Britannia was the Roman and Greek term for the geographical region of
Great Britain which was inhabited by the
Britons and is the name given to the female personification of the island. It is a term still used to refer to the island today. The name is
Latin, and derives from the Greek form
Prettanike or
Brettaniai, which originally designated a collection of islands with individual names, including
Albion or Great Britain; however, by the 1st century BC,
Britannia came to be used for Great Britain specifically. In AD 43 the
Roman Empire began its conquest of the island, establishing a
province they called
Britannia, which came to encompass the parts of the island south of
Caledonia (roughly
Scotland). The native
Celtic inhabitants of the province are known as the
Britons. In the 2nd century, Roman Britannia came to be personified as a goddess, armed with a trident and shield and wearing a
Corinthian helmet.
