Iron Age tribes in Britain
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Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
and Greek
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
historians and geographers, especially Ptolemy
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the...
, although information from the distribution of Celtic coins
Celtic coinage
Celtic coinage refers to the coins minted by the Celts from the late 4th century BC to the late 1st century BC. Celtic coinage was influenced by trade with and the supply of mercenaries to the Greeks, and initially copied Greek designs, especially Macedonian coins from the time of Philip II of...
has also shed light on the extents of the territories of the various groups that occupied the island.
It is important to bear in mind that the following ethnic names were recorded in the second century CE at the earliest; technically, the Iron Age
British Iron Age
The British Iron Age is a conventional name used in the archaeology of Great Britain, referring to the prehistoric and protohistoric phases of the Iron-Age culture of the main island and the smaller islands, typically excluding prehistoric Ireland, and which had an independent Iron Age culture of...
had by this date finished, and we are into the Roman period
Roman Britain
Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...
. These tribes are not necessarily the same tribes that had been living in the same area throughout the entire Iron Age; indeed, where evidence is available, it would seem to indicate that the tribes of the Middle Iron Age tended to group together into larger tribal kingdoms during the Late Iron Age. It is also worth noting that the Belgae and Atrebates share their names with tribes in France and Belgium, which together with Caesar's note that Diviciacus
Diviciacus (Suessiones)
Diviciacus or Divitiacus was a king of the Belgic nation of the Suessiones in the early 1st century BC. Julius Caesar, writing in the mid-1st century BC, says that he had within living memory been the most powerful king in Gaul, ruling a large portion not only of Gallia Belgica, but also of...
of the Suessiones
Suessiones
The Suessiones were a Belgic tribe of Western Belgium in the 1st century BC, inhabiting the region between the Oise and the Marne, based around the present-day city of Soissons...
had ruled territory in Britain suggest this part of the country may have been conquered and ruled from abroad. The Parisii
Parisii (Yorkshire)
The Parisii were a Celtic tribe who in pre-Roman times controlled almost all of the area which is now known as the East Riding of Yorkshire. Under Roman administration, the capital of their civitas was Petuaria, which today is known as Brough....
have also been seen as an immigrant group, although this is debated. It has been suggested that it may be possible to distinguish the distributions of different tribes from their pottery assemblages for the Middle Iron Age, however, no names are available for these tribes (except perhaps "Pretanoi"), and most of the tribes apart from in the South did not use pottery to a significant enough extent for this methodology to be applied to them. These are also not necessarily the names by which the tribes knew themselves; for instance, "Durotriges" may mean "hillfort-dwellers", referring to the fact that hillforts continued to be occupied in this area after they were abandoned elsewhere in Southern Britain; it is unlikely that the Durotriges themselves considered this their defining characteristic; and "Regnenses" is a Latin name meaning "inhabitants of the (client) kingdom".
Southern Britain
- CatuvellauniCatuvellauniThe Catuvellauni were a tribe or state of south-eastern Britain before the Roman conquest.The fortunes of the Catuvellauni and their kings before the conquest can be traced through numismatic evidence and scattered references in classical histories. They are mentioned by Dio Cassius, who implies...
- TrinovantesTrinovantesThe Trinovantes or Trinobantes were one of the tribes of pre-Roman Britain. Their territory was on the north side of the Thames estuary in current Essex and Suffolk, and included lands now located in Greater London. They were bordered to the north by the Iceni, and to the west by the Catuvellauni...
- IceniIceniThe Iceni or Eceni were a British tribe who inhabited an area of East Anglia corresponding roughly to the modern-day county of Norfolk between the 1st century BC and the 1st century AD...
- AtrebatesAtrebatesThe Atrebates were a Belgic tribe of Gaul and Britain before the Roman conquests.- Name of the tribe :Cognate with Old Irish aittrebaid meaning 'inhabitant', Atrebates comes from proto-Celtic *ad-treb-a-t-es, 'inhabitants'. The Celtic root is treb- 'building', 'home' The Atrebates (singular...
