Cantiaci
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Cunobelinus, Adminius |
The Cantiaci or Cantii were an Iron Age Celtic people living in Britain before the Roman conquest, and gave their name to a civitas of Roman Britain. They lived in the area now called Kent, in south-eastern England. Their capital was Durovernum Cantiacorum, now Canterbury.
They were bordered by the Regni to the west, and the Catuvellauni to the north.[citation needed]
Ex his omnibus longe sunt humanissimi qui Cantium incolunt, quae regio est maritima omnis, neque multum a Gallica differunt consuetudine.
Of all these [British tribes], by far the most civilised are they who dwell in Kent, which is entirely a maritime region, and who differ but little from the Gauls in their customs.
Rulers
Pre-Roman Iron Age
Julius Caesar named five Celtic tribes inhabiting the land that would become the "heartland of the Catuvellauni": the Ancalites, the Bibroci, the Cassi, the Cenimagni, and the Segontiaci, each with their own "king" or chieftain. He found their way of life to be very similar to their cousins in Gaul with whom they were close – the invasion of Britain may have been triggered by the Britons' supply of arms to the Gauls, who were being subjugated by the Romans.[2][page needed]
Caesar mentions four kings, Segovax, Carvilius, Cingetorix, and Taximagulus, who held power in Cantium at the time of his second expedition in 54 BCE. The British leader Cassivellaunus, besieged in his stronghold north of the Thames, sent a message to these four kings to attack the Roman naval camp as a distraction. The attack failed, a chieftain called Lugotorix was captured, and Cassivellaunus was forced to seek terms.
In the century between Caesar's expeditions and the conquest under Claudius (starting in 43 CE), kings in Britain began to issue coins stamped with their names. The following kings of the Cantiaci are known:
- Augustusc. 7 BCE.
- Vosenius, ruled until c. 15 CE.
- Eppillus, originally king of the Atrebates: Coins indicate he became king of the Cantiaci c. 15 CE, at the same time as his brother Verica became king of the Atrebates.
- Cunobelinus, king of the Catuvellauni: Expanded his influence into Cantiaci territory.
- Suetonius tells us he was exiled by Cunobelinus c. 40 CE, leading to Caligula's aborted invasion of Britain.
- Anarevitos, known only from a coin discovered in 2010, probably a descendant of Eppillus and ruling c. 10 BCE – 20 CE.[3]
Sub-Roman period
According to
See also
- Iron Age tribes in Britain
- List of Celtic tribes
References
- ^ Caesar, Gaius Julius. C. Julius Caesar, Gallic War, Book 5, chapter 14 (1st ed.). New York: Harper & Brothers.
- ISBN 9781445611945.[page needed]
- ^ Rudd, Chris (2011). "New Iron Age King Found in Kent" (PDF). The Searcher: 50–51. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 30 October 2018.
- ^ Wade-Evans 1938[full citation needed]
Bibliography
 | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (September 2021) |
- De Bello Gallico
- Suetonius, Lives of the Twelve Caesars
- John Creighton (2000), Coins and power in Late Iron Age Britain, Cambridge University Press
- Detsicas, Alec (1983). The Cantiaci. Sutton Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-0862991173.
External links
- Cantiaci at Roman-Britain.co.uk
- The History Files: Cantiaci / Cantii