Venta Icenorum - Market Place of the Iceni - geograph

Venta Icenorum (, literally "marketplace of the Iceni") was the

civitas In Ancient Rome, the Latin term (; plural ), according to Cicero in the time of the late Roman Republic, was the social body of the , or citizens, united by law (). It is the law that binds them together, giving them responsibilities () on th ...

or capital of the

Iceni The Iceni ( , ) or Eceni were a Brittonic tribe of eastern Britain during the Iron Age and early Roman era. Their territory included present-day Norfolk and parts of Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, and bordered the area of the Corieltauvi to the we ...

tribe, located at modern-day

Caistor St Edmund Caistor St Edmund is a village and former civil parish on the River Tas, in Norfolk, England. The parish covers an area of and had a population of 270 people in 116 households at the 2001 Census which increased to 289 people by the 2011 Cens ...

in the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

county of

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the Nor ...

. The Iceni inhabited the flatlands and marshes of that county and are famous for having revolted against Roman rule under their queen

Boudica Boudica or Boudicca (, known in Latin chronicles as Boadicea or Boudicea, and in Welsh as ()), was a queen of the ancient British Iceni tribe, who led a failed uprising against the conquering forces of the Roman Empire in AD 60 or 61. She ...

in the winter of AD 61.

Roman town

The town itself was probably laid out, and its first streets metalled, in approximately the first half of the second century. The town, which is mentioned in both the '' Ravenna Cosmography'' and the ''

Antonine Itinerary The Antonine Itinerary ( la, Itinerarium Antonini Augusti, "The Itinerary of the Emperor Antoninus") is a famous ''itinerarium'', a register of the stations and distances along various roads. Seemingly based on official documents, possibly ...

'', was a settlement near the

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...

of Caistor St. Edmund, some south of present-day

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the Episcopal see, See of ...

, and a mile or two from the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

henge There are three related types of Neolithic earthwork that are all sometimes loosely called henges. The essential characteristic of all three is that they feature a ring-shaped bank and ditch, with the ditch inside the bank. Because the internal ...

at Arminghall. The site lies on the River Tas.

Archaeology

In 1928, an aerial reconnaissance flight of a farm near Caistor St Edmund rediscovered the ruins of Venta Icenorum. A five-year archaeological dig soon followed, led by archaeologist Donald Atkinson. The site subsequently remained uninvestigated until the

University of Nottingham , mottoeng = A city is built on wisdom , established = 1798 – teacher training college1881 – University College Nottingham1948 – university status , type = Public , chancellor ...

reopened it in 2009 seeking Iron Age (Iceni) structures beneath the town. The evidence uncovered revealed that the site was not established on a previous Iron Age town, but was a newly built and sparsely populated frontier town focused on administration and trade. It also revealed a partial integration of the mainly agrarian locals into Roman norms. The embankments of Venta Icenorum can still be seen at Caistor today. The ruins () are in the care of The Norfolk Archaeological Trust and managed by South Norfolk District Council. In 2011, the Trust expanded the site by buying an additional 55 acres of land across the river opposite the West Gate.

References

Bibliography

External links

* http://www.livescience.com/history/071217-roman-town.html LiveScience - New Details of Ancient Roman Town Uncovered {{commons category Archaeology of Norfolk Roman towns and cities in England Former populated places in Norfolk Roman sites in Norfolk South Norfolk Iceni

Roman town

Archaeology

See also

References

Bibliography

External links