Togodumnus

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Togodumnus

Togodumnus (d. AD 43) was a historical king of the British Catuvellauni

Catuvellauni

The Catuvellauni were a Celtic/Belgae tribe or state of south-eastern Prehistoric Britain before the Roman conquest of Britain.The fortunes of the Catuvellauni and their kings before the conquest can be traced through numismatic evidence and scattered references in classical histories....
tribe at the time of the Roman conquest

Roman conquest of Britain

By AD 43, the time of the main Roman invasion of Britain, Great Britain had already frequently been the target of invasions, planned and actual, by forces of the Roman Republic and Roman Empire....
. He can probably be identified with the legendary British king Guiderius

Guiderius

Guiderius is a legendary British king according Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae and related texts. He can probably be identified as deriving from the historical Togodumnus....
.

Togodumnus is known only from Dio Cassius

Dio Cassius

Lucius Cassius Dio Cocceianus , known in English language as Cassius Dio, Dio Cassius, or Dio was a noted Roman Empire historian and public servant....
's Roman History, according to which he was a son of Cunobelinus

Cunobelinus

Cunobelinus was a historical king in pre-Roman Ancient Britain, known from passing mentions by classical historians Suetonius and Dio Cassius, and from his many inscribed coins....
. He probably succeeded his father to the kingship of the Catuvellauni, who were the dominant kingdom in the south-east of Britain at this time.

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Togodumnus (d. AD 43) was a historical king of the British Catuvellauni

Catuvellauni

Roman conquest of Britain

Guiderius

Dio Cassius

Cunobelinus

Trinovantes

The Trinovantes or Trinobantes were one of the Celtic tribes that lived in pre-Roman Britain. Their territory was on the north side of the Thames estuary in current Essex, England and Suffolk, and included lands now located in Greater London....
, and possibly the Dobunni

Dobunni

The Dobunni were one of the Celtic tribes living in the British Iron Age prior to the Roman invasion of Britain. The tribe lived in the part of southwestern Britain that today broadly coincides with the English counties of North Somerset, Bristol and Gloucestershire although at times their territory may have extended into parts of what are no...
further west.

He had two notable brothers, Adminius

Adminius

Adminius, Amminius or Amminus was a son of Cunobelinus, ruler of the Catuvellauni, a tribe of Iron Age Britain. His name can be interpreted as Celtic languages *ad-mindios, "to be crowned"....
and Caratacus

Caratacus

Caratacus was a historical British Iron Age chieftain of the Catuvellauni tribe, who led the British resistance to the Roman conquest. The legendary Welsh mythology character Caradoc and the legendary British king Arvirargus may be based upon Caratacus....
. In Cunobelinus's later days Adminius gained control of Kent

Kent

Kent is a Counties of England in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the River Thames estuary....
, but was driven from Britain in 40 AD, seeking refuge with the Roman emperor

Roman Emperor

The Roman Emperor was the ruler of the Roman Empire during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office: Latin language titles such as imperator , Augustus , Caesar and princeps were all associated with it....
Caligula

Caligula

Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus , more commonly known by his nickname Caligula , was the third Roman Emperor, reigning from 16 March 37 until his assassination on 24 January 41....
. Caligula planned an invasion of Britain in response, but called it off at the last minute.

Based on coin distribution it appears that Caratacus, following in the footsteps of his uncle Epaticcus

Epaticcus

File:Epaticcus.jpgEpaticcus or Epaticcu was a brother of Cunobelinus, king of the Catuvellauni, a tribe of Iron Age Britain.Coins bearing his name begin to appear in the northern lands of the neighbouring Atrebates tribe and their capital, Calleva Atrebatum , probably fell to him around AD 25....
, completed the conquest of the Atrebates

Atrebates

The Atrebates were a Belgae tribe of Gaul and Great Britain before the Roman conquests. According to Alexander MacBain, the name Attrebates is related to the Irish language aitreibh, ?building,? Old Irish aittreb, ?building,? and Welsh language adref, ?homewards,? going on to state that the Celtic languages root treb cor...
, the main rival to the Catuvellauni, in the early 40s. The Atrebatian king, Verica

Verica

Verica was a United Kingdom Roman client kingdoms in Britain of the Roman Empire in the years preceding the Roman invasion of Britain of 43 AD....
, fled to Rome and gave the new emperor, Claudius

Claudius

Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus or Claudius I was the fourth Roman Emperor, a member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, ruling from January 24, AD 41 to his death in AD 54....
, a pretext to conquer Britain in 43.

