Arvirargus

Who is Arvirargus?

Arvirargus was a legendary, and possibly historical, British king of the 1st century AD. A shadowy historical Arviragus is known only from a cryptic reference in a satirical poem by Juvenal, in which a giant turbot presented to the Roman emperor Domitian is said to be an omen that "you will capture some king, or Arviragus will fall from his British chariot-pole".

Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae presents a legendary Arviragus who is contemporary with the emperor Claudius. However, Geoffrey's work is highly romanticized and contains little trustworthy historical fact, rendering his account of Arvirargus suspect.

According to Geoffrey, Arvirargus is a son of the former king Kimbelinus. He succeeds to the throne of Britain after his elder brother, Guiderius, dies fighting the invading Romans under Claudius. Arviragus puts on his brother's armour and leads the army of the Britons against the Romans. When he learns that Claudius and his commander, Hamo, have fled into the woods, Arvirargus follows him until they reach the coast. The Britons kill Hamo as he tries to flee onto a ship and the place is named Southampton after him. Claudius is able to reassemble his troops elsewhere and he besieges Portchester until it falls to his forces.