Venta Belgarum Venta Belgarum Venta Belgarum was a town in the Roman province of Britannia Superior, the civitas capital of the local tribe, the Belgae, and which later became the city of Winchester. The name comes from Common Brittonic "*Uentā", meaning "town, place", plus the Latin genitive plural "Belgarum" "of the Belgae (tribe)". The settlement was apparently established around AD 70, partially on the site of Oram's Arbour which had been abandoned for some years. It became the tribal capital of the Belgae who had probably held several Iron Age hill forts in the near vicinity of the site (St Catherine's Hill,
England–Wales border Silures, traditionally the area between the rivers Usk, Wye and the Severn estuary. It was centred at different times on "Venta" (Caerwent), from which it derived its name, and "Isca Augusta" (Caerleon). Gwent generally allied with, and at various times was joined with, the smaller Welsh kingdom of Ergyng, centred in present-day southern Herefordshire west of the Wye (and deriving its name from the Roman town of "Ariconium"); and the larger kingdom of Glywysing in modern Glamorgan. The name Glywysing may indicate that it was founded by a British native of "Glevum" (Gloucester). The Battle of Mons Badonicus, circa 500,