Belgae. A British civitas. The Romans applied the name Belgae to a whole group of tribes in north-west Gaul, but the appearance of a civitas of this name in Britain is something of a mystery. According to Ptolemy its territory included not only Winchester but Bath and a nearby, but as yet unidentified, settlement called Ischalis. It seems likely that Ptolemy has made an error here (he made others) since the resulting shape of the territory of the Belgae would bear little resemblance to pre-Roman tribal geography and would be something of an administrative nightmare. If the civitas was actually focused around Winchester there is still a problem, since this area seems to have been part of the old kingdom of the Atrebates. The civitas of the Belgae was therefore most probably an artificial creation of the Roman administration, like the neighbouring civitas of the Regni, and was created at about the same time in c. ad 80 following the death of King Cogidubnus. Its administrative capital at Winchester was known as Venta Belgarum. The town walls enclosed about 140 acres, and though there were extra-mural suburbs, its population was probably no more than 3,000–4,000.

Keith Branigan

Belgae an ancient Celtic people inhabiting Gaul north of the Seine and Marne Rivers, eventually defeated by Julius Caesar in the Gallic Wars of 58–51 bc. At the beginning of the 1st century bc some of the Belgae had crossed to southern England, where they established kingdoms around Colchester, Winchester, and Silchester.