Brittania

Britannia was a Roman-Britain province inhabited by the Britons, Belgae and Picts, encompassing parts of the island south of Caledonia (roughly Scotland) of the geographical region of Britain or Great Britain and Ireland and is the name given to the female personification of the island. It is a term still used to refer to the island. 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. By the 1st century BC, Britannia came to be used for Great Britain specifically. The Romans had initially called the entire provincial island "Britain" and it was only when the island was split into four provinces that two were given the name "Britannia". Although Britain had been designated part of the Roman Empire in 43 AD during the conquest of emperor Claudius it wasn't until the end of the 2nd century that Britannia had been pacified and fully adopted Roman practices.

In the 2nd century, Roman Britannia came to be personified as a goddess, armed with a trident and shield and wearing a Corinthian helmet.

The name Britannia long survived the end of Roman rule in Britain in the 5th century and yielded the name for the island in most European and various other languages, including the English Britain and the modern Welsh Prydain. After centuries of declining use, the Latin form was revived during the English Renaissance as a rhetorical evocation of a British national identity. Especially following the Acts of Union in 1707, which joined the Kingdoms of England and Scotland, the personification of the martial Britannia was used as an emblem of British imperial power and unity. A British cultural icon, she was featured on all modern British coinage series until the redesign in 2008, and still appears annually on the gold and silver "Britannia" bullion coin series. In 2015 a new definitive £2 coin was issued, with a new image of Britannia. She is also depicted in the Brit Awards statuette, the British Phonographic Industry's annual music awards.

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