Snippets - Commonly Asked Questions
A selection of questions we are commonly asked on tours and site visits.
| Q1 : What does S.P.Q.R. mean? | ||
| ANSWER : Senatus Populus Que Romanus, which tranlates as; "the Senate and the People of Rome" | ||
| Q2 : What size was a Roman Legion? | ||
| ANSWER : A Legion - on paper - contained around 5,200 to 5,500 men. In the late Roman period legions were much smaller, possibly about 1,000 men strong. In reality units would probably usually be under-strength. Conversely in preparation for campaigning a legions strength may have been bolstered with temporary drafts from other units to a greater strength than the figures quoted above. | ||
| Q3 : How many Roman legions were there in Britain? | ||
| ANSWER : Originally 4, however this was reduced to 3 in the late 80`s AD. The British legions were heavily involved sending drafts of troops (known as Vexillations) to assist in various crisis on the continent . The records of British legions on the continent after 43 AD relate to these detached Vexillations. | ||
| Q4 : Were Roman Villas built in Scotland? | ||
| ANSWER : No. Rome's involvement in Scotland was primarily military. The peaceful settled conditions - like those that appeared rapidly in the southern half of Britain - necessary before Villas were constructed never materialised in Scotland. | ||
| Q5 : Did all Roman forts have a bathhouse? | ||
| ANSWER : All large forts did. Some smaller forts may not have. Most bathhouses in Scotland still remain to be found. | ||
| Q6 : Is it true the Romans never came north of Hadrian's Wall? | ||
| ANSWER : Untrue. The Romans first invaded Scotland in strength in 79 AD. Hadrian built his famous wall between 122 and 138 AD near the modern English border after serious reverses in Scotland. Hadrian's Wall was abandoned by the Emperor Antoninus Pius who absorbed southern Scotland into the Empire and built a more northerly wall in Scotland. This wall was later abandoned and the Romans fell back to Hadrian's Wall. Several other Emperors attempted to conquer or control the tribes of Scotland after this, though never with any great success. | ||
| Q7 : To the Romans the weather of Scotland would have been like Siberia to us. | ||
| ANSWER : Untrue. Scotland is kept relatively "mild" by the Gulf Stream in the north Atlantic. Without this the weather would be much colder, similar to the same latitudes on the continent. The downside of the Gulf Stream however is the wet weather it brings about and this pluvial barrage was indeed recorded by several Roman historians. Northern Italy and the Middle east can be bitterly cold in winter or at night. Most auxiliary troops posted to Britain came from modern Belgium, Holland and Germany where winters are notably colder - if dryer - than more northerly Scotland. | ||
| Q8 : Did Roman soldiers bring their families with them to Scotland? | ||
| ANSWER : Only the Commanding Officers of Units who had suitable accommodation in the fort. Many soldiers however - as in all armies in later centuries - had marriages of convenience with local lasses who raised their family in the local civil settlements where these existed. | ||
| Q9 : Nobody knows where the Picts came from and where they disappeared to. | ||
| ANSWER : Untrue. The Picts were first mentioned by the Romans in the late 3rd Century AD. From the original text it is clear that the term "Pict" - meaning painted or figured people - was an umbrella term for those northern tribes who still tattooed themselves (whereas the old habit had long since died out in southern Britain). The Picts were dynastically overthrown by the Scots in the late "Dark Ages" period, the new Scottish ruling elite quashing the use of the name and imposing their own language and cultural practice over the indigenous Pictish population. | ||
| Q10 : Where can I see Roman altars? | ||
| ANSWER : The best collection of Roman altars in Scotland are held in the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. The only known Roman altar in its original setting is to be found at Carrickstone near Cumbernauld in North Lanarkshire. The best collection in the north of England is at Great Chesters museum near Chollerford on the line of Hadrian's Wall. |
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| Q11 : In the film King Arthur the Picts are called "Woads", is this because this is what they used to tattoo or paint their bodies? | ||
| ANSWER : We have no idea why this films producers chose to ignore the term "Pict". The use of woad by the ancient Celts is a common misconception. Woad is a dye suitable in clothes colouring but not suitable for skin dyeing (ie permanent tattooing) or painting (ie temporary) as it simply does not appear to work on skin in either application. Late Roman historians recorded "iron markings" on the Picts bodies, and iron is indeed a medium that could produce permanent blue tattoos. |
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| Q12 : Who is the first mentioned Scot? | ||
| ANSWER : The first named inhabitant of what is now Scotland recorded by the Romans is Calgacus, a Caledonian of "outstanding valour and nobility" who famously addressed the Caledonian warriors before the battle of Mons Graupius in 83 AD. Sadly however he is in all probability a literary invention of the author Tacitus, created to improve the tale in his work "The Agricola". The first securely named individual is Aviragus, a warlord of southern Scotland who prompted Rome's headlong evacuation of southern Scotland in 105 AD and in the process devastated the area that would later be fortified as Hadrian's Wall. |
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| Q13 : The Romans set up a milestone each mile along their roads. | ||
