The Atrebates

Calleva and the Atrebates

Silchester’s Roman name, Calleva Atrebatum, links the town with the Atrebates. Its location at a meeting of roads helped make it an important centre in southern Britain. The community’s history begins before Roman conquest, while the surviving town shows major changes under Roman government.

Evidence in stone and metal

Fragments of a monumental inscription at Silchester have been brought together to help reconstruct a reference to the Atrebates. Coins give another route into authority and connections. A small silver coin of Verica found at the site names a ruler whose career belongs to the decades around Rome’s invasion. The objects need to be read in their archaeological and chronological settings.

Across the Channel

The Atrebates’ name also occurs in Gaul, and their rulers and contacts formed part of a political world extending beyond Britain. That relationship should not be turned into an exact migration story for every household. Imported objects and shared names are evidence to investigate, not proof of one simple origin for a whole population.

After the conquest

Calleva developed into a Roman town, with streets, public buildings and substantial walls. The name of a community could continue in civic organisation even as political authority and the built environment changed. Our Silchester guide connects that history with remains that can still be explored.