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Calling all armchair generals! Boudica's Last Stand.
(02-15-2018, 12:10 AM)Theoderic Wrote: I also have a concern about short “open valleys” where the roman army could be attacked from the rear by the local population

I think open valleys are exactly what we're looking for. The translation 'defile' is confusing - the word Tacitus uses means 'throat' - so it's an open pass or through-way between hills, 'closed' in the rear by woods, not by high ground. It is not a closed valley or an indentation in an escarpment.


(02-15-2018, 12:10 AM)Theoderic Wrote: there is no real depth or steepness to the valley that could be used as a rampart

Again - there is no 'rampart'!

As I've said before: angustias loci pro munimento retinens means 'kept to the narrowness of the place as a defence'. It's narrowness we're after, not steepness and certainly not ramparts.


(02-15-2018, 12:10 AM)Theoderic Wrote: a through valley where the river Wye rises in the Chilterns near West Wycombe and flows southwards into the Thames at Hedsor Wharf, passing High Wycombe... This gap is unusual as it has a number of steep sided valleys caused by a hill with an iron age hill fort near West Wycombe in the middle

It's certainly an attractive site, with some nice long 'throat'-like defiles. But it would seem to make more sense if the Britons were coming from the south-east, advancing from the Thames valley after plundering the area west of London up to Staines and Windsor, perhaps. The problem here is the Wye valley - the battle would happen around modern High Wycombe, whch looks quite watery!

Having the Britons approaching from the north-west - the direction of Saunderton - gives a drier battlefield, but I'm not convinced that both sides would have manoeuvred around the Chilterns so they were effectively facing in the other direction to when they started. Paulinus's 'delay' (as I mentioned above) I take to be a period of static waiting, not a series of strategic movements - and I doubt the Britons would have 'chased' him all that way either!

But if both sides did end up in this vicinity, moving south-west along the far side of the Chilterns, then I would think that the valley south of Wendover, between Chivery and Dunsmore, would present a more immediate choice of location for Paulinus.
Nathan Ross
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Messages In This Thread
Re: Calling all armchair generals! - by Ensifer - 03-11-2010, 03:13 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 02-18-2012, 06:26 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 02-19-2012, 12:02 AM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 02-19-2012, 02:50 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 02-19-2012, 05:40 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 02-19-2012, 11:26 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-24-2012, 05:11 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-24-2012, 09:42 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-24-2012, 10:10 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-25-2012, 03:11 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-25-2012, 03:25 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-25-2012, 08:36 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-26-2012, 02:57 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-27-2012, 01:50 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 08-05-2012, 02:24 PM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by antiochus - 11-07-2014, 02:18 PM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by antiochus - 11-08-2014, 01:50 AM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by antiochus - 11-11-2014, 02:03 AM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by antiochus - 11-18-2014, 07:54 AM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by antiochus - 11-20-2014, 02:37 AM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by antiochus - 11-25-2014, 08:29 AM
RE: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica's Last Stand. - by Nathan Ross - 02-15-2018, 02:21 PM

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