Coins and Power in Late Iron Age Britain (New Studies in Archaeology)

267 Pages·2000·7.98 MB·English

by  John Creighton

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NEW STUDIES IN ARCHAEOLOGY
CoinsandPowerinLateIronAgeBritain
Cunobelin,Shakespeare’sCymbeline,ruled much of south-east Britainin the yearsbefore
Claudius’legionsarrived,creatingtheRomanprovinceofBritannia.Butwhatdoweknowof
himandhisrule,andthatofcompetingdynastiesin,south-eastBritian?DealingwithBritain
inthisperiodwhenaseriesofdynastiesemergedtotakecontrolofmuchofsouthernBritain,
JohnCreightondrawsonhistorical,archaeologicalandnumismaticevidencetoexaminethe
backgroundtotheseWrstindividualsinBritishhistory,andexploresthewayinwhichrulers
bolstered their power through the use of imagery on coins, myths, language and material
culture.AfterthevisitsofCaesarin55and54BC,theshadowofRomeplayedafundamental
roleinthisprocess.TheresultisavividpictureofhowpeopleinLateIronAgeBritainreacted
tothechangingworldaroundthem.
john creightonisaLecturerinArchaeologyattheUniversityofReading
NEW STUDIES IN ARCHAEOLOGY
SeriesEditors
WendyAshmore,UniversityofPennsylvania
CliveGamble,UniversityofSouthampton
JohnO’Shea,UniversityofMichigan
ColinRenfrew,UniversityofCambridge
Archaeologyhasmadeenormousadvancesrecently,bothinthevolumeofdiscoveriesandin
itscharacterasanintellectualdiscipline:newtechniqueshavehelpedtofurthertherangeand
rigourofinquiry,andencouragedinter-disciplinarycommunication.
The aim of this series is to make available to a wider audience the results of these
developments.Thecoverageisworldwideandextendsfromtheearliesthuntingandgathering
societiestohistoricalarchaeology.
Foralistoftitlesintheseriespleaseseetheendofthebook.
JOHN CREIGHTON
Coins and Power in
Late Iron Age Britain
  
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© John Creighton 2000
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without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published in print format 2000
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To the memory of my mother, Molly Creighton

CONTENTS
ListofWgures pageviii
Listoftables x
Preface xi
Acknowledgements xii
Listofabbreviations xiii
Noteontranslationsused xiv
Introduction 1
1 TheMiddletoLateIronAgetransition 4
2 Coinandtherepresentationofindividualauthority 22
3 TheSouthernandEasternkingdoms 55
4 ClassicalimageryandideologyinBritain 80
5 ThelocationofBritainintheRomanworld 126
6 Legendsandlanguage 146
7 Dynastiesandidentities 174
8 Conclusionandepilogue:fromBritaintoBritannia 216
Appendix:AbriefintroductiontoIronAgecoinageinBritain 222
References 228
Indexofcointypes 238
Generalindex 241
vii
FIGURES
Fig.2.1 ThedevelopmentofcoinageinnorthernEuropefromthe
Phillipustoitsregionalsuccessors page27
Fig.2.2 DistributionmapofGallo-BelgicAandC,andthe
communitiesofNEGaul 29
Fig.2.3 ThedevelopmentofgoldcoininBritain,fromGallo-BelgicA
toitsBritishregionalderivatives 32
Fig.2.4 ThesuccessionofcoinsleadingtotheSW‘Durotrigan’andNE
‘Corieltauvian’coinseries 34
Fig.2.5 Thealloycontentofearly‘gold’coinageandotherobjectsin
Britain 39
Fig.2.6 Variouscoinsmentionedinthetext 46
Fig.2.7 Thevariousstagesoftranceimagery 48
Fig.2.8 BasketrycompassworkontheLatchmereHeathMirror 50
Fig.3.1 ThedevelopmentofthegoldcoinageoftheSouthernand
Easternkingdoms 65
Fig.3.2 ThedevelopmentofthegoldandsilvercoinageoftheWest
(the‘Dobunni’) 66
Fig.3.3 CoinhoardscontainingcoinfromSouthernandEasternBritain 67
Fig.3.4 Thealloycontentofthe‘gold’coinageoftheSouthernand
Easternkingdoms 69
Fig.3.5 AnoutlineofthedevelopmentofimageryonGallo-Belgicgold 71
Fig.3.6 DistributionmapsofGallo-BelgicE,thefamiliesofimageryin
NEGaulandBritain,andthedistributionofthecoinsof
GARMANOSCOMMIOSandANDOBRVGARMANOS 72
Fig.3.7 Thedynastiesofsouth-eastBritain 76
Fig.3.8 Thedistributionofthecoinageofthefathersand‘sons’ofthe
principaldynastiesofsouth-eastBritain 77
Fig.4.1 ThemostcommonimagesonRomansilvercoinnorthofthe
Alps 83
Fig.4.2 ThemostcommonimagesonRomanbronzecoinnorthofthe
Alps 84
Fig.4.3 TheadoptionofOctavian/Augustus’imagerybytheBritish
dynasts 86
Fig.4.4 ThedateofallegedRomancoinprototypesofBritishcoins 101
viii