In 43 AD, Vespasian served as legate of Legio II Augusta during the Roman invasion of Britain under the overall command of Aulus Plautius. After participating in the crucial early battles on the rivers Medway and Thames, he was sent to reduce the south west of Britain, penetrating through regions later known as the counties of Hampshire, Wiltshire, Dorset, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall. The probable objectives of this south-western campaign were to secure the south coast ports and harbours, along with the tin mines of Cornwall and the silver and lead mines of Somerset.
Vespasian marched from Noviomagus Reginorum (Chichester) to subdue the hostile Durotriges and Dumnonii tribes. During the campaign, Legio II Augusta marched across the south of Britain, fighting many battles against the local tribes. Vespasian captured twenty oppida, described as towns or more probably hill forts, among them Hod Hill and Maiden Castle in Dorset. He also invaded Vectis, now the Isle of Wight. Small forts were subsequently established at Hod Hill until AD 50 and at Waddon Hill until AD 60, reflecting the Roman consolidation of the territory won during the campaign.
Vespasian's campaign against the Durotriges saw Legio II Augusta storm twenty oppida, including the formidable hill forts of Hod Hill and Maiden Castle in Dorset, as his forces swept through what are now Hampshire, Wiltshire, Dorset, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall, before crossing to subdue the Isle of Wight and secure the south coast harbours and the valuable mineral resources of the region.
Not recorded in the surviving sources; the Maiden Castle 'war cemetery' skeletons once attributed to a Roman massacre (Wheeler) have since been reinterpreted by Sharples (1985-6) and later geophysical survey (2015) as unlikely to represent a single Roman assault
Legio II Augusta under the legate Vespasian
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