In a number of letters written by Caesar to Roman writer and historian Cicero, one finds that Caesar admitted "no hope of delivering booty except slaves" from Britannia and confirms "his failure to acquire booty and reports that he is only returning home" to Rome with hostages and the promise of tribute (Arnott, 232). Therefore, Caesar's two excursions into Britannia were miserable economic failures and did not live up to Rome's financial expectations which before the excursions were seen as being a matter of fact.
In essence, Caesar's excursions into Britannia in the early years of the 1st century B.C.E. And all subsequent excursions in the early years of the 1st century a.D. were based upon one simple quest -- that Britannia could be heavily exploited by the Roman Empire and thus result in the acquisition of many natural resources which Rome required for its citizens in order to maintain their elegant and lavish lifestyles. For obvious reasons, the citizens of mighty Rome regarded Britannia as a very valuable and desirable commodity, especially after discovering that the Greek historian and geographer Strabo (63 B.C.E. To 24 a.D.), just prior to Caesar's first expedition, was overflowing with many agricultural products, such as corn and grain, and possessed a wealth of natural resources like gold, silver and iron, along with a number of minerals.
Strabo also spoke of Britannia's natural waterways and ports and its many pastures which in his eyes offered "enormous profitability related to financial revenues" (Frere, 258). Thus, for Rome and its citizens, Britannia had much to do with huge profits and served as one of the most desirable prizes related to the expansion of the Roman Empire. Besides the abundance of gold, silver, iron, lead ore, copper, tin and timber, Britannia also possessed a huge amount of stone, such as limestone, granite and basalt, which the Romans utilized for the construction of their homes, temples, bridges and wharves. In addition, Britannia held an almost unlimited amount of timber which could be used for fuel, not to mention enormous deposits of coal.
Unfortunately, Caesar...
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