Claudius and the Elephants for Britain (Cassius Dio 60.21.2)

David Woods

doi:10.1017/S0068113X23000399

Claudius and the Elephants for Britain (Cassius Dio 60.21.2)

David Woods

School of the Human Environment

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Charles and Singleton have explained why Cassius Dio's claim (60.21.2) that elephants were among the equipment prepared for use in Britain during the Claudian invasion of a.d. 43 is probably untrue, if one assumes that by 'elephant' he means the animal of that name. It is argued here that the best explanation of this apparent error is that Dio preserves a reference to a type of military machine, probably a siege-tower, rather than to the animal of this name.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	321-325
Number of pages	5
Journal	Britannia (Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies)
Volume	54
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1017/S0068113X23000399
Publication status	Published - 4 Nov 2023

Keywords

Britain
Cassius Dio
Claudius
elephants
siege-tower

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10.1017/S0068113X23000399

https://hdl.handle.net/10468/15345Licence: CC BY

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abstract = "Charles and Singleton have explained why Cassius Dio's claim (60.21.2) that elephants were among the equipment prepared for use in Britain during the Claudian invasion of a.d. 43 is probably untrue, if one assumes that by 'elephant' he means the animal of that name. It is argued here that the best explanation of this apparent error is that Dio preserves a reference to a type of military machine, probably a siege-tower, rather than to the animal of this name.",

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AB - Charles and Singleton have explained why Cassius Dio's claim (60.21.2) that elephants were among the equipment prepared for use in Britain during the Claudian invasion of a.d. 43 is probably untrue, if one assumes that by 'elephant' he means the animal of that name. It is argued here that the best explanation of this apparent error is that Dio preserves a reference to a type of military machine, probably a siege-tower, rather than to the animal of this name.

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Claudius and the Elephants for Britain (Cassius Dio 60.21.2)

Abstract

Keywords

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