Group 13: the East Midlands and East Anglia

The Cosmographer now proceeds southwards, back to London, which he has forgotten having listed in Group 12 above. The progress of this section is extremely straightforward, although it should be pointed out that <eltauori> is not for *Fl Tamum (identified with the River Teme), as proposed by Rivet and Smith (1979, 468), but part of the tribal epithet Corieltauuorum wrongly separated (Tomlin 1983, 355); Ptolemy (Geography II.3,11) has a variant form <Κοριταυοι>, which is closer to the Celtic original than the <Κοριτανοι> usually given, and may well be a better reading. This should be attached to Ratae, the Civitas capital of the Corieltauvi at Leicester, which also occurs in Ptolemy as Rate, the Antonine Itinerary Itinera VI (as Ratas) and VIII (as Ratis), and is attested epigraphically (CIL XVI.160). <Lectoceto> (for *Letoceto) is a better form than the Antonine Itinerary’s, where Wall appears as <Etoceto> in Iter II. <Iaciodulma> (for Lactoduro) is Towcester (Antonine Itinerary Itinera II and VI), Verulamium, St Albans (Ptolemy Geography II.3,11, the Antonine Itinerary Itinera II, VI and VIII and Tacitus Annales XIV.33), and Londinium Augusta, London, showing the fourth-century honorific title added to the more familiar and ultimately successful name. The Cosmographer has forgotten that he had already listed London, at 106₃₈ above, without the honorific epithet.

The Cosmographer then moves northwards, beginning with Caesaromago, Chelmsford (Antonine Itinerary Itinera V and IX). Camuloduno Colonia is Colchester (Ptolemy Geography II.3,11, Antonine Itinerary Iter IX as Camuloduno and Iter V as Colonia, Tabula Peutingeriana, Pliny Historia Naturalis II.187 and Tacitus Annales XII.32 etc.). <Durcinate> (for Duroliponte, Rivet & Smith 1979, 351) is Cambridge (Antonine Itinerary Iter V), Durouiguto is probably Godmanchester (Richmond & Crawford 1949, 33) and Durobriuis, Water Newton (Antonine Itinerary Iter V and a variety of mortarium stamps, quoted in Rivet & Smith 1979, 348). Venta Icenorum, Caistor St Edmund near Norwich (Ptolemy Geography II.3,11, Antonine Itinerary Itinera V and IX and Tabula Peutingeriana), is listed next, perhaps because the name was written to the west of the town in such a way that it appeared to relate to a place on a road some 110 km to the west. It is perhaps no more than coincidence that Ptolemy severely underestimates the size of East Anglia. Lindum Colonia is Lincoln (Ptolemy Geography II.3,11, Antonine Itinerary Itinera V, VI and VIII and RIB 250, 269 etc.), and if Horncastle really is *Bannoualium, it appears to be a translation of the Romano-British name into English.