07-22-2017, 02:29 PM
(07-21-2017, 02:26 PM)[email protected] Wrote: I am wondering if anyone knows of any sources relating to raiders to the east coast of southern Ireland around 50 AD...?
No evidence as far as I know, and it seems pretty unlikely - in the 50s AD the Romans were still busy conquering what is now Wales and northern England, and would have had a plentiful supply of slaves from those areas without needing to go further afield.
There have been suggestions of Roman trading links with Ireland in later centuries, and some hints of a possible fort or trading station (?) near Dublin. Roman traders may have bought slaves from Irish chieftains captured in inter-tribal wars, but any sort of 'slave raid' would have needed troops, which without direct imperial authority would probably have lain beyond the mandate of the Roman governor.
There's an interesting article here from Ancient Warfare magazine about the rumours of Romans in Ireland.
Nathan Ross
