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| Cantiaci | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Geography | |
| Capital | Durovernum Cantiacorum (Canterbury) |
| Location | Kent East Sussex |
| Rulers | Dubnovellaunus,Vosenius,Eppillus,Cunobelinus,Adminius |
TheCantiaci orCantii were an Iron Age Celtic people living in Britain before theRoman conquest, and gave their name to acivitas ofRoman Britain. They lived in the area now calledKent, in south-eastern England. Their capital wasDurovernum Cantiacorum, nowCanterbury.
They were bordered by theRegni to the west, and theCatuvellauni to the north.[citation needed]
Julius Caesar landed in Cantium in 55 and 54 BCE, the firstRoman expeditions to Britain. He recounts in hisDe Bello Gallico v. 14:[1]
Ex his omnibus longe sunt humanissimi qui Cantium incolunt, quae regio est maritima omnis, neque multum a Gallica differunt consuetudine.
Of all these [British tribes], by far the most civilised are they who dwell in Kent, which is entirely a maritime region, and who differ but little from theGauls in their customs.
Julius Caesar named five Celtic tribes inhabiting the land that would become the "heartland of theCatuvellauni": theAncalites, theBibroci, theCassi, theCenimagni, and theSegontiaci, each with their own "king" or chieftain. He found their way of life to be very similar to their cousins inGaul with whom they were close – the invasion of Britain may have been triggered by the Britons' supply of arms to the Gauls, who were being subjugated by the Romans.[2][page needed]
Caesar mentions four kings,Segovax,Carvilius,Cingetorix, andTaximagulus, who held power in Cantium at the time of his second expedition in 54 BCE. The British leaderCassivellaunus, besieged in his stronghold north of the Thames, sent a message to these four kings to attack the Roman naval camp as a distraction. The attack failed, a chieftain calledLugotorix was captured, and Cassivellaunus was forced to seek terms.
In the century between Caesar's expeditions and the conquest underClaudius (starting in 43 CE), kings in Britain began to issue coins stamped with their names. The following kings of the Cantiaci are known:
According toNennius,Gwrangon was King of Kent in the time ofVortigern, until Vortigern took away the kingdom and gave it toHengist; but Nennius is regarded as an untrustworthy source, and "Gwrangon seems to have been transported by the story-teller into Kent from Gwent" and "is turned into an imaginary King of Kent, secretly disposed of his realm in favour of Hengist, whose daughter Vortigern wished to marry".[4]
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