The Antonine Wall

The Roman army which had taken part in the earlier campaigns was one of the most successful fighting forces that the world has ever seen. For nearly eight centuries it was pre-eminent in the field. The core of that fighting force until the late 3rd century was the legion. There were about 30 legions in the empire, each a little over 5,000 strong. Four were stationed in Britain until AD 87 or 88, when one was withdrawn.

These heavily armed infantry regiments were supported by smaller units, nominally either 500 or 1,000 strong, either infantry or cavalry, or a mixture of both. In the 2nd century there were over 60 such units in Britain, giving a total strength for the army of the province of about 53,000. Not all these soldiers were based on the northern frontier. There may have been 30,000 men in the north, bearing in mind that not all units would have been at full strength.

These regiments were based in forts. Generally these forts, linked by roads, were about a day's march (some 14-20 miles) apart, though they were closer on the frontiers such as Hadrian's Wall and the Antonine Wall. The barrack-blocks for the soldiers were normally built of timber. In the 1st century the commanding officer's house, the headquarters building and the granaries were also of timber, but in the 2nd century they were usually of stone. 

The buildings were packed together relatively tightly and were surrounded by ramparts of turf (stone was rarely used) and at least two ditches. Up to four gates provided for easy movement. The forts - and frontiers - were built by the soldiers themselves. Each legion contained its own architect-engineers, surveyors, masons and carpenters; even a glazier is attested.

There is no evidence that the army received any outside help in its construction projects, though there is a possibility that civilians were used in the fetching and carrying of materials.  

The use of turf to build the fort ramparts - and the Antonine Wall itself - demonstrates that much of the surrounding countryside had been cleared of trees and was used for the pasturing of animals. There is little evidence for arable farming in Scotland at this time. Analysis of botanical remains suggests that the tree cover in the Roman period was not very different from today's, with a light covering of mixed deciduous woodland and a ground flora of herbaceous plants, mosses, shrubs and bracken growing at the edge of the woodland.

Information and images in these pages are extracts from the HMSO publication 'Invaders of Scotland' by Anna Ritchie and David J Breeze. This fascinating volume contains many more images and drawings and continues the invaders theme with sections on the Vikings and Angles. Well worth the price. To buy this book try at Amazon.com for ISBN 011494136X

Roman soldiers were well paid. To their forts were attracted merchants, inn-keepers and women - in fact all those who wished to transfer as much as possible of the soldiers pay into their own pockets. Little is known in Scotland of civil settlements which typically sprang up outside forts elsewhere in the empire. At Inveresk - beyond the east end of the Antonine Wall - excavation has demonstrated that the buildings outside the 2nd century fort were of timber but were later replaced in stone. The layout suggests that the buildings were set out along the main street which left the east gate of the fort.

One of the buildings here contained a furnace  and was clearly used for industrial purposes. Other buildings in civil settlements would have been inns and shops, temples and houses. Although a Roman soldier was not allowed to marry according to Roman law, he might acquire an unofficial wife and perhaps marry her according to local custom. This union was retrospectively recognised by the State when he retired. The wife and children would have lived in the civil settlement: sons often appeared to have joined their father's regiment. Sometime these civil settlements gained self-governing rights. One such case in Scotland, at Carriden at the east end of the Antonine Wall.

We know of no other examples of local government in Scotland during any of the Roman periods; certainly no towns or cities seem to have been founded. The whole of the frontier zone was probably military territory, administered by the army.

The inhabitants of the civil settlements were wholly dependent on the army and would follow it wherever it led. There is no evidence that any of the settlements established outside forts in Scotland survived the withdrawal of the army in either the 1st or the 2nd century. 

Surprisingly there is little tangible sight of contact between the soldiers and civilians of the fort, with its attendant village, and the people of the countryside. Some Roman objects found their way on to native farms, but relatively few. More artefacts were acquired by the higher strata of society, especially those who lived in the brochs and duns of southern Scotland.

Many Roman objects have also been found on Traprain Law in East Lothian, which has led to the suggestion that the tribe whose capital that was, the Votadini, had a special treaty relationship with Rome.

The tribesmen of this northern frontier area must have been taxed by the Romans, as no doubt they had been by their previous masters. Taxation was usually in cash, though it might be in kind in frontier areas. Payment in hides and also recruits are attested on other frontiers.

