Defending the Northern Frontier

Walls

The Wall

Home on the Wall

Hadrian

IMP(ERATORIS) CAES(ARIS) TRAIAN(I) / HADRIANI AUG(USTI) / LE(GIO) II AUG(USTA) / A(ULO) PLATORIO NEPOTE LEG(ATO) PR(O) PR(AETORE)

This work of the Emperor Caesar Trajan Hadrian Augustus (was built by) the Second Legion Augusta under Aulus PlatoriusNepos, propraetorian legate.

Hadrian and Britannia

122/134 Addressing the troops

122 Arrival in Britain 134 Britannia

119 Defeat of rebels?

Purpose?

• Military

• Economic

• Border

Wall – Early Years

Period Construction Width (ft.)

Section

122-126 Broad WallNarrow WallTurf WallFortlets

108

20

Wallsend to Irthing RiverIrthing to Burtholme BeckTo Bowness

After 122 Forts, mile castles, turrets

By 138 Turf Wall replaced by stone

~140 Abandoned – ditches covered at intervals

~161 Reoccupied

Types of Wall

X-Section

Components of Wall

• Wall

– Forts

– Turrets – signal towers

– Fortlets or milecastles

• Ditch (N)

• Vallum (S) with protecting mounds

Types of Wall

• All c.15’ high

• Broad Wall (10’)

• Narrow Wall (8’ on a 10’ base)

• Turf Wall (18’ wide)

– Later rebuilt in stone

N

Forts

• Newcastle (Pons Aelius)

• Benwell (Condercum)

• Halton Chesters(Onnum)

• Housesteads(Vercovicium)

– Built after broad foundations but before narrow wall

• Great Chesters

– Replaced a milecastle

Forts

• Carvoran

– A Stanegate fort that was near but not on the wall

• Birdoswald

• Castlesteads

– Only fort not attached to the wall, garrisoned by auxiliaries

• Stanwix (near Carlisle)

– Built by VI Victrix but garrisoned by a miliary cavalry unit

Forts Added after Wall

• Wallsend (Segedunum)

• Chesters (Cilurnum)

– Wall crosses the Tyne

– A cavalry fort

• Carrawburgh (Brocolitia)

– An early addition

• Burgh by Sands (Aballava)

– Added to reinforce lines near Solway

• Drumburgh

• Bowness

– Terminus of the wall

– Possible supply-depot

Fort Astride Wall

Benwell

Milecastles

XX Valeria Victrix II AugustaVI Victrix

•Milecastles have arched gateways.

•House from 8 to 32 legionaries.

Milecastle 42

Ditch

Turret

Turf Section

Turf and Stone

Amiens Patera

Rudge Cup uncolored replica in British Museum

Staffordshire Moorlands Patera

Hadrian’s Wall Forts

The Rudge Cup• A.MAISABALLAVAVXELODUMCAMBOGLANSBANNA• A. MAIS ABALLAVA VXELODUM CAMBOGLANS BANNA

The Amiens patera• MAISABALLAVAVXELODVNVMCAMBOG...SBANNAESICA• MAIS ABALLAVA VXELODVNVM CAMBOG...S BANNA ESICA

The Moorlands patera• MAISCOGGABATAVXELODVNVMCAMMOGLANNARIGOREVALIAELI

DRACONIS• MAIS COGGABATA VXELODVNVM CAMMOGLANNA

Drumburgh ? Stanwix CastleheadsBirdoswald Great Chesters

Wall – Middle Years

Period Events

~140 Abandoned – ditches covered at intervalsForay into Scotland

~161 Abandon Antonine wallReoccupy and rebuild – Use of British labor in rebuilding and maintenance

Vindolanda Fort

Signaling

Short Range Communication

• Trumpets– Charge, retreat

• Cornets ( played by cornicen)– Motion of colors

• Classicum or buccina (horn)– Used by commander, salutes, executions

• Tuba (played by tubicen)– Signal trumpet

Vegetius, De Re Militari

Trajan’s Column

Longer range communication

• Beacons

• Semaphores

• Coded signals

• Manpower needed?

• caelum crebris imbribus ac nebulis foedum

Signaling

The other 'evidence' from field archaeology, aerial photography and excavations for Roman military signalling systems is hypothetical, and varies from the ridiculous to the inconclusive.

