The Iceni or Eceni were a Brythonic tribe who inhabited an area of Britain corresponding roughly to the modern-day county of Norfolk between the 1st century BC and 1st century AD.
The Cenimagni, who surrendered to Julius Caesar during his second expedition to Britain in 54 BC, may have been a branch of the Iceni.Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico 5.21
The Iceni began producing coins ca. 10 BC. Their coins were a distinctive adaptation of the Gallo-Belgic "face/horse" design, and in some early issues, most numerous near Norwich, the horse was replaced with a boar. Some coins are inscribed ECENI, making them the only coin-producing group to use their tribal name on coins. The earliest personal name to appear on coins is Antedios (ca. 10 BC), and other abbreviated names like AESU and SAEMU follow.Graham Webster (1978), Boudica: the British Revolt Against Rome AD 60, pp. 46-48
Tacitus records that the Iceni were not conquered in the Claudian invasion of AD 43, but had come to a voluntary alliance with the Romans. However they rose against them in 47 after the governor, Publius Ostorius Scapula, threatened to disarm them. They were defeated by Ostorius in a fierce battle at a fortified place, but were allowed to retain their independence.Tacitus, Annals 12.31 The site of the battle may have been Stonea Camp in Cambridgeshire.
A second, more serious, uprising took place in 61. Prasutagus, the wealthy, pro-Roman Icenian king, had died. It was common practice for a Roman client king to leave his kingdom to Rome on his death, but Prasutagus had attempted to preserve his line by bequeathing his kingdom jointly to the Emperor and his own daughters. The Romans ignored this, and the procurator Catus Decianus seized his entire estate. Prasutagus's widow, Boudica, was flogged, and their daughters were raped. At the same time, Roman financiers called in their loans. While the governor, Gaius Suetonius Paulinus, was campaigning in Wales, Boudica led the Iceni and the neighbouring Trinovantes in a large-scale revolt, sacking Camulodunum (Colchester), Londinium (London) and Verulamium (St Albans) before finally being defeated at an unknown location, probably in the West Midlands somewhere along Watling Street.Agricola 14-17; Annals 14:29-39; Dio Cassius, Roman History 62:1-12
The Iceni are recorded as a civitas of Roman Britain in Ptolemy's GeographyPtolemy, Geography 2.2, which names Venta Icenorum as a town of theirs. Venta, which is also mentioned in the Ravenna Cosmography,Ravenna Cosmography (British section) and the Antonine Itinerary,Antonine Itinerary (British section) was a settlement near the village of Caister Saint Edmunds, some 5 miles south of present-day Norwich, and a mile or two from the Bronze Age Henge at Arminghall.
Archaeological evidence of the Iceni includes torcs - heavy rings of gold, silver or electrum worn around the neck and shoulders.
Sir Thomas Browne the first British archaeological writer, noted in Hydriotaphia, Urn Burial (1658) of the Roman occupation, Boudica and Iceni coins -
A large statue of Boudica wielding a sword and charging upon a chariot can be seen in London on the north bank of the Thames by Westminster Bridge.
The Icknield Way, an ancient trackway linking East Anglia to the Chilterns may be named after the Iceni.
Ancient Roman enemies and allies | Ancient Britons | Roman Britain | History of Norfolk