One of the Julius Caesar's reasons for invading Britain in 55BC was that the Britons had helped the Gauls in their struggle against him in his Battle for Gaul.
The mourners of a man whose grave was discovered at North Bersted near Chichester laid him to rest with the honours of a Gaulish warrior. The burial dates to the first century BC and stable isotope analyses suggest the man grew up in Gaul. Amongst the panoply of weapons buried with him was a helmet with a unique crest shaped like a bird. Some coins of the Bellovaci people in Normandy show a man with a bird-shaped headdress.
Caesar related how a revolt against him was led by the Bellovaci and when it failed, their leaders fled to Britain. Does the burial at North Bersted bring us face-to-face with a man who fought Caesar?
This talk will be given by Professor Andrew Fitzpatrick, University of Leicester.
This event has been organised by the South committee.