Donaldson, “Signalling, Communications and the Roman Imperial Army” 1988

• Probable Method: pony express

Vindolanda

Resources

• Find slag

• Find coal in 2nd C.

Where?

The Place

When? Stages

Period Dates Size Occupants

I c AD 85-95 3 acres Coh I Tungrorum

II c AD 95-100 5 acres Coh VIIII Batavorum

III AD 100-105 5 acres Coh VIIII Batavorum

IV AD 105-120 8 acres Coh I Tungrorum; Vardulli cavalry +Legionaries;

V AD 120-130 5 acres Coh I Tungrorum ; stone fort

VI c AD 130-160’s 3.6acres Possibly Coh II Nerviorum

VIA c AD 160-200 4 acres. Unknown – Possibly North African in origin or Coh II Nerviorum

VIB c AD 208-211 1.5acres Unknown

VII c AD 212-280 3.6acres Coh IV Gallorum

VIII c AD 300-367 3.6acres Coh IV Gallorum

IX AD 367-410 3.6acres Unknown –Riacus

X c AD 410-600 3.6acres Unknown – Brigomaglos and Riacus only known occupants

Who?

Leading Cast

• Flavius Cerialis, Prefect

• Aelius Brocchus, another prefect (off-stage)

Roman Names

Forename Family name Nickname, local name

or tribal name

Praenomen gentilicium or nomen Cognomen

? Flavius Cerialis

Acquired Roman

Citizenship after

accession of first

Flavian, Vespasian

From Petillius Cerialis

Significant Others

• Sulpicia Lepidina, wife of Flavius

• Claudia Severa, wife of Aelius

Their Home

Correspondents

• Felicio, a centurion

• Priuatis, a slave

• Caecilius September, prefect of a cavalry unit

The Extras

• Types of auxiliary units

– Quingenaria or milliaria

– Equitata

• VIIII Batavians

• I Tungrians

• Itinerant cavalry, legionaries, other units

Cavalry Present

Bronze military diploma

Malpas, Cheshire 103 CE

To:

Reburrus, a Spanish decurion in the 1st

Pannonian cavalry

Military Diploma

From Hadrian for the units:

which are in Britain…. … soldiers who have served twenty-five years and received an honourable discharge …. To them and to their children for posterity has been granted … citizenship.

Marriage

Life at VindolandaThe Written Record

Not Written on Stone

• Papyrus

• Vellum

• Wax tablet – business and legal use

• Ink tablet – ephemeral use

Wax Writing Tablet/Styli

Found in or near the

River Walbrook, London

1st or 2nd century

Wax Writing Tablet-Vindolanda

Writing Tablets and Scribes

PROC AVG DEDERVNT

BRIT PROV

'The imperial procurators of

the province of Britain

issued this

Ox Goad Or Pen?

Challenge-Reading the Tablets

• Conservation

• Dirt: Infra-red photography

• Reading script

• New words, new spelling

• Filling in missing parts– Formulaic writing

– Standard abbreviations

– Recognized names

Script

Cerialis Seeks Advancement

Now (?), in whatever way you wish, fulfil what I expect of you and ... so furnish me with friends that thanks to you I may be able to enjoy a pleasant period of military service.

Wishing Cerialis Success in his Upcoming Meeting with the Governor

Expenses

• Dinners with Brocchus

• Hunting

• Distribution of beer to the decurions

• Chickens

– Dinner guests

– Holidays

Account

Account - Details

• Cloaks, number 6, 11 /2 denarii each, total 69 denarii

• Skillets, number 4, denarii 2 7/8 and 1 as each, total 11¾ denarii.

• Scarlet curtain (?), measuring 11 ½ , total 54 ½ + denarii

• Hair, 9 pounds in weight, 5¾ denarii per pound, total 51¾ denarii.

• Drawers, number 10, 2 ½ denarii each, total 25 denarii.

Supplies – Detailed List

•Wheat

•Hides from tannery at Catterick

•Send cash

•Delivery delay because the bad roads would have resulted in injuries to the animals

Inventory

Buying Food for the Holiday, etc.

•Barley

•Beer

•Wine

•Fish-sauce

More for the Saturnalia

Severus to his Candidus, greetings. Regarding the ... for the Saturnalia, I ask you, brother, to see to them at a price of 4 or six asses and radishes to the value of not less than 1/2 denarius. Farewell, brother.’

