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The Cornovii were a Celtic people of Iron Age and Roman Britain, who lived principally in the modern English counties of Cheshire, Shropshire, north Staffordshire, north Herefordshire and eastern parts of the Welsh counties of Flintshire, Powys and Wrexham.〔Higham (1993)〕 Their capital in pre-Roman times was probably a hill fort on The Wrekin. Ptolemy's 2nd century ''Geography'' names two of their towns: Deva Victrix (Chester), and Viroconium Cornoviorum (Wroxeter), which became their capital under Roman rule. Their territory was bordered by the Brigantes to the North, the Corieltauvi to the East, the Dobunni to the South, and the Deceangli, and Ordovices to the West. The people who inhabited the very north of the British mainland (modern Caithness), and Cornwall were also known by the same name, but according to mainstream or academic opinion were quite separate and unrelated peoples. (see List of Celtic tribes). ==The problem of tribal nomenclature== The first mention of the tribe occurs in the works of Ptolemy in the 2nd century A.D.: *"From these¹ toward the east are the Cornavi, among whom are the towns: Deva,² Legio XX Victrix 17 *30 56°45, Viroconium³ 16 *45 55°45." (Ptolemy Geographia II.ii) The name may mean "People of the Horn". Graham Webster in ''The Cornovii'' (1991) cites Anne Ross's hypothesis that the tribal name(s) may be totemic cult-names referring to a "horned god" cult followed by the tribe(s) and although there is no direct evidence of this, Webster points out that it is interesting that at Abbot's Bromley the "horn dance" which he believes survived from pagan ritual (something questioned by other folklorists〔Hutton, R. ''The Stations of the Sun: a history of the ritual year in Britain.'' Oxford University Press (2001)〕) — Abbot's Bromley being only 55 km north east of the old tribal centre at Wroxeter (Virconium Cornoviorum). In addition, Webster quotes Professor Charles Thomas as having made a "good case" for such totemic ethnonyms in Scotland.〔Webster (1991). p. 21.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Cornovii (Midlands)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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