Group 11: Kent

Having worked westwards from Pevensey, the Cosmographer now turns to the opposite side of Romney Marsh and enumerates, in a reasonably coherent order, the forts and towns of Kent before mistakenly listing the Thames as a town, perhaps because the river-name was written in an inland position. The names are all familiar from other sources and there can be no question of their correct identification, although Richmond and Crawford (1949, 7) chose to locate <Landini> and <Tamese> in Oxfordshire, not appreciating the Cosmographer’s capacity for forgetfulness.

Lemanis survives in the name of Lympne and occurs in the Antonine Itinerary Iter IV, the Notitia Dignitatum (Occ. xxviii.15) and the Peutinger Table; Dubris survives as Dover, occurring in the Antonine Itinerary Iter III, the Notitia Dignitatum (Occ. xxviii.14) and the Peutinger Table. Durouerno Cantiacorum is Canterbury, the tribal epithet being recorded here in its full and correct form; it is also to be found in Ptolemy’s Geography (II.3,12), the Antonine Itinerary Itinera II, III and IV and the Peutinger Table. Rutupis is Richborough, one of the best-attested of all Romano-British placenames (Rivet & Smith 1979, 448), presumably as it was probably the official port of entry into Britannia. Durobriuis is Rochester, also attested in the Antonine Itinerary Itinera II, III and IV and the Peutinger Table. Londinium is London, the capital of the early province and later of the Diocese; as such it is the most frequently mentioned Romano-British name in the ancient sources. Tamesa is almost certainly the River Thames, listed in error as a place.