Adminius, Amminius or Amminus was a son of

Cunobelinus Cunobeline (or Cunobelin, from Latin , derived from Common Brittonic ''*Cunobelinos'' "Strong as a Dog", "Strong Dog") was a king in pre-Roman Britain from about AD 9 until about AD 40.Malcolm Todd (2004)"Cunobelinus_ ymbeline/nowiki>_(d._''c'' ...

, ruler of the Catuvellauni, a tribe of Iron Age Britain. His name can be interpreted as Common Brittonic, Brittonic ''*Ad-minios'', "he who is very tender". Based on coin distribution, where his name appears as ''Amminus'' it appears that, in the early to mid 1st century, he was ruler of the

Cantiaci The Cantiaci or Cantii were an Iron Age Celtic people living in Britain before the Roman conquest, and gave their name to a '' civitas'' of Roman Britain. They lived in the area now called Kent, in south-eastern England. Their capital was ''Dur ...

of eastern

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, a kingdom which presumably fell within his father's sphere of influence.

Suetonius Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (), commonly referred to as Suetonius ( ; c. AD 69 – after AD 122), was a Roman historian who wrote during the early Imperial era of the Roman Empire. His most important surviving work is a set of biographies ...

tells us he was deposed and exiled by his father ''c.'' 39 or 40. Cunobelinus had maintained friendly relations with the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...

, and it has been speculated that the elderly king had lost control to an anti-Roman faction led by his other sons,

Togodumnus Togodumnus (died AD 43) was king of the British Catuvellauni tribe, whose capital was at St. Albans, at the time of the Roman conquest. He can probably be identified with the legendary British king Guiderius. He is usually thought to have led t ...

and

Caratacus Caratacus ( Brythonic ''*Caratācos'', Middle Welsh ''Caratawc''; Welsh ''Caradog''; Breton ''Karadeg''; Greek ''Καράτακος''; variants Latin ''Caractacus'', Greek ''Καρτάκης'') was a 1st-century AD British chieftain of the C ...

, who may have been instrumental in forcing Adminius out of power. Alternatively, his fall may have been the result of a revolt of the

against Catuvellaunian rule. Adminius fled to continental Europe with a small group of followers and surrendered to the Romans. The

emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

at the time,

Caligula Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (31 August 12 – 24 January 41), better known by his nickname Caligula (), was the third Roman emperor, ruling from 37 until his assassination in 41. He was the son of the popular Roman general Germanicu ...

, presented this relatively minor event as a great victory over the foreign tribes of Britain and even penned an extravagant report which he insisted be read to the Roman senate. Adminius / Amminus may have persuaded Caligula that Britain was vulnerable to attack and that an invasion would be an even more famous victory for him. It is further likely that the capture of the British prince was the germ of Caligula's initiative to launch an invasion of Britain. The invasion never happened, either because of Caligula's famous eccentricity, which Roman historians record led him to order his army to collect seashells from

Gaul Gaul ( la, Gallia) was a region of Western Europe first described by the Romans. It was inhabited by Celtic and Aquitani tribes, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, most of Switzerland, parts of Northern Italy (only during ...

ish beaches as war trophies, or because of a mutiny in the invasion force assembled at

Boulogne Boulogne-sur-Mer (; pcd, Boulonne-su-Mér; nl, Bonen; la, Gesoriacum or ''Bononia''), often called just Boulogne (, ), is a coastal city in Northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department of Pas-de-Calais. Boulogne lies on the ...

. In any case, Rome's refusal to return the fugitive Adminius to his father was one of the contributory factors to growing anti-Roman sentiment in Britain, which necessitated

Claudius Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54) was the fourth Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Nero Claudius Drusus, Drusu ...

' successful invasion of that land in 43. An inscription found in Chichester names a "Lucullus, son of Amminus". Dr.

Miles Russell Miles Russell, (born 8 April 1967) is a British archaeologist best known for his work and publications on the prehistoric and Roman periods and for his appearances in television programmes such as ''Time Team'' and ''Harry Hill's TV Burp''. Per ...

Bournemouth University Bournemouth University is a public university in Bournemouth, England, with its main campus situated in neighbouring Poole. The university was founded in 1992; however, the origins of its predecessor date back to the early 1900s. The univer ...

argues that

Sallustius Lucullus Sallustius Lucullus (possibly died 89 or 93 AD) was a governor of Roman Britain during the late 1st century AD, holding office after Gnaeus Julius Agricola, although it is unclear whether he was the immediate successor or if there was another unkno ...

, Roman governor of Britain in the late 1st century (and who is also cited from an inscription found in Chichester), was therefore a son of this prince.Miles Russell (2006), "Roman Britain's Lost Governor", ''Current Archaeology'' 204, pp. 630-635
Sallustius Lucullus
a
Roman=Britain.org
Miles Russell (2006) ''Roman Sussex'', Tempus pp. 45-54; Miles Russell (2010) ''Bloodline: The Celtic Kings of Roman Britain'' Tempus, pp. 83-90

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