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Silver Unit - Tasciovanos Tasciovanos Braided Hair
| Issuer | Catuvellauni and Trinovantes tribes (Celtic Britain) |
|---|---|
| Year | 15 BC - 10 BC |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Obverse description | Stylised Celtic head facing left, rendered in the characteristic Late Iron Age abstract idiom. The hair is depicted as a series of elaborately braided and corded strands arranged in tight, beaded rows emanating from the crown, filling much of the field. Facial features are summarily indicated, with a prominent rounded cheek, suggested eye, and a curved line denoting the chin or neck below. The overall treatment is decorative and schematic rather than naturalistic, consistent with the Catuvellaunian artistic tradition of the period. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A stylised long-horned equine quadruped, likely representing a horse or fantastical horned horse, advances to the right in a stepping pose with legs clearly articulated. Above the animal a bucranium (ox-skull) motif is placed prominently in the upper field. A solar or wheel motif appears below the animal's body, while a trefoil device is positioned behind the hindquarters. The composition is rendered in the abstract Celtic manner, with decorative pellets and linear elements filling the surrounding field. |
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| Additional information |
Tasciovanos ruled the Catuvellauni from around 20 BC and was almost certainly the father of Cunobelin — Shakespeare's Cymbeline. His coins are among the earliest British issues to carry a named ruler's inscription, a shift from the anonymous geometric types that preceded them, and one that almost certainly reflects contact with Roman coinage conventions filtering through Gaul before the Claudian invasion was even a distant prospect.