Caereni

The Caereni were an ancient tribe or people inhabiting a region in northern Britain, known from a single mention by the Roman geographer Claudius Ptolemy in his Geography (c. 150 CE). Ptolemy places them in the highlands of what is now Scotland, specifically within the area corresponding roughly to the modern counties of Sutherland and Caithness.

The precise ethnic affiliation, language, and cultural practices of the Caereni remain largely unknown due to the scarcity of historical and archaeological evidence. Their name is likely of Celtic origin, though its exact meaning is uncertain. It is presumed they were one of the many independent tribes that resisted Roman expansion into northern Britain. Their territory lay beyond the Antonine Wall and thus was never fully under Roman control.

Aside from Ptolemy's brief mention, there are no other contemporary or later sources that directly refer to the Caereni. Their subsequent fate and assimilation into larger tribal groups or the later kingdoms of Scotland are unrecorded. Consequently, information about the Caereni is extremely limited and reliant on interpretations of Ptolemy's work and general knowledge of Iron Age Britain.