Cunobelin is Shakespeare's Cymbeline
Cunobelinus was a historical king in pre-Roman Britain, known from Suetonius, Dio Cassius, and by inscribed coins. He controlled much of south-eastern England, as "Britannorum rex" ("king of the Britons"). As Cymbeline he rules Britain in the Shakespeare play . Cunobelinus took power around AD 9, minting coins from Camulodunum (Colchester) and Verlamion (St Albans). Cunobelinus maintained good relations and trade with the Roman Empire, using Latin and classical motifs on his coins, some of which have a palm or laurel wreath design, indicating a military victory. Strabo says such British kings sent embassies to Augustus. Cunobelinus had three sons, but one was banished from Britain by his father and sought refuge with the emperor Caligula, who treated this as if the entire island had submitted to him. Caligula prepared an invasion of Britain, but abandoned it. Cunobelinus died some time before 43. Emperor Claudius found a pretext for the invasion of Britain, and the two sons of Cunobelinus led the failed resistance to the conquest.
The parallels to the play are very significant: favorable connections by Cymbeline with Rome of Augustus during the lifetime of Jesus, despite hostilities with Rome seemingly favoring the British, and the son's banishment to Rome (compare the banishment of his son-in-law Posthumus in the play). The three sons become two sons and a daughter. Shakespeare confronts Roman values with British ones and credits the latter with some superiority, not least in the termination of a war advantageously by Cymbeline, like Coriolanus.
Picture and data courtesy of the Yorck Project, under Creative Commons Attribution-Share- Alike License (Wikipedia)
