Noviomagus Reginorum

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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