Britannia

File:British pre-decimal penny 1963 reverse.png

British penny from 1963. The coin has a relief of Britannia sitting next to the sea. She holds a trident and shield and she wears a helmet. On her shield is the Union Jack.

The National Armada memorial in Plymouth depicting Britannia

This page is about the image of a woman representative of Britain. For the Roman province, see Roman Britain.

Not to be confused with Britannica.

Britannia (/brɪˈtæniə/) 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.

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Britannia sitting on a globe in the centre of a map of the British Empire from 1888

File:Romanwallinscotl00macduoft raw 0445.png

Roman altar dedicated to Britannia in the Hunterian Museum, Glasgow. The Latin: [Britanniae] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) is abbreviated as: Britanni on the inscription.

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" (Latin: [Sancta Britannia] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)). 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.

Britannia Media

• The death of Admiral Lord Nelson - in the moment of victory! by James Gillray (cropped).jpg

  Britannia mourning the death of Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson at the victorious Battle of Trafalgar in a cartoon by James Gillray

• Triple Entente.jpg

  1914 Russian poster depicting the Triple Entente – Britannia (right) and Marianne (left) flank Mother Russia, with Britannia's association with the sea provided by an anchor

• First-class rater Britannia.2.jpg

  King George V's famed racing yacht HMY Britannia in the 1890s

• 1888 History of Flagellation.png

  Caricature of Britannia being flogged (c. 1770)

• Boeing 767-304(ER), Britannia Airways JP6291725.jpg

  Britannia Airways with depiction of Britannia on the livery

Related pages

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