Tiberius Claudius Cogidubnus

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Tiberius Claudius Cogidubnus (or Togidubnus) was a 1st century king of the Regnenses in early Roman Britain.

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):

Chichester Inscription

[N]EPTVNO·ET·MINERVAE
TEMPLVM
[PR]O·SALVETE·DO[MVS]·DIVINA[E]
[EX]·AVCTORITAT[E·TI]·CLAVD·
[CO]GIDVBNI·R[EG·MA]GNI·BRIT·
[COLE]GIVM·FABROR·ET[·Q]VI·IN·E[O]
[SVNT]·D·S·D·DONANTE·APEAM
[...]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"). [...]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[·LEGAT·AV]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 Togodumnus, a prince of the Catuvellauni mentioned by Dio Cassius, and the similarity of their names has led some, including the distinguished archaeologist Barry Cunliffe, 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, 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 [...]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

External links

[Regnenses] at [Roman-Britain.org]

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