Hello list. I'm aware this issue has been discussed quite a lot, but I
couldn't find the particular query I have in the archives, so here goes.
The standard version says that the invasion force left Boulogne and landed
at Richborough. Some people have suggested that, becase Dio (60.19) says it
sailed west, it might have landed at the Solent instead. Coming at it from a
different angle, what if it didn't sail from Boulogne?
We know from Suetonius (Claudius 17) that *Claudius* sailed from Boulogne
(Gesoriacum). But the main force of the invasion under Plautius crossed
earlier, and I don't know of any source that says where it sailed from.
Assuming a landing at Richborough, could it not have sailed west from the
mouth of the Rhine? In AD 16, ships from the Rhine were swept to Britain by
a storm (Tacitus, Annals 2.24), so it seems to be a feasible crossing, and
if you're going to gather a fleet at Boulogne you'll probably have to bring
the ships to the coast via the Rhine anyway.
Any thoughts? Anything obvious I've missed?