What was or were Ptolemys main sources of information about Britain?
Answer Hello, First of all Ptolemys main sources of information about Britain were three, i.e. : -Caesars Commentaries on the Gallic War, book 5, chapter 13,etc., where Julius Caesar tells of his campaign in Britannia in 55 BC, which was the first Roman invasion of Britannia. -Pomponius Mela, who wrote around AD 43 and was the earliest Roman geographer.In his ‘De situ orbis libri III’ he tells of the second Roman invasion of Britannia by the emperor Claudius in AD 43. -Tacitus ‘Life of Agricola’, chapters 10-29, where Tacitus tells of geography and ethnography of ancient Britain as well as of historical events. In fact he recounts the life of his father-in-law Gnaeus Julius Agricola, a Roman general who as governor of Britain (7784) brought most of its inhabitants under Roman control. So, the sole sources Ptolemy had for the existence and location of the Britain tribes, and then for a primitive map of Britain in his ‘Geography’, were just the Roman general, statesman and writer Julius