According to Dio's account, Togodumnus led the initial resistance to the invasion, but was killed after the battle on the Thames

River Thames

The Thames is a major river flowing through southern England. While best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows through several other towns and cities, including Oxford, Reading, Berkshire and Windsor, Berkshire....
. The Roman commander Aulus Plautius

Aulus Plautius

Aulus Plautius was a Roman empire politician and general of the mid-1st century. He led the Roman conquest of Britain in 43, and became the first List of Roman governors of Britain of the new province, serving from 43 to 47....
then dug in at the Thames and sent word for Claudius to join him for the final march on the Catuvellaunian capital, Camulodunum (Colchester

Colchester

Colchester is a town, and the largest settlement within the Colchester , in Essex, England.It has a population of List of English cities by population....
). Dio says that this was because the resistance became fiercer as the Britons tried to avenge Togodumnus, and Plautius needed the emperor's help to complete the conquest; however, as Claudius was no military man and in the end spent only sixteen days in Britain, it is likely the Britons were already as good as beaten. Leadership passed to Caratacus, who took the fight outside Roman-controlled territory and remained at large until 51.

Togodumnus is nearly contemporary with Tiberius Claudius Cogidubnus

Tiberius Claudius Cogidubnus

Tiberius Claudius Cogidubnus was a 1st century king of the Regnenses in early Roman Britain.Chichester and the nearby Roman villa at Fishbourne Roman Palace, believed to be Cogidubnus' palace, were part of the territory of the Atrebates before the conquest....
(or Togidubnus), a pro-Roman king of the Regnenses

Regnenses

The Regnenses, Regni or Regini were the subjects of a British Celtic kingdom and later a civitas of Roman Britain. Their capital was Noviomagus Reginorum, "New Field of the Regneses",known today as Chichester in modern West Sussex....
in the period after the Roman conquest, who is known from Tacitus

Tacitus

Publius Cornelius Tacitus was a Roman Senate and a historian of the Roman Empire. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals and the Histories —examine the reigns of the Roman Emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero and those that reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors....
's Agricola
Agricola (book)

The Agricola is a book by the ancient Rome historian Tacitus, written c 98, which recounts the life of his father-in-law Gnaeus Julius Agricola, an eminent Roman general....
and an inscription found in Chichester

Chichester

Chichester is a cathedral city status in the United Kingdom in West Sussex, England. It has a long history as a settlement; its Ancient Rome past and its subsequent importance in Anglo-Saxon times are only its beginnings....
. The similarity of their names has led some, including the distinguished archaeologist Barry Cunliffe

Barry Cunliffe

Sir Barrington Windsor Cunliffe, Order of the British Empire, b. , known as Barry Cunliffe, was Professor of European Archaeology at the University of Oxford from 1972 to 2007....
, to suggest that they may be one and the same. However the sources do not appear at first glance to support this: according to Dio, Togodumnus was killed in 43, while Tacitus says that Cogidubnus remained loyal to Rome into the later part of the 1st century, and his inscription dates after 79. It is of course not unusual in historical records for two people to have similar names (cf. Dubnovellaunus

Dubnovellaunus

Dubnovellaunus or Dumnovellaunus was the name of at least one, and possibly several kings of south-eastern Prehistoric Britain in the late 1st century BC/early 1st century AD, known from coin legends and from a mention in the Res Gestae Divi Augusti....
). As the Chichester inscription supports Tacitus, Cunliffe's interpretation would appear to imply an error in Dio's Roman History or in its transmission.

Togodumnus

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