Flavian Britain

Summary For a brief moment, under the reign of the last of the Flavians, Roman Britain and the island of Britain became one. The topic of Roman expansion has dominated modern discussion of Flavian Britain. In the century and a half before the Claudian invasion, society in southeastern Britain saw intensifying processes of change in aspects of both its economy and social structures. This chapter presents a case of historiography that is not aligned with governmental policy: Tacitus expects Claudius to press ever forward, in pursuit of the realization of the only kind of conquest imagined by the historian, that of the island in its entirety. Such expectations persist in Tacitus’ narrative while describing periods when the Claudian administration, and the Neronian, clearly opted for consolidation. The presence of a squadron of allied cavalry in northern Wales even before Agricola's arrival suggests that also the Ordovices came to terms with Frontinus.