Attractively Toned Unit
CELTIC, Atrebates & Regni. Verica. Circa AD 10-40. AR Unit (12mm, 1.18 g). Atrebatic K class. Southern mint. Struck circa AD 30-40. Figure standing facing, head right, holding lituus and grape bunch; COM MIT across field / Laureate head of Tiberius right. ABC 1250; Van Arsdell 533-1; SCBC 136. Attractively toned. Near EF.
According to John Creighton (Coins and Power in Late Iron Age Britain [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000] pp. 191-2), Roman influence is seen in the coinage of the late Atrebatic kings. On the coins, Tincomarus and Verica both name themselves as son of Commius, an earlier ruler with a fluctuating relationship with Rome. Initially an ally of Caesar in Gaul, Commius later rebelled and joined in the revolt of Vercingetorix, before eventually becoming king in southern Britain. After his death, Tincomarus and, to a greater extent, Verica established an ancestor cult venerating the former ruler and developed a program of images roughly mirroring that of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. The coins are inscribed COMmii Filius, son of Commius, and bear various images relating to the divine pedigree of Verica and the new age of prosperity.
