The
Romans in Scotland - The Frontier
Builders
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Great walls stretching across the country
from coast to coast. Roads, forts, bathhouses,
bridges and art works. All this graphically
proclaimed the might of Rome. They brought
a style of civlisation which influenced the
peoples of Scotland long after they had packed
up and gone back to Rome, an influence which
was violently resisted by the tribes of the
north.
In 122 AD the Emperor Hadrian ordered the
construction of a wall: running for 120 km
between the Solway and the Tyne it was designed
to establish the bounds of the Roman Empire,
but not of Roman power. North of the wall
the Romans built forts like Newstead on the
River Tweed, made treaties with local tribes
to protect their frontier, and kept a careful
eye on the locals through a system of scouts.
Relationships with the Caledonian tribes north
of the wall were, however, tenuous.
The Emperor Antoninus Pius
The man who gave his name to
the Antonine Wall of 142 AD, which
runs between the the Rivers Clyde
and Forth, thus extending Roman
Britannia north from Hadrian's
Wall. The wall was designed as
a frontier for the empire, and
a barrier to raiding Caledonian
tribes. |
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 Hadrian’s
successor Antoninus Pius found that he needed
the prestige of a military triumph to boost
his imperial reputation in Rome. In 138 AD
he ordered his legions to advance to the Forth/
Clyde isthmus and construct a new frontier.
Just 20 years after the construction of Hadrian's
Wall, another was in progress.
Symbols
of Roman Might
The Romans brought their way of life with
them to Caledonia. There are bathhouses
like the one at Bearsden, temples for
religious rites, as well as grand funeral
monuments like the Crammond Lioness, now
in the National Museum of Scotland.
The Romans used these symbols and especially
the wall to project their imperial power.
The Bridgeness Slab from the Antonine
Wall, now in the National Museum of Scotland,
is a classic example of the ideology of
Roman imperialism. On one hand, barbarians
are crushed by a spear-carrying Roman
horsemen. On the other, the joys of Roman
rule are portrayed. These were powerful
pictorial symbols designed to convey their
message to Roman citizens and Caledonians
alike.
 Click
for Antonine Wall Factsheet
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