Expert: Maria - 8/13/2006

Question
Can you explain why, on Ptolemy's map of British tribes, the 'Cornovii' appear twice, one in the West Midlands of England, the other in the far north of Scotland (where Caithness and Sutherland are today). I wonder if the northern name  might be a mistake for 'Orcnavii'. (as in Orcas/Orcades/Orkneys)

What was or were Ptolemy's main sources of information about Britain?  

Thank you  

Answer
Hello,

First of all Ptolemy’s main sources of information about Britain were  three, i.e. :

-Caesar’s Commentaries on the Gallic War, book 5, chapter 13,etc., where Julius Caesar tells of  his campaign in Britannia in 55 BC, which was the first Roman invasion of Britannia.

-Pomponius Mela, who wrote around AD 43 and was the earliest Roman geographer.In his 'De situ orbis libri III' he tells of the second Roman invasion of Britannia by  the  emperor Claudius in AD 43.

-Tacitus 'Life of Agricola', chapters 10-29, where Tacitus tells of geography and ethnography of ancient Britain as well as of  historical events. In fact he recounts the life of his father-in-law Gnaeus Julius Agricola, a Roman general who as governor of Britain (77–84) brought most of its inhabitants under Roman control.

So, the sole sources Ptolemy had for the existence and location of the Britain  tribes, and then for a primitive map of Britain in his 'Geography',  were just the Roman general, statesman and writer Julius Caesar (100BC-44 BC),  the Roman geographer Pomponius Mela (1st.century AD) and the Roman historian Tacitus (55AD-120 AD) .

As for the reason why  the British tribe of 'Cornovii', whose capital was VIROCONIVM CORNOVIORVM, meaning literally “the town of Viroco of the Cornovii “(Wroxeter, Shropshire), appears twice, one in the West Midlands of England, the other in the far north of Scotland where lived the Caledonian tribes, we can formulate some  hypotheses, given that there is no acknowledged reason to think that this group shared any common ancestry with the group in Caithness:
1-it can be due to the frequent migration’s phenomenon of the ancient tribes who departed from their land to settle in another. Therefore we can suppose that the Cornovii, who originally  lived in the far north of Scotland, moved to the West Midlands of England to find new lands where they could live better than in an inhospitable  region like north of Scotland in those times.

2-it can be due to the fact that the Roman writers, from whom Ptolemy obtains this information, can have misunderstood the names of the Celtic  tribes of Britain, especially of the tribes in the north where Roman knowledge was  more limited. Moreover I must point out that tribal names  come from Roman sources only, since the British themselves left no literary record, and therefore errors were possible.

3-Occasionally a tribe could have the same, or similar, name as another, either in Britain or elsewhere in Europe at the time of the Roman Conquest.This, in itself, cannot be taken as an indication that the tribes are related, as often the names could mean 'the people of the mountains', 'people of the horn' (Cornovii / Cornavii),etc., and therefore  similarities were frequent.


Finally with regard to your conjecture about the northern name  Cornovii  which might be a mistake for 'Orcnavii'. (as in Orcas/Orcades/Orkneys), I think this is quite unlikely, first because Pomponius Mela in 43 AD was the first to name the Orcades or Orkneys, which he defines and locates pretty correctly; second because  in Tacitus, Life of Agricola, chapter X,  we read the name “Orcadas”(in the accusative plural)  related to the Orkney Islands,i.e.  the Orcades/Orchades of ancient Classical literature.

Therefore both Pomponius Mela in 43 AD and Tacitus in 98 AD, when he wrote his Life of Agricola, already knew the name Orcades /Orchades /Orcadae, and there is no reason why they got mixed up, I think.

To conclude, although the Cornovii share their name with a Caledonian tribe, there is no reliable reason to suppose a connection between the two.

Hope all is clear enough, despite the difficulty of the matter.

Best,
Maria
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1-Claudius Ptolemaeus was a Greek mathematician, astronomer and geographer, who lived in Alexandria, Egypt, as Roman citizen, from approx. 87 -150 or 170 AD
2-Pomponius Mela, who wrote around AD 43, was the earliest Roman geographer. His little work (De situ orbis libri III.) is a mere compendium.
3-Tacitus, great Roman historian  (55AD-120 AD) .