After much dispute, the next two periods of the Paleozoic era, the Ordovician and Silurian, were named after pre-Roman Celtic tribes of Wales, the Ordovices and Silures.
32.
It is the Roman campaigns of conquest that are most widely known, due to the spirited but unsuccessful defence of their homelands by two native tribes, the Silures and the Ordovices.
33.
An inscription shows that, under the Roman Empire, it was the capital of the Silures, whose " ordo " ( local council ) provided local government for the district.
34.
The south-east was securely held, but despite the defeat of Caratacus the previous year, the tribes of what is now Wales, particularly the Silures, continued to hold out.
35.
The Silures were not finally conquered until c . 75 AD, when Sextus Julius Frontinus'long campaign against them began to succeed, and they gained control of the whole of Wales.
36.
His threats only increased the Silures'determination to resist and a large legionary force occupied in building Roman forts in their territory was surrounded and attacked, and rescued only with difficulty and considerable loss.
37.
There is evidence of cultural continuity throughout the Roman period, from the Silures to the kingdom of Gwent in particular, as shown by leaders of Gwent using the name " Caradoc " in remembrance of the British hero Caratacus
38.
He subdued the Silures, Demetae and other hostile tribes of Roman Wales, establishing a new base at Caerleon for Legio II Augusta and a network of smaller Roman forts fifteen to twenty kilometres apart for his Roman auxiliary units.
39.
The fort was built for a contingent of up to 500 cavalrymen, recruited originally in Spain from the Vettones, and these Vettonian cavalry would have played a significant part in the conquest of the area held by the Silures.
40.
It remains unclear whether the Silures were actually militarily defeated or simply agreed to come to terms, but Roman sources suggest rather opaquely that they were eventually subdued by Sextus Julius Frontinus in a series of campaigns ending about AD 78.
