Tiberius Claudius Cogidubnus
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Tiberius Claudius Cogidubnus (or Togidubnus) was a 1st century king of the Regnenses in early Roman Britain.
Chichester and the nearby Roman villa at Fishbourne, believed to be Cogidubnus' 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' kingdom before being incorporated into the Roman province. The public baths, amphitheatre and forum in Silchester were probably built in Cogidubnus' time.
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[edit] Sources
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).[1]
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,[2] it reads (reconstructed parts in square brackets):
TEMPLVM
[PR]O·SALVTE·DO[MVS]·DIVINA[E]
[EX]·AVCTORITAT[E·TI]·CLAVD·
[CO]GIDVBNI·R[EG·MA]GNI·BRIT·[3]
[COLE]GIVM·FABROR·ET[·Q]VI·IN·E[O]
[SVNT]·D·S·D·DONANTE·APEAM
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,[4] on the authority of Tiberius Claudius Cogidubnus, great king[5] of Britain (or "of Britons"). [...]dens, son of Pudentinus, donated the land."
Another fragmentary inscription, reading [...]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.
[edit] Naming difficulties
In the Chichester inscription, 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,[6] 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, and probably not, as 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.[7]
He is nearly contemporary with Togodumnus, a prince of the Catuvellauni mentioned by Dio Cassius,[8] and the similarity of their names has led some, including the distinguished archaeologist Barry Cunliffe,[9] to suggest that they may be one and the same, making the Fishbourne king a son of Cunobelinus and brother of Caratacus. However the sources do not support this: according to Dio, Togodumnus was killed in 43 in the early stages of the Roman conquest of Britain (though he does not say whether this was when he was fighting for or against the Romans), 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.
[edit] Villa at Fishbourne
Barry Cunliffe has put forward the theory that Fishbourne Roman Palace was Cogidubnus's seat. Dr Miles Russell suggests that it may instead have been built for Sallustius Lucullus, a Roman governor of Britain of the late 1st century, who may have been the son of the British prince Adminius.[10]
[edit] References
- ^ Tacitus, Agricola 14
- ^ J. E. Bogaers (1979) "King Cogidubnus in Chichester: another reading of RIB 91", Britannia 10, pp. 243-254
- ^ The fifth line of the inscription was formerly reconstructed to read R[·LEGAT·AV]G·IN·BRIT ("king and imperial legate in Britain"), but this is now considered a misreading.
- ^ 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 title Rex Magnus usually implies kingship over a number of territories, supporting Tacitus.
- ^ Charles E Murgia (1977) "The Minor works of Tacitus : a study in textual criticism", Classical Philology 72, p.339
- ^ Martial, Epigrams XI.53, ed. & trans. D. R. Shackleton Bailey, Harvard University Press, 1993
- ^ Dio Cassius, Roman History 60
- ^ Barry Cunliffe (1999), Fisbourne Roman Palace, Tempus, ISBN 0-7524-1408-9
- ^ Norman Hammond, "Whose busts are they?", The Times, 31 July 2006, retrieved 31 August 2006.
[edit] Sources
- Anthony A Barrett (1979), "The Career of Tiberius Claudius Cogidubnus", Britannia 10, pp. 227-242
- Peter A. Clayton (ed) (1980), A Companion to Roman Britain
- Sheppard Frere (1987), Britannia: a history of Roman Britain (3rd edition)
