Calling all armchair generals! Boudica's Last Stand.

[Nathan Ross]

Paulinus "sailing" from Mona has always seemed a little odd

I'm sure we've discussed this already. It comes from Dio, who probably had no clear idea of Britain's geography - he knew Mona was an island, so assumed that Paulinus would have to 'take ship' back to the mainland. No more 'sailing' required!

Chester was not yet established as a port, and Tacitus says that Paulinus had no build his own landing barges, so there was no 'Classis Britannica' operating in the Irish Sea.

Do you think Wroxeter was the forward base for the advance on Mona? I've never really considered this logistics route

Have you never? I think most people have assumed that it was. It seems the most obvious, as the closest (indeed only) legionary fortress in the area of operations, and the presumed dates of occupation would fit the period of the Flavian conquest of north Wales pretty closely. It would be extremely strange, I think, if Wroxeter were not Paulinus's base.