Back: To Candidus, slave of Genialis the prefect, from Severus, slave of ?

Recipe

Found in kitchen

•Garlic

•Spiced wine

•Olives ?

•Salt ?

New Year’s Day Sacrifice

FootwearEarly

Late

Lepidina’s ‘Designer’ Sandal

Birthday Invitation

On 11 September, sister, for the day of the celebration of my birthday, I give you a warm invitation to make sure that you come to us, to make the day more enjoyable for me by your arrival, if you are present (?).

To Sulpicia Lepidina from Claudia Severa, wife of Aelius Brocchus

Birthday Letter

Child’s Sock

HW

INTEREA PAVIDAM VOLITANS PINNA

TA .VBEM segn.Meanwhile, the winged [bird, rumor], flying though the trembling city. Virgil IX

473 Slack

Neglecting HW?

Damaged pottery

From Graufinesque, S. Gaul

The Rank and File

Roll call

18 May, net number of the First Cohort of Tungrians, of which the commander is Iulius Verecundus the prefect: 752, including centurions 6 of whom there are absent:

[list numbers of absentees and where they are]

Work

Three groups

•Building a hospitium

•Working at lime-kilns

•Getting clay for making wattle fences

Recommendation Letter

Clothing

I have sent (?) you ... pairs of socks from Sattua, two pairs of sandals and two pairs of underpants, two pairs of sandals ... Greet ...ndes, Elpis, Iu..., ...enus, Tetricus and all your messmates with whom I pray that you live in the greatest good fortune

Expense Account

•Wine

•Barley

•Wagon-axles

•Carriage

•Accommodation

•Vests

Travel

Account of Loan(?) of Wheat

Request for Leave

I ask, my lord Cerialis, that you consider me a worthy person to whom to grant leave

Masclus’ Request

P.S. My fellow soldiers have no beer. Please order some to be sent.

Purchases by Lower Ranks

•Pepper

•Tallow

•Towels

•Overcoat

•Thongs

Complaint

I want you to know that I am in very good health, as I hope you are in turn, you neglectful man, who have sent me not even one letter. But I think that I am behaving in a more considerate fashion in writing to you ... to you, brother, ... my messmate.

Mistreatment - Complaint

I implore your majesty not to allow me, an innocent man, to have been beaten with rods… I implore your mercifulness not to allow me, a man from overseas and an innocent one, about whose good faith you may inquire, to have been bloodied by rods as if I had committed some crime.

Intelligence on the Britons

... the Britons are unprotected by armour (?). There are very many cavalry. The cavalry do not use swords nor do the wretched Britons

(Brittunculi) mount in order to

throw javelins.

British Uprising

VicusFort

Development of Vici

Traditional model

• Extra mural area with bath house and a few traders and camp followers

• Economic development

• Some political independence– Survive dismantling of the fort

• Military annexes or fortified civilian annexes

Extramural Vindolanda

• Antonine (~160)

– Defensive enclosure perhaps to facilitate wagon parks, horse lines

• Severan (~210)

– Stone fort

• 3rd century

– Settlement

Vindolanda 3-4 C.

Baths

Baths

Footwear for the Baths

Roman-Celtic Temple

Model altar and stands

Brooch and pendant

The Environment c. 180 CE85-92 CE

Traditional View

• Fort – combatants

• Vicus – noncombatants

– Merchants

– Women

In the vicus or nearby

• Oxherd; keeper of pigs

• Brewer

• Veteran

• Guesthouse

Finds in barracks

• Female shoes – not just associated with prefect

• Bracelets and beads at Catterick

Shoes in barracks2nd C.

21% smaller sizes

Women in the fort - 3rd & 4th C.

• Weaving work

• Not just associated with prefects or centurions

• Fort boundaries porous in both directions

Antonine Wall

Severus

Division of Britannia

Antonine Wall

Hadrian’s Successors

Antoninus

Antoninus never willing made warPausanias

They prefer to preserve their empire rather than extend it indefinitely to profitless, barbarian peoples

Appian (~96-165)

They surround the empire with a circle of great camps

Aelius Aristides (120-189)

Antoninus Pius

• Generally shied away from military adventure

• Pressure from the north

• Reconstruction of base at Corbridge

• Victory over barbarians

• Antonine Wall

Corbridge – New Construction 139

AntonineOccupation of

Scotland

Military Occupation – Antonine Period

Interests of the Military

• Rank and file – pensions and booty

• Commanders of equestrian class

– Patronage

– Better posts in the Mediterranean

Reuse of Gask Ridge Forts

Elements of the Antonine Wall

• Rampart

• Ditch and mound to the north

• Military road to the south

Antonine vs Hadrian Walls

• Forts interspersed with smaller stations.

