Isca Dumnoniorum - Early Settlement

Early Settlement

The favourable location on a dry ridge of land ending in a spur that overlooks a navigable river that was teeming with fish, and with fertile land nearby, suggests that it would have been a site that was occupied early. The discovery of coins dating from the Hellenistic period in the city indicates the existence of an Iron Age settlement that was trading with the Mediterranean region as early as 250 BC.

The Latin name for Exeter, Isca Dumnoniorum ("Water of the Dumnonii"), suggests that the city was of Celtic origin. Isca is derived from a Brythonic Celtic word for flowing water, which was given to the Exe and, elsewhere, to the River Usk (Welsh: 'Afon Wysg) on which Caerleon near Newport, South Wales stands. The Romans gave the city the name Isca Dumnoniorum in order to distinguish it from Isca Augusta, modern Caerleon; the name may have been suggested by a Celtic adviser to the Romans, rather than by the original inhabitants of the place.