![]() He set about strengthening Hadrian’s Wall, and re-occupied the Antonine Wall with a garrison to ensure a strong position for campaigning north that retraced the steps of Agricola over a century before. In AD 208, Emperor Lucius Septimius Severus travelled to Britannia with an army of over 40,000 soldiers, intent on conquering all of Caledonia. After only eight years since the wall’s completion, the Roman’s abandoned the Antonine Wall and forts, choosing to withdraw to Hadrian’s Wall in AD 162. ![]() In addition to the main wall defences, the Romans built a number of coastal forts that probably functioned as supply bases, in addition to several forts from the redundant Gask Ridge line first built sometime between AD 70 and 80. Unlike the stone construction of Hadrian’s Wall, the Antonine Wall was built of turf on a stone foundation, reaching heights of around four metres, and was supported by a chain of 19 forts spread out every two miles. There are no surviving accounts documenting Urbicus’s campaign, but inscriptions at the Antonine Wall suggests that three legions were involved (supported by auxiliary units), including the Legio II Augusta based at Caerleon, the Sixth Victrix based at York, and the Twentieth Valeria Victrix based at Chester (which are credited with the walls construction). ![]()
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