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The Silures were a powerful and warlike tribe of ancient Britain, occupying approximately the counties of Monmouth, Brecon and Glamorgan. According to Tacitus' biography of Agricola, they usually had a dark complexion and curly hair. Tacitus hinted that they may have crossed over from Spain at an earlier date due to their appearance and the language they spoke. Geneticist have shown that most Welsh people descend from migrations of people from northern Spain who travelled up the atlantic coast of France during in the Mesolithic and Neolithic.[1][2]

They made a fierce resistance to the Roman conquest about AD 48, with the assistance of Caratacus, a military leader and prince of the Catuvellauni, who had fled from further east after his own tribe was defeated.

Tribes of Wales at the time of the Roman invasion. Exact boundaries are conjectural.

The first attack on the Welsh tribes was made under the legate Publius Ostorius Scapula about 48 AD. Ostorius first attacked the Deceangli in the north-east, who appear to have surrendered with little resistance. He then spent several years campaigning against the Silures and the Ordovices. Their resistance was led by Caratacus, who had fled from the south-east when it was conquered by the Romans. He first led the Silures, then moved to the territory of the Ordovices, where he was defeated by Ostorius in 51 AD.

The Silures were not subdued however and waged effective guerilla warfare against the Roman forces. Ostorius had publicly said that they posed such a danger that they should be either exterminated or transplanted. His threats only increased the Silures' determination to resist and a large legionary force occupied in building forts in their territory was surrounded and attacked and only rescued with difficulty and considerable loss. They also took Roman prisoners as hostages and distributed them amongst their neighbouring tribes in order to bind them together and encourage resistance.

Ostorius died with the Silures still unconquered, and after his death they won a victory over the Second Legion. They were only eventually subdued by Sextus Julius Frontinus in a series of campaigns ending about 78 AD.

To aid the Roman administration in keeping down local opposition, a legionary fortress (Isca Silurum, Caerleon) was planted in the midst of tribal territory. Their town Venta Silurum (Caerwent, 6 miles west of Chepstow) became a Romanized town, not unlike Calleva Atrebatum (Silchester), but smaller. Its massive Roman walls still survive, and excavations have revealed a forum, a temple, baths, amphitheatre, shops, and many comfortable houses with mosaics, etc. An inscription shows that under the Roman Empire it was the capital of the Silures, whose ordo or county council provided for the local government of the district. As was standard practice inscriptions reveal the Romans matched their deties with local Silurian ones Camulos or Ocelus was twinned it with Mars, their own War God.

Caerwent seems to have continued in use in the post Roman period as a religious centre and the territory of the Silures later became the Welsh Kingdom of Gwent, Brycheiniog, Gwynllwg and Glamorgan. Some theories concerning King Arthur make him a leader in this area.

Reference is occasionally made to this period of Celtic history by the use of made-up terms such as "Silurian". The poet, Henry Vaughan, called himself a "Silurist", by virtue of his roots in South Wales.

The geologic period Silurian was first described by Roderick Murchison in rocks located in the original lands of the Silures, hence the name.

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

• Silures at Roman-Britain.org
• Silures at Romans in Britain