Isca Dumnoniorum 28 cities of Britain by the "History of the Britons" as Isca, although Ford read it as a reference to Penselwood and thought it more likely to be Lindinis (modern Ilchester). Isca was also known to the British as Caer Uisc but, after the Roman withdrawal from Britain around 410, there is very little evidence of habitation in Exeter for almost 300 years except for the remains of a building (possibly a church) in the area of the demolished forum and a few nearby graves dated to the 5th, 6th, and 7th centuries. After this, the historical record picks up
Nomen (Roman name) Nomen (Roman name) The nomen gentilicium, or "gentile name", designated a Roman citizen as a member of a gens. A gens, which may be translated as "race", "family", or "clan", constituted an extended Roman family, all of whom shared the same nomen, and claimed descent from a common ancestor. Particularly in the early Republic, the gens functioned as a state within the state, observing its own sacred rites, and establishing private laws, which were binding on its members, although not on the community as a whole. Although the other peoples of Italy also possessed nomina, the distinction between Romans and