- BelgaeBelgaeThe Belgae were a group of tribes living in northern Gaul, on the west bank of the Rhine, in the 3rd century BC, and later also in Britain, and possibly even Ireland...
- CantiaciCantiaciThe Cantiaci or Cantii were a Celtic people living in Britain before the Roman conquest, and gave their name to a civitas of Roman Britain. They lived in the area now called Kent, in south-eastern England...
- DurotrigesDurotrigesThe Durotriges were one of the Celtic tribes living in Britain prior to the Roman invasion. The tribe lived in modern Dorset, south Wiltshire and south Somerset...
- DumnoniiDumnoniiThe Dumnonii or Dumnones were a British Celtic tribe who inhabited Dumnonia, the area now known as Devon and Cornwall in the farther parts of the South West peninsula of Britain, from at least the Iron Age up to the early Saxon period...
- RegnensesRegnensesThe Regnenses, Regni or Regini were a British Celtic kingdom and later a civitas of Roman Britain. Their capital was Noviomagus Reginorum, known today as Chichester in modern West Sussex....
- DobunniDobunniThe Dobunni were one of the Celtic tribes living in the British Isles prior to the Roman invasion of Britain. There are seven known references to the tribe in Roman histories and inscriptions. The latter part of the name possibly derives from Bune, a cup or vessel...
Middle Britain
- CarvetiiCarvetiiThe Carvetii were a people and civitas of Roman Britain living in what is now Cumbria and North Lancashire in north-west England. They are not mentioned in Ptolemy's Geography or in any other classical text, and are known only from inscriptions found in Penrith and Temple Sowerby in Cumbria...
- CornoviiCornoviiThe Cornovii were a Celtic people of Iron Age and Roman Britain, who lived principally in the modern English counties of Cheshire, Shropshire, north Staffordshire, north Herefordshire and eastern parts of the Welsh county of Powys. Their capital in pre-Roman times was probably a hill fort on The...
- Corieltauvi
- ParisiiParisii (Yorkshire)The Parisii were a Celtic tribe who in pre-Roman times controlled almost all of the area which is now known as the East Riding of Yorkshire. Under Roman administration, the capital of their civitas was Petuaria, which today is known as Brough....
- BrigantesBrigantesThe Brigantes were a Celtic tribe who in pre-Roman times controlled the largest section of what would become Northern England, and a significant part of the Midlands. Their kingdom is sometimes called Brigantia, and it was centred in what was later known as Yorkshire...
Northern Britain (Scotland)
- Caledonii
- CaereniCaereniThe Caereni were a people of ancient Britain, known only from a single mention of them by the geographer Ptolemy c. 150. From his general description and the approximate locations of their neighbors, their territory was along the western coast of modern Sutherland. Ptolemy does not provide them...
- CarnonacaeCarnonacaeThe Carnonacae were a people of ancient Britain, known only from a single mention of them by the geographer Ptolemy c. 150. From his general description and the approximate locations of their neighbors, their territory was along the western coast of modern Ross-shire. Ptolemy does not provide them...
- CornoviiCornoviiThe Cornovii were a Celtic people of Iron Age and Roman Britain, who lived principally in the modern English counties of Cheshire, Shropshire, north Staffordshire, north Herefordshire and eastern parts of the Welsh county of Powys. Their capital in pre-Roman times was probably a hill fort on The...
- CreonesCreonesThe Creones were a people of ancient Britain, known only from a single mention of them by the geographer Ptolemy c. 150. From his general description and the approximate locations of their neighbors, their territory was along the western coast of Scotland, south the Isle of Skye and north of the...
- DamnoniiDamnoniiThe Damnonii were a people of the late 2nd century who lived in what is now southern Scotland. They are mentioned briefly in Ptolemy's Geography, where he uses both of the terms "Damnonii" and "Damnii" to describe them, and there is no other historical record of them. Their cultural and...
