Group 22: Lothian

This is the most obscure group of all the placenames presented by the Cosmographer as allegedly belonging to the area between the Roman walls; Rivet and Smith (1979, 210) suggest that it refers mostly to Fife. The first name has been emended *Coria (V)otadinor(um) (Richmond & Crawford 1949, 30) and identified with the Κουρια of Ptolemy (Geography II.3,7), although Alistair Strang (1997,30) has presented a strong case for identifying Ptolemy’s name with Corbridge. *Gelouium cannot be identified with any certainty, but Rivet and Smith (1979, 381) propose that *Itunodunum could be on the River Eden in Fife, possibly near Auchtermuchty; <Maromago> is then suggested to be a miswriting of the tribal name Vacomagi (Rivet & Smith 1979, 484) and <Venutio> another ethnic name, this time the Venicones (Rivet & Smith 1979, 490). In this case *Dubabissis may have been the large fort at Carpow.

However, there is an alternative and preferable solution, as the emendations proposed by Rivet and Smith cannot be considered proven, and it would make more sense to locate these names in the north-eastern border region where they are on the correct side of the Antonine Wall. Eden Water, a tributary of the Tweed, is to be derived from *Ituna (Ekwall 1928, 142), and is probably therefore more relevant to *Itunodunum than the Fife River Eden; this perhaps implies that the Cosmographer is dealing with the area between the Forth and the Tweed, if the next group follows in a reasonably logical order. This is also the only part of Britain between the walls not otherwise covered by the Cosmographer. The Roman archaeology of this area is very poorly known indeed, but a series of marching camps has now been discovered in the Tweed valley, which may offer some clues to identification.

At two removes from <Coritiotar>, *Itunodunum should be near the marching camp at Carham, close to the confluence of Eden Water with the Tweed. We shall see that a site close to the mouth of the Tweed appears to be listed in the next section, so a site halfway between Berwick and Carham should be sought: the marching camp at Norham may be close to the site of *Gelouium. Maromago – ‘the great plain’ – must still be in the Tweed Valley, perhaps close to Woden House Farm (St Boswell’s can probably be discounted as too close to Newstead, Trimontium in the next section, to have been shown on a road-map); this leaves *Dubabissis and Venutio perhaps on the road between Newstead and Elginhaugh. The first may have lain close to St Leonard’s or Blainslie, both beside Leader Water, which may be the ‘deep water’ of the placename, while the second may have been applied to the fortlet at Oxton, although a site farther north may await discovery.

Although this alternative solution relies almost entirely on unsubstantiatable identifications – with the probable exception of *Itunodunum/Carham? – it does not involve the rejection of the otherwise good Celtic forms provided by the Cosmographer, as Rivet and Smith’s hypothesis demands. The recent discovery of temporary sites in the Tweed valley has demonstrated that this area in Votadinian territory was not entirely without Roman garrison, and there may be permanent forts sites still awaiting identification.