Some of the young men of the northern tribes may have joined the Roman army. (Most men joined the army between the ages of 18 and 21.) If they remained peaceful, and there is little evidence for warfare within the northern region of the Roman province - the local people may have had little contact with the army.  The tribes beyond the frontier were different. As we have seen, they raided or invaded the Roman province on several occasions

One interesting aspect of the Roman records of these incursions is that the named tribes are reduced in number as the centuries pass. Thus, by the 4th century we know of only one tribe beyond the Forth, the Picts, though this nation seems to have contained a number of divisions which may have reflected earlier tribes swept up into a new confederacy. 

Here may lie the major gift of Rome to the people of north Britain. The presence of a united political entity in the southern part of the island seems to have led to the amalgamation of the disparate tribes beyond the frontier, which then enabled them better to oppose the might of Rome. Certainly the Picts would need the strength formed from unity in the centuries ahead as they faced invasion by Scots from Ireland, Angles from Germany, and Vikings from Norway.

Information and images in these pages are extracts from the HMSO publication 'Invaders of Scotland' by Anna Ritchie and David J Breeze. This fascinating volume contains many more images and drawings and continues the invaders theme with sections on the Vikings and Angles. Well worth the price. To buy this book try at Amazon.com for ISBN 011494136X

IN AD 79 the Roman army under Gnaeus I Julius Agricola, governor of Britain, reached the River Tay. Four years later the same army defeated the Caledonian tribes at the battle of Mons Graupius and the conquest of Britain seemed to be assured. But this was not to be. Within a generation the Romans had withdrawn to the Tyne-Solway line, where they were to build Hadrian's Wall in the 120s; and for the next 300 years that Wall was to be the northwest frontier of the Roman empire. 

On two occasions, in the 140s and again from 208 to 211, Roman armies conquered southern Scotland, and in the 4th century there were also to be military expeditions against the Picts; but for most of that period the Roman influence in Scotland was restricted to the occupation of outpost forts in the Cheviots and its foothills, to the mounting of scouting patrols, and the formalising of treaties with its Celtic tribal chieftains. 

Northern Scotland remained unconquered, southern Scotland frontier country.

The Invasion of Scotland
The Romans invaded Britain in AD 43 not for economic reasons but, according to the Roman writer Suetonius, in order to provide the new emperor, Claudius, with military prestige. 

In a military dictatorship such as the Roman Empire the winning of military victories was the best way for an emperor to secure his position on the throne. Claudius duly gained his triumph and promptly lost interest in Britain. It was the accession of a new emperor, Vespasian, in 69 that brought about a change in policy. 

Vespasian had served in the army of invasion. He ordered a new initiative in Britain and within the space of less than 15 years his governors conquered northern England, Wales and southern Scotland.

Gnaeus Julius Agricola came to Britain as governor in AD 77. After operations elsewhere he moved north in 79, reaching the River Tay. The tribes of southern Scotland were incorporated into the province, the Forth-Clyde isthmus was garrisoned, and there the Roman advance halted. 

Agricola turned his attention to other matters, campaigning in the west and even toying with the idea of an invasion of Ireland. In 82 he returned to this northern advance, moving against the tribes of Caledonia. It was not until nearly the end of the following season that he was able to force - and win - a set-piece battle at an unknown location called Mons Graupius. 

It was an l8th-century misreading of this name which led the Grampian mountains, and later Grampian Region, to be so named.

Agricola had served in Britain for seven campaigns and he retired soon after his victory. He clearly considered that he had decisively defeated the Caledonians, and his son-in-law, the Roman historian Tacitus, was to write, about 15 years later, that Britain was conquered. 

Roman success was short-lived. Heavy military defeats on the Danube forced the Romans to withdraw part of their army from Britain in 87 or 88, and as a result most forts beyond the Cheviots were abandoned. By the end of the century those bases in turn were given up and the most northerly Roman forts lay on the Tyne-Solway isthmus. The status quo was recognised by the Emperor Hadrian, who ordered the construction of his Wall on that line.

Hadrian's Wall took many years to build. Work probably started in 122 or 123 and the troops were still modifying the frontier installations at the time of the emperor's death in 138. Within a few months his successor, Antoninus Pius, decided on a new forward policy in Britain and preparations started in 139 with the recommissioning of the fort at Corbridge on one of the two main routes into Scotland.

Information and images in these pages are extracts from the HMSO publication 'Invaders of Scotland' by Anna Ritchie and David J Breeze. This fascinating volume contains many more images and drawings and continues the invaders theme with sections on the Vikings and Angles. Well worth the price. To buy this book try at Amazon.com for ISBN 011494136X