Sunday, 1 May 2005
Julius Caesar on the Britons
In 54 B.C Julius Caesar invaded Britain for a second time. He had invaded the year before but had been forced to withdraw. Problems in Gaul however forced him to retreat again. Britain was finally colonized by the Romans in A.D 43 under the reign of Claudius. Despite all these ups and downs though, Julius Caesar managed to make some interesting observations on how the locals lived. Here is what he had to say about their appearance, clothing and familly bliss:
"Most of the tribes in the interior do not grow corn but live on milk and meat and wear skins. All the Britons dye their bodies with woad, which produces a blue colour, and this gives them a more terrifying appearance in battle. They wear their hair long and shave the whole of their bodies, except the head and the upper lip. Wives are shared between groups of ten or twelve men, especially between brothers and between fathers and sons, but the offspring of these unions are counted as the children of the man with whom a particular woman cohabited first."
Posted by Anna at Sunday, May 01, 2005