• No Vallum.

• Double the number of troops along smaller distance than Hadrian's Wall

• Turf not stone – stone reinforcement

• 14-16’ wide, probably 10’ high

Antonine Siege Fort

Wall at Rough Castle

Annex

Rough Castle

Principia, Bar Hill

Latrine, BearsdenArtist’s reconstruction

Wall with Fortlet

Distance Slabs

Bridgeness Distance Slab

Old Kirkpatrick

Summerston Farm, near BalmuildyIIIDCLXVIS = 3,666 ½ paces

Distance Slab Hutcheson Hill

Legio II Duntocher

Other victory commemorations

Consequences of Antonine Wall

• Forces involved ~6-7,000

• Pax Romana

• No evidence for native rule

• Increased use of stone construction

• New civilian communities follow the army

• Increased mining for iron and surface mining of coal

• Production of food for army

Continuation of Native Life

• Round houses

• No new concentrated settlements except near forts

• Natives reuse bronze but not iron from Romans

• Roman brooches

Roman Artefacts

Dunure (South Ayrshire)

Wigtownshire

Antonine Itinerary

• Fourteen numbered roads

• List stations along the roads with distances between them

Example

Iter III

(From London to the port of Dover)

Roman Name 1000 paces Miles Current Name

Durobrivis xxvii 31 Rochester

Duroverno xxv 28 Canterbury

Ad portum Dubris xiiii 18 Dover

Along the Way

• Mansiones, inns, every 30 miles or so– A bed for man and horse

– Food ” “

– A hot bath

– Storage of government goods

– Postal and police services

• Mutationes, changing stops

Chelmsford Mansio

Godmanchester

Mansio

Baths

80’

Dining room

Abandonment of Antonine Wall

• Under Governor Julius Verus the wall was abandoned (c. 154-8 CE)

• Hadrian’s wall was refurbished

• “Military Road” to supply Hadrian wall forts

• Outpost forts north of Hadrian’s Wall abandoned by 185 CE

Maintenance

Breach of Hadrian’s Wall?

Victory in Britain

Commodus• Breach of Hadrian's Wall

• C. 180 Governor Ulpius Marcellus sent to put down rebellions

• 184-5 Victory in Britain

• 185 Protest by British legions against prefect, Perennis

Numeri

• Non-citizens

• Small units

• Legionary officers

• Identified with nations

• No entitlement to citizenship

• Less-well armed than regulars

– Exploratores - scouts

Sarmatians

• 175 Brought to Britain by Marcus Aurelius

• Brougham cemetery

– Sword and belt fittings

– Horses

– Unusual burial - women

Archaeology • May/June 2005

Sarmatian Treasure - Gaul

Pertinax

• 126 Son of freeman and clothmaker

• c. 150 Teacher of literature

• 161 Volunteers for military, commander of auxiliary cohort, successful in battles in Asia

• 165 Legionary tribune in York, raised to equestrian rank

• 168 Procurator in N. Italy, Dacia

• Commander of units against Germans

Pertinax

• Made Senator and legionary commander

• 175 Consul

• 176 Series of governorships of provinces

– 185-187 Governor of Britain

• 189 Mayor of Rome

• 192 Consul

• Emperor1/1/193 to 3/28/193

Clodius Albinus

• c.140 Born near Carthage, Senatorial rank– 175 Governor of Bithynia

– 187 Consul

– 189 Governor fo Germany

• 191-2 Governor of Britain

• 193 Made Caesar by Septimius Severus

• 195 Severus names his own sons successors, forcing out Albinus– Supported by legions on German frontier and from Spain

– Defeated near Lugdunum (Lyon); suicide?

Lugdunum - SeverusSeverus

• Pannonia– XIIII Gemina

• Moesia– XI Claudia

• Germania Superior– XXII Primigenia

• Germania Inferior– I Minerva

– XXX Ulpia Traiana

Albinus

• Britannia– II Augusta

– VI Victrix

– XX Valeria

• Hispania– VII Gemina