Julius Frontinus

Julius Frontinus governed Britain in the AD 70s, before Agricola. Tacitus credits him with defeating the Silures in what is now south Wales, stressing both resistance and difficult terrain. This is a brief judgement from a Roman author rather than a surviving account from the communities affected.

Frontinus’s career continued beyond Britain. In Rome he became responsible for the city’s water supply and wrote a work usually called De aquis or On the Aqueducts. He is also associated with the Strategemata, a collection of examples of military tactics and stratagems.

Together these roles offer a way into Roman administration: commanding an army, recording useful knowledge and overseeing public infrastructure. They should not be collapsed into one story. His later responsibility for Rome’s aqueducts does not show that he designed a particular British bath house or water channel.