He is nearly contemporary with Togodumnus, a prince of the Catuvellauni tribe mentioned by Dio Cassius, and the similarity of their names has led some, including Dr Miles Russell of Bournemouth University and the distinguished archaeologist professor Barry Cunliffe of Oxford University, to suggest that they may be one and the same, thereby making the Fishbourne king a son of Cunobelinus and brother of Caratacus. The Roman names ' Tiberius Claudius' indicate that he was given Roman citizenship by the emperor Claudius, or possibly by Nero, and probably not, as 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. 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 as a Celtic name. In the Chichester inscription, the first two letters of the king's native name, given in the genitive case, are missing.

ens, son of Pudentinus, presented the forecourt.Īnother 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. To Neptune and Minerva, for the welfare of the Divine Temple, by the authority of Tiberius Claudius Cogidubnus, great king of the Britons, the guild of smiths and those in it gave this temple at their own expense. Bogaers, it reads (reconstructed parts in square brackets):

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. 98, where his name appears as 'Cogidumnus' in most manuscripts although they can be considered as copies, 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). The public baths, amphitheatre and forum in Silchester were probably built in Cogidubnus' time. After the conquest the area formed part of the civitas of the Regnenses / Regni, possibly Cogidubnus' kingdom before being incorporated into the Roman province. Cogidubnus may therefore have been an heir of Verica, the Atrebatic king whose overthrow prompted the emperor Claudius to invade.

Tiberius Claudius Cogidubnus (or Togidubnus, Togidumnus or similar see naming difficulties) was a 1st-century king of the Regni or Regnenses tribe in early Roman Britain.Ĭhichester and the nearby Roman villa at Fishbourne, believed by some to have been Cogidubnus' palace, were probably part of the territory of the Atrebates tribe before the Roman conquest of Britain in AD 43. Verica (king of the southern Atrebates tribe)

Tacitus agricola