History of the Isle of Wight seek an alternative to bronze. It has been suggested that a 1st century BCE reference to "Ίκτιν" ("Ictin") by the Graeco-Sicilian Diodorus Siculus might refer to the Isle of Wight, although St. Michael's Mount in Cornwall is now considered more likely. A century later, Pliny the Elder uses its Latin name "Vectis" and in the mid 2nd century Ptolemy confirms the position of Vectis as ""...below Magnus Portus"" (probably the port near Bosham). The Roman historian Suetonius calls the island "insula Vecta" in his account of its capture in year 43, referring to the future emperor Vespasian, who ""proceeded to
Great Britain to by a single name for over 2000 years: the term 'British Isles' derives from terms used by classical geographers to describe this island group. By 50 BC Greek geographers were using equivalents of "Prettanikē" as a collective name for the British Isles. However, with the Roman conquest of Britain the Latin term "Britannia" was used for the island of Great Britain, and later Roman-occupied Britain south of Caledonia. The earliest known name for Great Britain is "Albion" () or "insula Albionum", from either the Latin "albus" meaning "white" (possibly referring to the white cliffs of Dover, the first view