- DecantaeDecantaeThe Decantae were a people of ancient Britain, known only from a single mention of them by the geographer Ptolemy c. 150. From his general description and the approximate locations of their neighbors, their territory was along the western coast of the Moray Firth, in the area of the Cromarty Firth...
- EpidiiEpidiiThe Epidii were a people of ancient Britain, known from a mention of them by the geographer Ptolemy c. 150. They inhabited the modern-day regions of Argyll and Kintyre, as well as the islands of Islay and Jura....
- LugiLugiŁugi may refer to the following places in Poland:*Ługi, Lower Silesian Voivodeship *Ługi, Sieradz County in Łódź Voivodeship *Ługi, Zgierz County in Łódź Voivodeship...
- NovantaeNovantaeThe Novantae were a people of the late 2nd century who lived in what is now Galloway and Carrick, in southwestern-most Scotland. They are mentioned briefly in Ptolemy's Geography The Novantae were a people of the late 2nd century who lived in what is now Galloway and Carrick, in southwestern-most...
- SelgovaeSelgovaeThe Selgovae were a people of the late 2nd century who lived in what is now the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright and Dumfriesshire, on the southern coast of Scotland. They are mentioned briefly in Ptolemy's Geography, and there is no other historical record of them...
- SmertaeSmertaeThe Smertae were a people of ancient Britain, known only from a single mention of them by the geographer Ptolemy c. 150. From his general description and the approximate locations of their neighbors, their territory was in the modern area of central Sutherland...
- TaexaliTaexaliThe Taexali were a people of ancient Scotland, known only from a single mention of them by the geographer Ptolemy c. 150. From his general description and the approximate location of their town or principal place that he called 'Devana', their territory was along the northeastern coast of Scotland...
- VacomagiVacomagiThe Vacomagi were a people of ancient Britain, known only from a single mention of them by the geographer Ptolemy c. 150. From his general description and the approximate locations of their neighbors, their territory was the region of Strathspey, including that part of the northern coast of Scotland...
- VeniconesVeniconesThe Venicones were a people of ancient Britain, known only from a single mention of them by the geographer Ptolemy c. 150 AD. He recorded that their town was 'Orrea'. This has been identified as the Roman fort of Horrea Classis, located by Rivet and Smith as Monifieth, six miles east of Dundee....
- VotadiniVotadiniThe Votadini were a people of the Iron Age in Great Britain, and their territory was briefly part of the Roman province Britannia...
Miscellaneous (unknown)
- AttacottiAttacottiAttacotti refers to a people who despoiled Roman Britain between 364 and 368, along with Scotti, Picts, Saxons, Roman military deserters, and the indigenous Britons themselves. The marauders were defeated by Count Theodosius in 368...
- SegontiaciSegontiaciThe Segontiaci were a tribe of Iron Age Britain encountered by Julius Caesar during his second expedition to Britain in 55 BC. They surrendered to him as he was campaigning against Cassivellaunus in the Thames Valley, which suggests they were also based in the south-east...
- BibrociBibrociThe Bibroci were a tribe of Iron Age Britain encountered by Julius Caesar during his second expedition to Britain in 55 BC. They surrendered to him as he was campaigning against Cassivellaunus in the Thames Valley, which suggests they were also based in the south-east....
- CassiCassiThe Cassi are one of five tribes encountered by Julius Caesar during his second expedition to Britain in 55 BC when he crossed the Thames at Kew, and who became his allies after the Trinovantes joined him...
- AncalitesAncalitesThe Ancalites were a Celtic tribe, probably living around the Thames Valley area in the 1st century BC. They are known only from the writings of Julius Caesar....
- CenimagniCenimagniThe Cenimagni was a Celtic tribe, probably living somewhere in Southern England in the 1st century BC. They are known only from the writings of Julius Caesar...
(= IceniIceniThe Iceni or Eceni were a British tribe who inhabited an area of East Anglia corresponding roughly to the modern-day county of Norfolk between the 1st century BC and the 1st century AD...
?) - Pretanoi (= Britons, or refers to a single tribe?)