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Togidubnus




In Tacitus 's '' Agricola '', published ca. 98 , where his name appears as "Cogidumnus" in most manuscripts and "Togidumnus" in one, he is said to have governed several '' Civitates '' (states or tribal territories) as a Client Ruler after the Roman Conquest , and to have been loyal "down to our own times" (at least into the 70s).

He is also known from an inscription on a damaged slab of marble, found in Chichester in 1723 and datable to the late 1st century. As reconstructed by J.E. Bogaers, it reads (reconstructed parts in square brackets):


{Link without Title} EPTVNO·ET·MINERVAE

TEMPLVM

{Link without Title} O·SALVETE·DO {Link without Title} ·DIVINA {Link without Title}

{Link without Title} ·AVCTORITAT {Link without Title} ·CLAVD·

{Link without Title} GIDVBNI·R {Link without Title} GNI·BRIT·

{Link without Title} GIVM·FABROR·ET {Link without Title} VI·IN·E {Link without Title}

{Link without Title} ·D·S·D·DONANTE·APEAM

{Link without Title} ENTE PVDENTINI·FIL


Which translates as:

:"The guild of artisans and its members provide (this) temple to Neptune and Minerva at their own expense for the protection of the Divine House, on the authority of Tiberius Claudius Cogidubnus, great king of Britain (or "of Britons"). {Link without Title} dens, son of Pudentinus, donated the land."

The first two letters of the king's native name, given in the Genitive Case , are missing. It is usually reconstructed as "Cogidubnus", following the majority of manuscripts of Tacitus, but some, including Charles E Murgia, believe "Togidubnus" is the more linguistically correct form. The Roman names "''Tiberius Claudius''" indicate that he was given Roman Citizenship by Emperor Claudius , or possibly by Nero . The title ''Rex Magnus'' usually implies kingship over a number of territories, supporting Tacitus. The reference to the "Divine House" (or "House of the Deified Emperor") suggests the inscription was made after the death of Vespasian in 79 . The fifth line of the inscription was formerly reconstructed to read R {Link without Title} G·IN·BRIT ("king and imperial Legate in Britain"), but this is now considered a misreading.

Chichester and the nearby Roman Villa at Fishbourne , almost certainly Cogidubnus's palace, were part of the territory of the Atrebates before the conquest. Cogidubnus may therefore have been an heir of Verica , the Atrebatic king whose overthrow prompted the Roman conquest. After the conquest they were part of the ''civitas'' of the Regnenses, which was probably Cogidubnus's kingdom before being incorporated into the Roman province. The public baths, amphitheatre and forum in Silchester were probably built in Cogidubnus's time.

He is nearly contemporary with in the early stages of the Roman Conquest Of Britain , while Tacitus says that Cogidubnus remained loyal to Rome as a client king into the later part of the 1st century. It is of course not unusual in for two people to have similar names (cf. Dubnovellaunus ). As the Chichester inscription supports Tacitus, Cunliffe's interpretation would appear to imply an error in Dio's ''Roman History'' or in its transmission.

Given that Cogidubnus is known to have borne the name Claudius, it has been suggested that he was related to Claudia Rufina , a woman of British descent whose marriage to Aulus Pudens in Rome in the 90s is mentioned by the poet Martial .

Another fragmentary inscription, reading {Link without Title} GIDVBNVS, was found at the Gallo-Roman town of Mediolanum Santonum (modern Saintes , south-west France ), although it is unlikely this refers to the same person.


REFERENCES

  • Tacitus , '' Agricola '' 14

  • Dio Cassius , ''Roman History'' 60

  • Martial , ''Epigrams'', ed. & trans. D. R. Shackleton Bailey, Harvard University Press, 1993

  • Charles E Murgia (1977) "The Minor works of Tacitus : a study in textual criticism", ''Classical Philology'' 72, p.339

  • Anthony A Barrett (1979), "The Career of Tiberius Claudius Cogidubnus", ''Britannia'' 10, pp. 227-242

  • J. E. Bogaers (1979) "King Cogidubnus in Chichester: another reading of RIB 91", ''Britannia'' 10, pp. 243-254

  • Peter A. Clayton (ed) (1980), ''A Companion to Roman Britain''

  • Sheppard Frere (1987), ''Britannia: a history of Roman Britain'' (3rd edition)

  • Barry Cunliffe (1999), ''Fisbourne Roman Palace'', Tempus, ISBN 07524-1408-9



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