echoes of the emperor Claudius at Colchester

Today (on the 25th January) in AD 41, Claudius was confirmed as Roman emperor by the senate in Rome after all-night negotiations. These followed the assassination of the emperor Caligula and Claudius being declared emperor by the Praetorian Guard on the 24th January. Claudius – full imperial title ‘Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus’ – is a famous Roman emperor (10 BC-AD 54, emperor in AD 41-54). He actually came to Camulodunum, the Iron Age precursor of Colchester, in the August of AD 43. The Roman army had invaded Britannia, defeated British tribes in battle and taken Camulodunum, and Claudius came here to receive the submission of tribal leaders and formalise the Roman conquest of Britannia. He was in Britain for 16 days. Colchester has associations with some famous people and with episodes of national and international history, and the evidence is still visible in the town…

The conquest of Britannia was celebrated as a great victory in Rome, with a ‘triumph’ in AD 44 which would have included a parade, probably from the Campus Martius and passing through a triumphal arch and past the Circus Maximus to the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus. The Temple of Claudius and its precinct with massive monumental arcade and archway was built at Colchester in the 1st century: ‘… This was by far the biggest temple in Roman Britain, probably built with imperial funds. It would not have been out of place in Rome…’ (from London: an architectural history by Anthony Sutcliffe, 2006). The temple was associated with a Roman theatre which was also built in the 1st century. A triumphal arch was also built at Colchester in the 1st century. This was later incorporated into the later Roman west gateway to the walled town (the remains of this are the ‘Balkerne Gate’ on Balkerne Hill). These iconic, monumental, imperial Roman public buildings of power, conquest and control were central to the Roman town (colonia) which was founded at Camulodunum. This was called Colonia Victricensis. It was the first Roman town in Britain and it was the capital of the new Roman province of Britannia. 

A 1st-century copper-alloy head, probably of the emperor Claudius and removed from an equestrian statue, was found in the River Alde near Saxmundham in Suffolk, and may derive from the Temple of Claudius (it is now held by the British Museum). Claudius’ triumphal arch in Rome, commemorating his conquest of Britannia, included an equestrian statue of him on the top – so perhaps the triumphal arch at Colchester also included an equestrian statue of Claudius. The classical Temple of Claudius here was the base of the imperial cult in Britannia, and it was associated with the later Roman circus at Colchester. On chariot-racing days, a procession would have passed from the temple to the Roman circus, very like a ‘triumph’ in Rome. We think that the Roman circus was linked in with the practices of the imperial cult of Claudius at the temple here at Colchester (see CAT Report 412).

You can see the Balkerne Gate on Balkerne Hill. Part of the foundations of the theatre can be viewed inside a former terraced house in Maidenburgh Street. The remains of the foundations of the Temple of Claudius can be viewed at Colchester Castle Museum, where they now form the foundations of the castle. In 2015, the Trust exposed part of the foundations of the monumental arcade and these will soon be viewable through ‘windows’ in the floor of a new cafe off the High Street and opposite the entrance to the castle.

All the Trust’s fieldwork reports are published online at http://cat.essex.ac.uk/ .

The images show a reconstruction painting of the Balkerne Gate in about AD 100; a 3d-modelled image of the Temple of Claudius with precinct and arcade (by and © Roger Massey-Ryan 2015); and a photo. of the copper-alloy head of the emperor Claudius. The painting of the Balkerne Gate shows the original triumphal arch incorporated in the later gateway. (The images of the gate and the copper-alloy head are from the Trust’s popular book City of Victory: the story of Colchester, Britain’s first Roman town. The head of Claudius is published online at http://britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1362803&partId=1&searchText=claudius+copper+suffolk&page=1 – the copyright is held by the Trustees of the British Museum and the image is posted here with thanks to the British Museum.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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