Noviomagus Reginorum was the
Roman town which is today called
Chichester, situated in the modern
English county of
West Sussex. Alternative versions of the name include
Noviomagus Regnorum,
Regnentium and
Regentium..
Development
Noviomagus Reg(i)norum, meaning 'new field' or new clearing of the
Regni,Wacher, John
The Towns of Roman Britain Routledge; 2nd Revised edition edition (5 April 1995) ISBN: 978-0713473193 p.262 was first established as a winter fort in the friendly territory of the
Atrebates tribe, shortly after the
Roman conquest in AD 43. It was the home of the
Legio II Augusta commanded by the future Emperor
Vespasian and their timber barrack blocks, supply stores and military equipment have been excavated. The army only stayed for a couple of years and the site was soon developed as a civilian settlement and capital of the
Civitas Reginorum, a
client kingdom ruled by
Tiberius Claudius Cogidubnus.
The
Regnenses were either a sub-tribe of the Atrebates or simply the local people designated the 'people of the Kingdom' by the Roman administration. Cogidubnus almost certainly lived at the nearby
Palace of Fishbourne. He is mentioned on the dedication stone of the
temple to
Neptune and
Minerva found in Chichester. Other public buildings were also present: the
public baths are beneath West Street, the
amphitheatre under the cattle market and the
basilica is thought to be...
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