Carausius, Allectus and the First Brexit, featuring the Frome Hoard

Lecture

 

Carausius, Allectus and the First Brexit

Featuring the Frome Hoard

By Sam Moorhead

 

Monday 13th of September 2021

10:30AM

Via Zoom

Book a free ticket at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/carausius-allectus-and-the-first-brexit-featuring-the-frome-hoard-tickets-151028366911?aff=ebdssbonlinesearch

 

In recent years, the ‘British’ emperors Carausius (c. AD 286-93) and Allectus (c. AD 293-6) have gained much publicity. This began in 2010 with the discovery of The Frome Hoard of 52,503 Roman coins, the largest cache of Roman coins ever found in Britain in a single pot. The coins have been saved for the Museum of Somerset at Taunton and should be published by the British Museum in the next two years. Because the hoard contains around 850 coins of Carausius, it enables us to carry out a major re-appraisal of the reign of Britain’s ‘forgotten emperor’, whose history can be told through some fine examples of medallic art that even include references to Virgil. More recently, Carausius and his ‘henchman’ Allectus have come into sharper focus as a result of 'Brexit' and this talk will outline the nature of the 'Breakaway British Empire' under Carausius and Allectus, how it began, how it faired and how it ended.