Divided Britain. A bit of History.
I got interested in the Roman IX Hispana Legion and how it disappeared in 117AD or thereabouts.
Britain the island was split up around AD122 by the Roman Emperor Hadrian.
Hadrian
Britain had been invaded successfully in AD43 following two unsuccessful invasions by Julius Caesar but in the early 100s was having problems in the north. The Northerners and Scots were killing good Roman soldiers. Lots of them.
Sometime before Hadrian visited, to sort out the problem, a whole legion of 5000 men had disappeared while stationed in the northern town of York. It was more likely they had lost 3000 men, still a significant quantity as Hadrian brought with him 3000 legionaries of the sixth infantry legion to replace the lost ninth. This would make the usual 5000 men in a legion. The ninth being written off due to their losses.
The wall also consisted of a ditch.
The wall is still there 1900 years later
It actually took 15,000 men about 5 years to build the wall.
The two walls between Roman England and Scotland
Once built its success can be shown in the difference of speed at which the two sides developed.
England developed rapidly with Roman influence, whereas, Scotland continued with a tribal infrastructure well into the 3rd century and beyond. England developed a major network of roads and towns and trade routes to most of Europe. Scotland traded with few places and mainly the Scandinavian countries.
Image made at a Scottish bike rally last week
The Scottish did get troublesome and in 209 the Emperor Septimus Severus and a massive force of over 40,000 men, killed thousands of Scots. He also lost around 50,000 men according to some historians that are poor at maths (50,000 from 40,000 does not go). These were massive numbers at the time even if well over exaggerated.
Severus
I do like this piece of recorded history though.
Julia Domna
Septimus’ wife Julia Domna who criticised the sexual morals of the Caledonian women, the wife of chief Argentocoxos allegedly replied: "We fulfil the demands of nature in a much better way than do you Roman women; for we consort openly with the best men, whereas you let yourselves be debauched in secret by the vilest”.
The one thing Celt women had that the Roman women didn’t was freedom (unless they got captured by the Romans). They were almost equal to men and could marry who they liked and own property and rule as queen. Roman women were the property of the husband and could do nothing and own nothing without their husband’s agreement.
Did you know in 40AD Caligula positioned a mighty army on the French coast and prepared for invasion. At the last minute he had all the legionaries collect sea shells. He was a little mad.
1900 years later another mad man had the same success with his invasion, but found fewer shells. Hitler.
All images are free to use from Google
Excellent post, a very interesting read!
Wow, really informative! Makes me want to play Total War again haha!
So easy to get lost in History, the story is endless. #knowledge #bookworm #historical #story #ancient
Great history.i don't no this history. your sharing needable. i like this post.
I think you would enjoy The Art of War by Sun Tzu. It's difficult to read in one hit, more of a read in chapters kind of book.
I enjoyed the history lesson! Didn't we just drop the shells on Hilter?
History is fascinating, and I enjoyed reading this very much. Would love to see more posts like this.
just imagine, when some many people die that time in fight. The country become very fast empty by man's and boys. Very sad. The population was before not high like now, and when so many die, it makes a true different for the countries ....good post, I like it @s0u1 :-)
Interesting. I've often wondered though, the might of the Roman Empire conquered many lands and people yet could not conquer the scots and instead built a wall? The energy used to build that wall and it's fortresses and the resources in both men and supplying those men could of been used to defeat them many times over, yet it wasn't. Was the wall to stop those to the North from going South, or was it so that others could not go North? What was in that area (Scotland) that was being protected?
They actually did take most of the low lands all the way to the top but could not control it. Just like most empires the area is conquered and then the easy tribes are given control over the area. They collect tributes to the rulers. This works well with people that have a hierarchy system of rule. They know how a system works and understands being subjugated. The Scots in the highlands did not have this system and everyone was equal and generally lived together in a type of commune. Lots of these communes existed. Each individual therefore did not know how to react when ruled over. Hope that makes sense.
The walls were to keep the Scots out of England.
How many others did the Romans conquered that also did not have a heirarchy system? Did they build walls to keep them out of other lands too?
Very informative and well researched.