Our interest in ancient Rome shows no sign of abating, as a major new programme starring Michael Sheen as the Emperor Nero begins tonight. Here Duncan Higgitt looks back at the Romans' influence in Wales - and how this country played a large part in bringing their wrath down upon the Britons
IT was 42AD and a tribesman who would soon become a Welsh hero was sitting uncomfortably in the thoughts of the Roman emperor.
Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, better known just as Claudius, was stuttering and spluttering his way through his indignation, the disabled administrator - whom many had underestimated to their cost - apoplectic with rage, an anger directed at the head of relatively unremarkable Essex tribe dwellers known as the Catuvellaunis.
Their chieftain, Caratacus, whom some have since said most closely resembles legendary Welsh warrior Caradog in history, had set his face against Roman rule. His campaigning in southern England had forced the Roman vassal Verica to flee to Rome, and had thrown the British Isles into anarchy.
To Claudius, who was succeeded by his adoptive son Nero, there was only one answer to this upstart: invasion. He dispatched four battle-hardened legions - II Augusta, IX Hispana, XIV Gemina and XX Valeria Victrix - totalling some 20,000 men, to bring the rebellious isle back under boot.
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