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Bronze Unit - Cunobelin Cunobelinus Cunobelini
| Issuer | Catuvellauni and Trinovantes tribes (Celtic Britain) |
|---|---|
| Year | 10-20 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Round (irregular) |
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| Obverse description | The obverse presents the royal name CVNOBELINI divided across two horizontal panels separated by a central bar, rendered in bold Latin capitals in the characteristic late Celtic epigraphic style. A pellet-in-ring ornament appears both above and below the inscribed panels, serving as decorative field elements. The die is crudely but deliberately executed, consistent with the hand-engraved hammered coinage of the Catuvellaunian mint. The coin's irregular flan, typical of British Iron Age bronze units, lends the design an asymmetric quality. The overall composition reflects the romanizing tendency of Cunobelin's coinage while retaining distinctly native craft traditions. |
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| Obverse lettering | CVNOB ELINI (Translation: Cunobelin.) |
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| Additional information |
Cunobelin ruled from Camulodunum — modern Colchester — for roughly four decades, an unusually long reign by Iron Age British standards, and Shakespeare later borrowed his name for Cymbeline. His kingdom absorbed the Trinovantes, previously a client state of Rome under Mandubracius, and by the time of his death around AD 40 the combined Catuvellauni-Trinovantian territory dominated much of southeastern Britain. It was partly the post-Cunobelin succession crisis, with his sons Caratacus and Togodumnus aggressively expanding, that gave Claudius the political pretext for the invasion of AD 43.