| ANSWER : This is unlikely in Scotland. Only one milestone has survived to modern times - known as the Ingliston Milestone - which dates to the Antonine occupation in the mid 2nd C AD. These were usually set up by the Governor responsible for building or more usually maintaining a stretch of Roman road and were inscribed to record the fact. They were therefore probably more widely spaced than the markers set out each mile on the well known roads in Italy. Hopefully some more will be recovered in Scotland in time. |
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| Q14 : Roman Legionaries were never stationed in Scotland, only Auxiliaries. | ||
| ANSWER : This is untrue. The legionary fortress called "Victoria" at Inchtuthil near Dunkeld was occupied and substantially complete before it was abandoned sometime after 87 AD. Roman Legionaries are recorded in garrison at Newstead and in several of the wallforts during the Antonine occupation of the 2nd C AD and afterwards at Castlecary. In the early 3rd C AD the Romans tried again with a short lived legionary "Vexillation" fortress (ie a base for detachments from all the British legions) at Carpow on the south bank of the Tay near Newburgh. |
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| Q15 : Romans used sponges on a stick instead of toilet paper. | ||
| ANSWER : True. Deposits recovered in archaeological digs in Scotland suggests they also used things like moss as well which would be readily available nearby. | ||
| Q16 : Where is the island of Thule? | ||
| ANSWER : Ancient Thule's location is disputed. In ancient times Pytheas, Strabo, Pliny, Claudian and Tacitus all mention it as a large island set in an extreme northern context. The most reliable source that places it in Shetland is the Ordnance Survey. On the other hand the "Thulensem Portem" of Shetland is discredited as a made-up name, being a fictional hybrid of Thule with Tacitus's Trucculensis Portus (most probably Montrose Basin on the Scottish mainland). Concerning Shetland it is generally accepted that Pliny's seven isles of "Haemodae and Acmodae" records Shetlands' name in antiquity. A soberer approach suggests Iceland is the most probable location of Thule, being an appropriately sized single large island, (not a grouping of small or medium sized isles). Iceland's position best suits Pytheas description of Thule's location as being a good six days sailing north of Britain. The final word goes to the ancient Scotti, their name for Iceland survives in Gaelic- which was not influenced by Roman classicism - as "Innis Tile", which means literally the "Isle of Thule" and fairly convincingly clinches the matter. |
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| Q17 : Was ancient Rome's name for Scotland "Caledonia"? | ||
| ANSWER : Only that part of Scotland above the Firths of Forth and Clyde, see our article "The Tribes of Ancient Scotland". | ||
| Q18 : Pontius Pilate was born in Fortingall in Glen Lyon. | ||
| ANSWER : This is unlikely. The legend holds that his father was "Governor" there. Roman Governors posts only came with Roman military control of an area and the Romans would not be in Scotland in such a manner for over a century after Pilates birth in the late 1st C BC. | ||
| Q19 : A Romans soldiers diet was mainly vegetarian. | ||
| ANSWER : True, though not in the sense that vegetarianism is currently understood. Meat did form an important part of their ration, however it was not probably present in the proportions we are used to in modern times. | ||
| Q20 : Did the Romans use steel? | ||
| ANSWER : No, iron was the raw material the Romans relied on. They understood tempering in the forging process to make iron harder (also more brittle), and the remains of later Roman swords display the "pattern welding" of different carbon grades of iron that was designed to overcome such brittleness long before the Vikings with whom this process is usually associated. The Inchtuthil nail hoard shows how much industrial activity underpinned the Roman State in Scotland while its deposit at Inchtuthil is explained by seperate sources who mention the Caledonians love of iron above all other (precious) metals as it was the metal with which weapons were made. |
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| Q21 : People from Scotland were barred from joining the Roman army. | ||
| ANSWER : Untrue. One of the main benefits Rome accrued from any over-run territory was the forced enlistment of a proportion of that areas fighting strength for service elsewhere. Young men from lowland Scotland would therefore be long recruited into the Roman army as young men were elsewhere on other frontiers, and during periods of Roman occupation (such as the late Flavian and Antonine periods) significant numbers are likely to have been conscripted to form entire auxiliary units. The highlands were not immune either, the late Ravenna Cosmography indicates that no fewer than 4 regiments of "Attacotti" - a Scottic people who had most likely settled in the western isles and seaboard of the mainland - were conscripted into the army for Imperial service on the continent. The remaining inscription of a Dumnonian (read also Damnonian) soldier from Hadrian's Wall is much more likely to record a soldier recruited from nearby modern Strathclyde than from remote Cornwall in the far south west of Britain. |
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| Q22 : The Romans did not like being in Scotland as they did not like eating barley. | ||
