Eppillus
Eppillus (
Celtic: "little horse") was the name of a
Roman client king of the
Atrebates tribe of the
British Iron Age. He was the son of
Commius, the
Gaulish former ally of
Julius Caesar who fled to Britain following the uprising of
Vercingetorix, or possibly of his son.
After Commius's death in about
20 BC, based on
numismatic evidence, Eppillus seems to have ruled jointly with his brother,
Tincomarus. Eppillus's capital was Noviomagus (
Chichester) in the south of the kingdom, while Tincomarus ruled from Calleva Atrebatum (
Silchester Roman Town) in the north.
Eppillus became ruler of the whole territory a little before
AD 7, and Tincomarus appears as a supplicant to the
emperor Augustus in his
Res Gestae, so he would seem to have been driven out in some sort of domestic intrigue. After this, Eppillus's coins are marked "Rex", indicating that he was recognised as king by
Rome.
In about
AD 15 Eppillus was succeeded as king of the Atrebates by another brother,
Verica. At about the same time coins of the
Cantiaci stamped with the name Eppillus start to appear in
Kent, replacing those of
Dubnovellaunus. It is possible that Eppillus was deposed by Verica, fled to Kent and established himself as king there, but equally possible that he was invited to become king by the Cantiaci, peacefully handing the rule of the Atrebates to his brother, or that he died and was succeeded by Verica, and that Eppillus of Kent was another man of the same name.
*
Caesar Augustus,
Res Gestae Divi Augusti*
Atrebates and
Cantiaci at
Roman-Britain.org*
Atrebates and
Cantium at
Romans in Britain
