G511 Durotriges

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Area:	Southern Britain: Durotriges
Period:	c. 58 BC - 43 BC
Denomination:	De-based AR Stater: "Badbury Ring" type
Obverse:	Durotrigan wreath pattern with upward facing leaves.
Reverse:	Disjointed horse left, rectangular head, body of crescents, four vertical legs, three sloping lines for tail with pellets between lines; twelve pellets surrounding arc of pellet-in-ring motifs above.
Reference:	ABC 2157; Van Ardsdell 1246; BMC 2647, 2621, 2728-31. 5.
Weight:	3.4 gms
Diameter:	16.8 mm
Durotriges The Durotriges occupied what is now Dorset, as well as southern parts of Wiltshire and Somerset and western Dorset. They were a loosely knit confederation of small tribes at the time of the Roman conquest. Although most hillforts in Britain had been abandoned at the beginning of the first millennium, the Durotriges still occupied theirs, most notably, Maiden Castle near Dorchester, as well as South Cadbury Castle and Hod Hill. A major trading settlement existed at Hengistbury Head trading across the Channel with Gaul, possibly the exporting the pottery made at Poole Harbour. This may be the settlement called Dunium by Ptolemy. During the Roman invasion the Durotriges opposed them and they are one of the two tribes that Suetonius records fighting against Vespasian and the 2nd legion. Evidence has been found of an attack by the Romans on Maiden Castle. After the conquest they became a civitas with their capital at Durnovaria (Dorchester).