THE EARLIEST WRITING IN BRITAIN
The earliest surviving writing from the British Isles isn't Anglo-Saxon, it isn't Roman and it isn't runic or ogham script - it's the inscriptions on Celtic coins from Iron-Age Britain. This coin dates to around 20BC and reads "COMMI F EPPILLV" 1/
The earliest surviving writing from the British Isles isn't Anglo-Saxon, it isn't Roman and it isn't runic or ogham script - it's the inscriptions on Celtic coins from Iron-Age Britain. This coin dates to around 20BC and reads "COMMI F EPPILLV" 1/
The inscription on this gold quarter stater, COMMI F EPPILLV - Eppillus, son of Commius - refers to Eppillus (Celtic: "little horse"), a Roman client king of the Atrebates tribe, who reigned in the vicinity of modern day Chichester. 2/
This inscription is one of the most finely engraved of any British Iron-Age coin type. It was struck when Eppillus had charge, at Calleva, of the inland Atrebatic district of his brother Tincomaros’ southern kingdom, before he moved to Kent to found a dynasty of his own. 4/
After Commius's death in about 20 BC, based on numismatic evidence, Eppillus seems to have ruled jointly with another ruler named Tincomarus. The COMMI.F inscription also appears on Tincomarus's coins suggesting they could have been brothers. 5/
Eppillus's capital was Noviomagus (Chichester) in the south of the kingdom, while Tincomarus ruled from Calleva Atrebatum (Silchester) in the north. Eppillus became ruler of the whole territory a little before AD 7. 6/
Tincomarus appears as a supplicant to the emperor Augustus in his Res Gestae, so he would seem to have been driven out in some sort of domestic intrigue. After this, Eppillus's coins are marked "Rex", indicating that he was recognised as king by Rome. 7/
Absolutely everything we know about Eppillus derives from the Celtic coins like this one issued in his name - there's no mention of him anywhere else in the historical record, without the coins his name would be unknown to history. 8/
Most coin collectors are focussed on the beauty of their coins, and on the portraits or other images stamped on them. But the inscriptions - often regarded as of secondary interest - are fascinating, and often uniquely important epigraphic documents in their own right. 9/
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