Two separate tribes of the name Atrebates are known in mainland Europe and in the British Isles. Both Celtic, they are assumed to be related ancestrally The continental Atrebates lived in Gaul around present-day Arras in northern France; Artois, a former province, takes its name from them. They are discussed as Celts or Gauls. Some among this group settled near the Nervii in present-day central Belgium and fought as their allies against the Romans under Julius Caesar; they were thus among the tribes Julius Caesar considered Belgae. Afterward, in 51 b. c.e., their king, Commius, fled to Britain.
The Atrebates of Britain, perhaps an alliance of smaller groups, occupied the present-day counties of sussex, Hampshire, Berkshire, west surrey, and northeastern Wiltshire in southern England. They are discussed as Celts or Britons. The Cattuvellauni, Trinovantes, and they were the three most powerful tribal kingdoms in Britain in the first centuries b. c.e. and C. E. In about 40 b. c.e. the Atrebates struck the first British coins inscribed with their ruler’s name; they bear the name commios, thought to be an alternate spelling of Commius. The Atrebates were pro-Roman. In 42 c. e. they successfully resisted an attack by the anti-Roman Catuvellauni. An exiled leader of the Atrebates by the name of Verica played a part in encouraging the Roman emperor Claudius I to launch his invasion of 43 c. e. During the period of Roman occupation into the fifth century Nemetacum on the site of present-day Arras became a civitas capital in Gaul, and Calleva Atrbatum on the site of present-day Silchester became a civitas capital in Britain.
Further Reading
Simon Bean. The Coinage of the Atrebates and Regni (Hatfield, Mass.: Oxbow, 2000).
World History
