BRITANNIA (perhaps from Celtic In-ith or brit, painted, the ancient Britons being the habit of painting their bodies blue with woad), the ancient name of the island of Great Britain (see BRITANNICJE INSULAO. The Romans under Julius Caesar (who wished to chastise the Britons for aiding the Veiled, a tribe in Gaul, against the Roman power). invaded Britain in 55 and 54 I3.0, but they did not, for a hundred years afterwards, pro ceed with vigor to subdue the country. After a desperate resistance by the native British princes, especially Caraetacus and Boadicea, the s. half of Britain was conquered by Vespasian, and made a Roman province in the reign of Claudius, about 50 A.D. Agricola, sent by Nero in 79 A.D., consolidated these conquests, and extended the influ ence of Rome to the firths of Forth and Clyde, between which, in 84 A.D., he erected a chain of forts to repel the inroads of the northern Caledonians, in the line of the stone wall of Antoninus, afterwards erected, in 140 A.D., by Lollius Urbicus. Agricola was the first Roman to sail round the island, and the first Roman genera] to come in contact with the Caledonians, whom, under their leader Galgacus, he overthrew, in 84 A.D., at a hill called the Mons Grampius, the situation of which has not been satisfactorily deter mined. The Romans made many ineffectual attempts to subdue the Caledonian bar barians, and penetrated, for this purpose, through the n.e. part of Scotland as far as the Moray firth, as is attested by the remains of Roman camps and stations still existing along their line of inarcli, and the relics of Roman art found in connection with them. Not only did the Caledonians on their own soil resist the Roman sway, but by constant inroads into the Roman territory s. of the wall of Antoninus, they so harassed the Romans themselves, that the latter were forced to abandon their conquests for 80 m. s_ of that wall. and to secure permanently their remaining conquests in South Britain by a line of defensive works between the mouth of the Tyne and the Solway firth, called the wall of Hadrian (q.v.), begun by Agricola, in 80 A.n., strengthened by Hadrian in 121, and rebuilt and completed by Severus in 210 A.D. After this last date the Romans did not attempt to regain their lost provinces. Subject to these incursions of the Cale donians, the opposition of the native British princes, and the invasion of tribes from the opposite shores of the continent, the Romans held sway in Britain down to about 420 A.D., soon after which time the Saxons invaded s. Britain, and ultimately subdued it_ Britain, s. of the Solway firth and the mouth of the Tyne, in the reign of Claudius, formed one Roman province under a consular legatus and a procurator. Ptolemy men tions 17 native tribes as inhabiting this tract. Toward the close of the 4th c. A.D., Roman Britain constituted a diocese in the prefecture of Gaul, and was divided into five provinces, of which the boundaries, though uncertain, are supposed to have been as follows: B. Prima, England s. of the Thames and the Bristol channel; B. Secunda,,
Wales; Flavia Csariensis, the country between the Thames, Severn, Mersey, and Hum ber; Maxima Ctesariensis, the rest of England to the Scottish border; and Valentia soon abandoned by the Romans—or Scotland s. of the wall of Antoninus. At this time, also, the inhabitants of Roman Britain included Phenician, Roman, and Germanic elements, which had become incorporated with the native Britons, who were of Celtic or Gaelic descent. The Romans governed Britain by a viearius or vicegerent resident at Eboracum (York), under whom were consulars, presidents, and other subordinate officers. To insure the obedience of the natives, at least three Roman legions—chiefly composed of Gauls, Germans, Iberians, and but few pure Romans—were stationed in Britain; viz., at Eboracum, Deva (Chester), and Isca Damnoniorum (Exeter). Under the Romans, many towns (colonic; and municipia)-56 are enumerated by Ptolemy— arose in Britain, and diffused Roman law and civilization over the country. The towns of Eboracum (York) and Vernlamium (near St. Albans) had the privileges of Roman citizenship. The Romans made many roads or streets (strata), of which there are still numerous remains, across thecountry, all centering in London. They also developed it into a corn-growing country. Druidism was the religion of the Britons at their conquest by the Romans, but the latter introduced Christianity and Roman literature into the country. There are many remains still extant of the presence of the Romans in Britain, such as camps, roads, ruins of houses, baths, flues, altars, mosaic pavements, painted walls, metallic implements and ornaments, weapons, tools, utensils, pottery, coins, sculptures. bronzes, inscriptions, etc. These remains show that the Romans wished to render their British conquests permanent, and that they had greatly improved the arts of the ancient Britons, as is evident on comparing the remains with the far ruder native antiquities of the British pre-Roman or prehistoric era, such as tumuli, harrows, earth works, so-called Druidical monoliths and circles, cromlechs, cairns, pottery, weapons, tools, utensils. ornaments, etc. Many of the Roman remains in Britain also show that the Romans had introduced into the country the refinements and luxuries of Rome itself.
Under the term BRITANNIA, Great Britain has been personified in the fine arts as a female seated on a globe or on an insulated roek, and leaning with one arm on a shield, the other hand grasping a spear or a trident The first example of this personifi cation is on a Roman coin of Antoninus Pius (died 161 A.D.). The figure reappears first on the copper coinage of England in the reign of Charles II. (1665); the celebrated beauty, Miss Stewart, afterwards duchess of Richmond, is said to have served as model to the engraver, Philip Roetier. The Britannia that appears on the reverse of British copper coins since 1825 was the design of Mr. W. Wyon. See CORNAGE.