SILURES

a powerful people of ancient Britain, occupying approximately the present counties of Gwent, southern Powys, and West, Mid, and South Glamorgan in central and southeastern Wales. Incited by the king of the Trinovantes tribe, Caratacus, they fiercely resisted the Roman conquest from about AD 48. A Roman legionary fortress was established first at Glevum (Gloucester) and later at Isca (Caerleon), and by AD 78 the Silures were overcome. Their capital had been a hill fort, Llanmelin, but the Romans forcibly transferred the inhabitants about 1 mile (1.6 km) south to a new town, built in the rectangular Roman pattern. This new town under the Romans was Venta Silurum (Caerwent, southwest of Chepstow, Gwent). Its massive Roman walls survive, and excavations have revealed a basilica, baths, and an amphitheatre.