Iron Age tribes in Britain

The names of the Celtic Iron Age tribes in Britain were recorded by Roman and Greek historians and geographers, especially Ptolemy.

Information from the distribution of Celtic coins has also shed light on the extents of the territories of the various groups that occupied the island.

[1] The Belgae and Atrebates share their names with tribes in France and Belgium, which, together with Caesar's note that Diviciacus of the Suessiones had ruled territory in Britain, suggests that this part of the country might have been conquered and ruled from abroad.

[1] Some historians[1] have suggested that it might be possible to distinguish the distributions of different tribes from their pottery assemblages for the Middle Iron Age.

[1] These are also not necessarily the names by which the tribes knew themselves; for instance, "Durotriges" can mean "hillfort-dwellers", referring to the fact that hillforts continued to be occupied in this area after they were abandoned elsewhere in Southern Britain.