chiefdom · British Isles

Cornavii (Caithness)

100 CE – 200 CE (approx.)

People of Caithness at the northern tip of mainland Britain, recorded by Ptolemy and named after their headlands.

Origins

Ptolemy's Geography of about 150 places the Cornavii in the far north-east of mainland Scotland, in modern Caithness. Their name, from a Celtic word for horn, probably means 'people of the promontory', referring to headlands such as Duncansby Head or Dunnet Head; the same name was borne by the Cornovii of the English Midlands and by the people of Cornwall.

Rule and society

Nothing is recorded of their rulers. Caithness has one of the densest concentrations of brochs in Scotland, tall drystone towers built in the last centuries BCE, which point to a society of powerful local families controlling fertile farmland and coastal resources.

Decline and legacy

The Cornavii do not appear after Ptolemy. Caithness later formed part of the lands of the northern Picts before falling under Norse rule as part of the earldom of Orkney in the 9th and 10th centuries.

Few sources survive for this state; details are uncertain.

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Cornavii (Caithness). In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/cornavii-caithness
MLA
“Cornavii (Caithness).” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/cornavii-caithness. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Cornavii (Caithness).” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/cornavii-caithness.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Cornavii (Caithness)’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/cornavii-caithness (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