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Commius ( Commios, Comius, Comnios) was a king of the Belgae nation of the Atrebates, initially in Gaul, then in Britain, in the 1st century BC.
However this loyalty was not to last, as related by Aulus Hirtius in the final book of the De Bello Gallico, written after Caesar's death. While Caesar was in Cisalpine Gaul in the winter of 53, the legatus Titus Labienus believed that Commius had been conspiring against the Romans with other Gaulish tribes. Labienus sent a tribune, Gaius Volusenus, and some to summon Commius to a sham meeting at which they would execute him for his treachery, but Commius escaped with a severe head wound. He vowed never again to associate with Romans.Hirtius, De Bello Gallico
In 51 BC he returned to his homeland with a small mounted war-band for a campaign of agitation and guerrilla warfare. That winter Mark Antony, a legionary legate at the time, ordered Volusenus to pursue him with cavalry, something Volusenus was more than happy to do. When the two groups of horsemen met Volusenus was victorious, but sustained a spear-wound to the thigh. Commius escaped and sued for peace through intermediaries. He offered hostages and promised he would live where he was told and no longer resist Caesar, on the condition that he never again had to meet a Roman. Antony granted his petition.Hirtius, De Bello Gallico
A 1st century AD source, Sextus Julius Frontinus's Strategemata, tells how Commius fled to Britain with a group of followers with Caesar in pursuit. When he reached the English Channel the wind was in his favour but the tide was out, leaving the ships stranded on the flats. Commius ordered the sails raised anyway. Caesar, following from a distance, assumed they were afloat and called off the pursuit.Sextus Julius Frontinus, Stratagemata 2:13.11
This suggests that the truce negotiated with Antony broke down and hostilities resumed between Commius and Caesar. However John Creighton suggests that Commius was sent to Britain as a condition of his truce with Antony - where better to ensure that he never again met a Roman? - and that Frontinus's anecdote either refers to an escape prior to the truce, or is historically unreliable, perhaps a legend Frontinus heard while governor of Britain (75 to 78 AD). Creighton argues that Commius was in fact set up as a friendly king in Britain by Caesar, and his reputation was rehabilitated by blaming his betrayal on Labienus (who deserted Caesar for Pompey in the civil war of 49 - 45 BC).John Creighton, Coins and power in Late Iron Age Britain, Cambridge University Press, 2000
Commius's name appears on coins of post-conquest date in Gaul, paired with either Garmanos or Carsicios. This suggests he continued to have some power in Gaul in his absence, perhaps ruling through regents. Alternatively, Garmanos and Carsicios may have been Commius's sons who noted their father's name on their own coins.
Three later kings, Tincomarus, Eppillus and Verica, are named on their coins as sons of Commius. From about 25 BC Commius appears to have ruled in collaboration with Tincomarus. After his death Tincomarus appears to have ruled the northern part of the kingdom from Calleva, while Eppillus ruled the southern part from Noviomagus (Chichester). Eppillus became sole ruler ca. AD 7. Verica succeeded him about 15, and ruled until shortly before the Roman conquest of 43.John Creighton, Coins and power in Late Iron Age Britain, Cambridge University Press, 2000; Philip de Jersey (1996), Celtic Coinage in Britain, Shire Archaeology, 1996; Sheppard Frere, Britannia: a History of Roman Britain, third edition, 1987
The name Commius (British *Combios 'cutter, smiter, killer') is thought to derive from the Celtic verb *kom·binati 'to cut, smite, kill' (Welsh cymynu, Old Irish com·ben).
Chris Rudd in his "Ancient British kings and other significant Britons" suggested Com- meaning “friend” or perhaps literally ‘one who lives with?
Commios (Comios, Com, Carmanos, Carsisios, Comanvs) is a Gallo-Belgic title meaning an "elective monarch”, a title which can be considered to be the same as the more ancient Gallic title Comanus. The title is illustrated on Gaulish numismatics of the Morini (Mvrinos), Andecavi (Ande-com-bos) Carmanum (Comios Carmastos) Sessui (Comios Cajrsicios) Eburones (Eburovi-com) Viducasses (Vde-com). The Commius of Caesar was the confederate head of one or more states in which there was no king at the time, and in which he held the highest title Commios. There are no coins extant of this Commius that we know of, so we cannot get at his real name and having afterwards been made king of the Atrebates by Caesar and subsequently of the Morini.
Commius appeared in the 2001 French movie Vercingétorix.
Caesar (Masters of Rome #5) by Colleen McCullough. A minor character in the series but portrayed accurately to history within a historical fiction novel.
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