Britannia

Britannia () is the national personification of Britain as a woman with a trident and shield and wearing a helmet. The image of Britannia was first used in classical antiquity. The word Britannia in Latin could mean the British Isles, the island of Great Britain, or the Roman province of Britain in the time of the Roman Empire.

Images of Britannia show her sitting or lying down with a spear and shield. This image was first used on Roman coins in the 2nd century AD. After the Romans, the image of Britannia was first used again for coins of the pound sterling made for Charles II of England, Scotland, and Ireland. These were the first to show Britannia with a Union Flag on her shield. After many victories of Britain's Royal Navy, coins with Britannia show Neptune's trident from 1797. Her image wears a helmet on coins after 1825.
Britannia was the common Latin name for Great Britain starting in the 1st century BC. Britannia replaced the name Albion as the common name for the island used by the Romans. After the Romans overcame the ancient Britons in war in 43 AD, Britannia could mean just the southern two thirds of the island which was under Roman control. (Caledonia, north of the River Forth in modern Scotland, was only sometimes overcome by the Roman army.) Britannia was also a goddess. Latin text on a gritstone base for a statue from Eboracum (York) gives the goddess the name "Holy Britannia" (). This stone was in existence in 1740, but it is now lost. A soldier in the Roman army dedicated another altar to the goddess Britannia near Castlehill Fort on the Antonine Wall. The altar is now in Glasgow. 

Related pages
 Ancient Britons
 Britons
 Brittany
 Brythonic languages
 Roman Britain
 Rule, Britannia!
 Sub-Roman Britain

References

Category:National personifications
Category:National symbols of the United Kingdom