The Celt, the Roman, and the Saxon : a history of the early inhabitants of Britain, down to the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity, illustrated by the ancient remains brought to light by recent research / by Thomas Wright.

  • Thomas Wright
Date:
1852
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The Celt, the Roman, and the Saxon : a history of the early inhabitants of Britain, down to the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity, illustrated by the ancient remains brought to light by recent research / by Thomas Wright. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    38/568 (page 18)
    aeems to have soon spread into other parts of the island, and when Strabo was writing his Geography, British ambassiidors were in Rome, bowing to the throne of Augustus. “ At present,he says, “ some of their princes have sent ambassadors to cultivate the friendship of Augustus Cmsar, and have deposited offerings in the Capitol, thus bringing the whole island to be in friendly con- nection with the Pmmans.” Among the various arts now imported from R.ome was that of coining monev. No evidence has yet been discovered to make us suspec” the tmth of Caesar’s statement that when he visited the island, the Britons had no coinage ; but soon after that event mints were established in Britain, and we find numerous coins, many of which bear inscriptions in Roman characters. Most of these inscriptions evidently give us the names of British chiefs who, since tlieir “friendship” with Rome, assume the title of reges, and they adopted the formula of the coinage of Augustus, c.esak Divi FiLius. The history of this coinage is still very obscure, but the earlier examples seem to make us acquainted with two distinct families of chiefs, both of which are connected with the different tribes who submitted to Ciesar. The power which in Ciesar’s time had been held by Cassivellaunus, appears to have descended to a prince named Tasciovanus, who was father of tlie (we may say) celebrated Cunobelinus or Cunobeline.* The latter, we know, had three sons, Adminius, Caratacus or Caractacus, and Togodumnus. Another, and apparently, contemporary (or nearly contemporary) family of British kings, named Eppillus(or Ippillus) Veric (Viric, or Beric), and a name of wdiich only the first syllable Tine is known, are described on a number of coins as sons of a British chief named Comius. f There is no necessity for believing that the latter w'as the Commius whose name occurs in Caesar s * The legend on the coins of Cunobeline is ccnobf.linus tasciovani f kfx, in one or two instunces complete, but in general more or less abbreviiitcd. I believe that it was Mr Birch who pointed out the simple and natural explanation that f stood for the Latin iilius. Mr. Beale Poste has given, in a scries of papers in the Journal of the British Archaiological Association, a very different explanation ot tliis and the whole series of the British coinage, supported by an ingenious tram of anrument, which, however, appears to me neither convincing nor satisfactory, as being founded too much on assumptions and su])positions. liikc every other biancli of antiiuiaiianism or historical inquiry tliat is very imperfectly known, the coins ot the ancient Britons furnish a wide field for speculative theory. + The legends on the most perfect specimens arc, f.ppillus comi f, vf.ric com F RKX, and TlNC com f re.x.