Argentocoxos
Argentocoxos
Caledonian chief
Argentocoxos was a Caledonian chief in the early 3rd century.[1] He is known from the Historia Romana of Cassius Dio, who gives an account of the campaigns of Septimius Severus in that region.[1] His name means "silver leg" and shows that the Picts were Celts.[2]
After treaty negotiations in the year 210, his wife spoke with the Empress, Julia Augusta, about Caledonian and Roman society. Dio presents the account with a traditional topos, contrasting the vigorous virtue of barbarian life with Roman decadence[3]
...a very witty remark is reported to have been made by the wife of Argentocoxus, a Caledonian, to Julia Augusta. When the empress was jesting with her, after the treaty, about the free intercourse of her sex with men in Britain, she replied: "We fulfil the demands of nature in a much better way than do you Roman women; for we consort openly with the best men, whereas you let yourselves be debauched in secret by the vilest."[4]