to historical writing and became a recognised authority on Roman Britain and the campaigns of Julius Caesar, work for which he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy.