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also why out of their whole empire did they only build border walls across the north of England and a smaller one across central Scotland, according to the intellectuals of the BBC they must have went about this great feat at huge expense for absolutely no reason, as according to them their was nobody there,

2007-05-13 04:47:55 · 21 answers · asked by cujimmy57ok 2 in Arts & Humanities History

21 answers

At the time of the Roman occupation of Britain, the Picts appear to have been the main inhabitants of what is now called Scotland. The nature of the land made for a rather austere life and when the Picts noticed the plentiful livestock produced further south in the borderlands they simply sneaked in and rustled the cattle and sheep.

The first wall built was actually the Antonine Wall, which goes across central Scotland when Roman power extended as far north as Perth, and this wall made it much less easy for the raiders to drag their loot back with them.

When the Romans abandoned their settlements in central Scotland, Hadrian's Wall was built for the same purpose.

2007-05-16 16:43:13 · answer #1 · answered by marguerite L 4 · 0 0

The Romans constructed walls across Scotland and across southern Germany.

These walls were only about three to four feet high so they really weren't a deterent to the various tribesmen who wanted to attack Roman settlements. So the idea that the wall was to prevent incursions by the 'fierce' northern barbarians is a bit specious since the northern tribesmen were no less fierce than the conquered southern tribesmen. The Romans waged total warfare and vanquished a foe after defeating them (the Romans cut off the hands of 2,000 southern tribal warriors, they did the same to the conquered Gauls [French]). So Rome relied on their formidable Army to deter or handle any attack.

The walls built in Scotland and Germany were probably more of a border marker and a typical Roman engineering project. Romans just like to build. The walls might have had the psychological effect of indicating what Rome considered their land to outside tribesmen with a few crucifixes with dead Scots or Germans for good measure.

So the walls were primarily border markers and economic check points with deterence of invasion the last consideration. The Roman Army was the ultimate deterence.

2007-05-13 12:04:54 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

Remember in Roman times Scotland was a totally separate country and there were no friendly relationships with England.
The Romans built Hadrian's wall to keep the Scots out of this outpost of the Roman Empire. The Antonine wall I presume was built to do the same thing. Obviously the Romans didn't get any further north in Scotland, packed the job in and retreated south.

2007-05-13 13:35:47 · answer #3 · answered by nemesis 5 · 0 0

It was in 60bc that the Romans first turned their attention to invading Britain after consolidating their hold on Gaul. For the next 400 years they remained, but not without resistence from various tribes.
It was in 122ad that Emperor Hadrian ordered the building of the wall that would eventually cover 73miles from the Solway Firth to the mouth of the Tyne. Although it acted as a defensive measure against any invasion from the north, its primary function was to split the troublesome tribes of the Brigantes (south of the wall ), and the Selgovae and Novante in the north.
It was barely a decade later that his successor, Antonius, marched north to further expand the Roman Empire. He built a smaller wall with the aim of keeping the Caledonian tribes out of southern Scotland.

2007-05-13 12:16:09 · answer #4 · answered by raymondo 2 · 0 0

We are all Britons but we are descended from a mix Celts, Jutes, Romans, Anglo Saxons, Vikings, Normans and hundreds of other influences. The Romans built their walls here when they occupied Britains for several hundred years. I'm not quite sure what you mean when you say according to them there was nobody there? The Romans knew full well that there were people in the Highlands.

2007-05-13 11:55:37 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

Yes we are all Britons, but united we certainly were not...

if you look back through history you will see that the population of the British isles has spent a great deal of energy and time in being very horrible to one another.

In fact England itself used to be made up of several kingdoms. Seven actually.

People have been living in Scotland for a very long time, long before the roman era and walls are generally built as a form of defense... to keep people in (or out) of somewhere.

2007-05-13 11:57:07 · answer #6 · answered by HP 5 · 0 1

If "there walls" is a reference to Hadrian`s wall then there was every reason to build it, you have to remember blue Briton`s at the time were not a unified nationality, but you should research the facts on Hadrian and Roman rule in Britain if you really want an answer

2007-05-13 11:54:42 · answer #7 · answered by ? 3 · 0 0

It was not really to keep people in or out but to mark the furthermost edge of the Roman Empire, the Romans were struggling and stretching their resources with the Empire as it was, so they had no wish to conquer more lands. Contrary to popular belief the troubles were not that bad either side of the wall, in fact trading was frequent.

2007-05-13 12:21:01 · answer #8 · answered by David 3 · 0 0

The Romans built what we know as "HADRIAN'S WALL", across what WAS, - at the time, - the Northern-most "BORDER" of what was the "ROMAN EMPIRE"!

Beyond the Wall, - according to Rome's rulers, - the Caesars, - all possibility of what THEY called "CIVILISATION" was ENDED, - it was populated by Picts, and Celts, - and, numerous other tribes, also, - who were a multitude of war-like races, that the Romans believed were "BEYOND CIVILISING"!

2007-05-13 14:48:06 · answer #9 · answered by Spike 6 · 1 1

They built Hadrians wall at the Scottish border for a reason ..all that was south of it was worth having the other side was so dismal they just said " we draw the line here" .

2007-05-13 11:52:01 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1 2

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