What I cannot seem to discover is whether
Cogidumnus was a ruler in
Sussex
prior to the Roman invasion of AD 43 or whether he only became ruler
after
the Romans formerly invaded (historical record).
Can anybody point me towards a scholary reference discussion on this
please? From what I have noted it seems it was not until the
Romans
arrived that Cogidumnus became King [Rex] and the Atrebates were then
known
as the Regni or the Regnenses?
However, I may have overlooked something, and secondly if there is no
evidence that Cogidumnus that was a ruler of the locals before the
Roman
invasion, it does not mean he was not? What was the local Roman
tendency,
to make a deal with the local chiefs or to replace the local ruler
with
their own ruler?
Cheers
Andy Horton.
Glaucus@hotmail.com
History of Shoreham, England
History.htm
><< ( ( ( ' >
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Togidubnus
A reference to assist is Barry Cunliffe's book on Fishbourne
Roman Palace, (Tempus 1998) in which on p108 he discusses the two
firm pieces of evidence about this ruler.
1. the inscription found in Chichester mentioning Tiberius Claudius [ ]ogidubnus as "rex magnus Brit." the great king of the Britains" permitting the building of a temple.
2. a passage in Tacitus (Agricola XIV which reads .."certain states were given to Cogidubnus (he remained faithful down to our own times) according to an old and long accepted Roman tradition of using kings also as instruments for slavery" (i.e. subjugation of native peoples). (Tacitus:born AD56 or 7; died after 117 apparently)
I do not have the reference for the recent argument to spell his name with a T rather than a C, but it seems to have become the accepted spelling.
No one can answer the details of whether Togidubnus was already the local ruler, or whether he was inserted as a puppet ruler. On Saturday night's TV programme which included Fishbourne RP, Barry Cunliffe was suggesting that Togi was likely to have been brought up in Rome, and come back to Britain.
It has long been argued that Togi was quite young at the time of the invasion, because he must have lived & ruled for quite long time subsequently, as inferred by the Tacitus passage, and if indeed it was he who built FRP in its grand style in cAD 75-80, removing earlier buildings in the area.
As to the name of the local political unit - I recall Mark Hassall stating rather firmly the case for one name as opposed to the other at the Roman Invasion conference in Chichester a few years back, but I have forgotten what his argument hinged upon.
Caroline Wells
From: "Caroline Wells" <CarolineWells@talgarth.demon.co.uk>
Sussex Past Discussion group on Yahoo
SUSSEXPAST Sussex Archaeological Society EGroup
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sussexpast
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Hi Andy
Togidubnus has appeared in a number of recent books, most notably in
Manley, J 2001 "AD 43: the Roman invasion of Britain a reassessment".
Tempus
Henig, M 2001 "The Heirs of King Verica". Tempus
and (not blowing my own trumpet here, honestly)
Russell, M 2002 "Prehistoric Sussex". Tempus
We don't know an awful lot about Togidubnus (and as you note we are
not even sure how to spell his name), but we can be sure that he was influential
and that his loyalty to Rome was
rewarded by an increase in power and personal fortune. His additional
names Tiberius and Claudius tells us that he a fully paid up member of
society, a Roman citizen with all the status
and legal rights that conferred and that his sponsor for citizenship
had been the emperor Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus himself.
Official Roman recognition extend to
further acknowledging the title of "Great King". Trouble is Togi minted
no coins prior to the Roman invasion and he appears in no earlier historical
text. He seems to have sprung, quite
literally, out of nowhere, yet he was undoubtedly a powerful and influential
man and crucial to Roman plans of conquest.
In my book Prehistoric Sussex (plug plug) I argue that Togidubnus and
the historically attested Togodumnus, son of Cunobelinus and prince / king
of the Catuvellauni, and who's brother
Caratacus fought an ultimately unsuccessful guerilla campaign against
the Romans, were in reality one and the same, Togodumnus defecting to the
Roman side shortly after the initial Roman
landings (at Fishbourne). Such a defection, at such a crucial time
would have been vital to the Roman cause and would almost certainly have
been well rewarded after. Caratacus fights on
alone, Colchester is taken and the emperor Claudius has his victory.
Togodumnus / Togidubnus and his people, formerly members of the Catuvellaunian
group, were given land and legitimacy
as "the Regni" based in the New Market town of Chichester, an area
previously under the influence of another of Cunobelinus' sons, Adminius
/ Amminius. Identification of Togodumnus with
Tiberius Claudius Togidubnus may also help to explain why he held the
title of "Great King in Britain", for this is one the Roman state used
when describing his father Cunobelinus. It may
also go some way to explain Tacitus' later caustic statement that king
Togidubnus' loyalty was in accordance with Rome's policy of "making even
kings their agents in enslaving people" as
Tacitus wrote in praising terms about Caratacus, leader of the British
resistance, who remained defiant to the end, whilst his brother Togidubnus,
however, lived on in grand and luxurious
splendour in Britain, not because he had bravely defied Rome, but because
he had whole heatedly surrendered to them, an act that would not have appealed
to Tacitus' view of the noble and
honourable savage.
It's only a point of view!
Hope this helps
Miles
From: MilesRussell <mrussell@bournemouth.ac.uk>
visit http://www.sussexpast.co.uk for the latest on Sussex's Past - to unsubscribe from this list send an empty/no message/no signature email to sussexpast-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
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Cogidubnus
http://www.roman-britain.org/places/fishbourne.htm
Imaginative Account
http://www.britarch.ac.uk/ba/ba37/ba37feat.html#henig
Britarch Letters
http://www.britarch.ac.uk/ba/ba39/ba39lets.html
Atrebates
http://www.roman-britain.org/tribes/atrebates.htm
Atrebates (with British tribal map)
http://www.romans-in-britain.org.uk/clb_tribe_atrebates.htm
Roman Invasion of Sussex theory
http://www.sussexpast.co.uk/ad43sussex.htm
30 December 2002
I have recently received an email about the Togidubnus new spelling of the
chap we all knew of as Cogidubnus until recently. As I chased the references for
my correspondent I might as well share them in case anyone would like to know.
- Cunliffe in his book on Fishbourne gives the lead - which is R S O Tomalin,
"Reading a 1st century Roman gold signet ring from Fishbourne, Sussex
Archaeological Collections 135 (1997) 127-30; and from that source we read about
the 9th century editor and his margin notes. Tomalin references his sources as:
R M Ogilvie & I A Richmond (no title given) (Oxford University Press 1967)
84-92, further refined by
C E Murgia "The minor works Tacitus: a study in textual criticism" Classical
Philology 72 (1977) 323-43.
Happy New Year
Caroline Wells