40,000 Roman soldiers invaded Britain in 43 AD
Claudius sent 40,000 soldiers across the English Channel to conquer Britain in 43 AD, led by general Aulus Plautius.
Where this was said
Ancient British Moustaches
At 13:05 · chapter starts 12:09
Horatio delivers a genuinely interesting mini-lecture on how the Romans perceived ancient Britons: not as military threats but as bewildering, exotic creatures from a jungle at the edge of the world. Fin seizes on the Conrad parallel — the novel Heart of Darkness literally opens with a reference to Roman sailors approaching the Thames, a detail Conrad included deliberately. [1] — Horatio Gould "The Romans were genuinely terrified of ancient Britons — not because of their military prowess but because they wore trousers (unprecedente…" 15:40 The specific 'barbaric' features that shocked Romans included trousers (Romans wore skirts), blue tattoos, bleached blond hair, and prominent moustaches — all of which, the hosts note, are still broadly present in modern Essex. Horatio confirms that trousers date to at least 600 BC in ancient Britain, a fact Fin finds genuinely surprising and connecting.
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