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Silver 1/2 Unit - Eastern North Thames Double Horse
| Issuer | Trinovantes tribe (Celtic Britain) |
|---|---|
| Year | 55 BC - 45 BC |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Reference(s) | ABC#2285, Sp#52, BMC Iron#399-400 |
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| Reverse description | A horse is depicted in right-facing profile, rendered in the characteristic abstracted Celtic style of the Eastern North Thames series. The legs are shown with an inward-turning posture, each terminating in bold, clumpy hooves consistent with the stylistic conventions of this coinage group. The beaded mane curls upward behind the neck in a pronounced decorative volute. Above the horse, a serpentine or snake-head device is prominently placed in the field, serving as a distinguishing secondary element of this type. The overall composition reflects the dynamic, schematised artistic tradition of Late Iron Age British coinage. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
The Trinovantes occupied territory roughly corresponding to modern Essex and southern Suffolk, and by the mid-first century BC were under mounting pressure from the expansionist Catuvellauni to the west. This fractional silver unit belongs to a period when Julius Caesar's two expeditions to Britain — 55 and 54 BC — were actively disrupting tribal power structures along the Thames estuary. Whether the coin predates or postdates Caesar's campaigns is unresolved, but its production almost certainly reflects a moment of political instability in which the Trinovantes were simultaneously resisting Catuvellaunian encroachment and, per Caesar's own account, appealing to Rome for protection.