| ANSWER : That's a difficult one to be specific about. Barley is and always has been a staple ingredient of the diet of the inhabitants of Scotland, and it is true that a ration of barley was then considered to be a downgrading in the standard of diet for Roman soldiers (which is usually recorded being primarily wheat and oats based). In some accounts such a change in diet was meted out in the military as a punishment. Indeed a particularly course variant of barley is even recorded as being feed for the army's horses! The Roman army recruited from a wide range of ethnic backgrounds across Europe and beyond and it is unlikely that such fussiness will have prevailed to the extent that army units will have voiced objections to being stationed in Scotland, though soldiers - as all soldiers do - like nothing better than a good grumble over the quality of their rations!! |
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| Q23 : A money system based on Roman coinage was not in operation in Scotland. | ||
| ANSWER : True(ish)! There is no evidence of the principal tribal groupings in ancient Scotland having developed and minted their own coinage before the Romans arrived, nor indeed in the main for a considerable space of time afterwards. The Romans themselves will have - as usual - operated their money system when in occupation in Scotland and it is likely any payment given to locals for goods (where they were not simply requisitioned) would have been in coin. This is a form of finance of limited use to the locals except for use in return transactions with the Romans or foreign traders. However, significant deposits of silver coinage have been unearthed in Scotland and these -unlike bullion silver (ie cut up silver goods) - may not have been relied on solely for their intrinsic metal value. Further, considerable finds of low denomination bronze coins have been - and continue to be found - in Scotland. They are now being found in such a wide ranging set of scenarios that it now seems increasingly likely that the previously held theory that such base metal coins were of no use whatsoever to the inhabitants of ancient Scotland is incorrect and needs re-addressed. |
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| Q24 : The Romans did not wear trousers. | ||
| ANSWER : Untrue. The classical Mediterranean toga was even then axiomatic with Latin culture and civilisation, and the historian Tacitus makes mentions of tribes (or their grandees at least) in England rushing to get in on this style bandwagon. The Romans were a practical bunch though and "braccae" leggings that extended past the knee were fairly universal in military service. Fashions indeed changed and from the 3rd C AD onwards the use of full length trousers (as well as sleeves) become increasingly common. Scotland's climate would have been sufficient to warrant either braccae or trousers use by soldiers in all but fine summer conditions. |
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| Q25 : What is the difference between a Theatre and an Amphitheatre? | ||
| ANSWER : A Theatre was (in plan) a semi circular structure used for plays and public addresses. They were among the stock architectural ingredients of a classical Mediterranean city and were derived from Greek examples. No theatres are known in Scotland. An Amphitheatre was (in plan) a completely circular - or more usually elliptical - structure which fully enclosed the open space in the middle. This was used for displays of various sorts including gladiatorial combat. Small Amphitheatres at Inveresk and Newstead are suggested from fleeting remains found there. Given that Amphitheatres are often found in close association with legionary sites then Inchtuthil (perhaps given its short occupation) and more probably Carpow are locations where we may possibly expect to identify such structures in the future. Best example to visit in Britain; Carleon in Wales. |
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| Q26 : What was Garum? | ||
| ANSWER : Garum was a fish sauce. It was extremely popular as a flavouring poured over other foodstuffs can be equated in function to modern HP sauce. It most certainly can not be directly equated to HP in flavour though and is a good example of just how different ancient Roman tastes were to ours today. The sauce relied for its flavour on strong fish types (such as Sardines) being placed with other ingredients in a container and being allowed to break down - arguably to spoil. Without a doubt Garum beats modern Marmite hands down in the saying "You either love it or hate it!". Caution advised if you feel tempted to try it! Being made in a sealed container made it very portable and like wine and olive oil Garum will have been among the commodities transported to Roman stations in Scotland for private sale and consumption, used no doubt to spice up bland army rations. |
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| Q27 : What was the Roman name for the North Sea? | ||
| ANSWER : Oceanus Germanicus. | ||
| Q28 : Were Roman roads in Scotland paved with stone slabs? | ||
| ANSWER : No, in Scotland - like most of the Empire - roads were "metalled" with well rammed and compacted gravel over a build up of increasingly larger stones. See our Roman Roads in Scotland article for more detail (LINK). | ||
| Q29 : The Roman IXth legion was destroyed in battle by the Jews or Parthians. | ||
| ANSWER : Untrue, that theory is simply imagination and wishful thinking. There is not a single piece of evidence to substantiate the IXth legion (the York garrison) being in the east of the Empire nor any evidence of any calibre whatsoever for them ever leaving Britain in full strength at all. War raged in Scotland around the time of their last inscribed record in the early 2nd C AD. The heavy losses the Romans sustained in Scotland at this time and recorded by Cornelius Fronto is the most likely fate of the IXth legion. Certainly history is entirely silent over them after this. See our The Eagle of the Ninth article (LINK). |
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| Q30 : Why were so many Roman Legions stationed in Britain? | ||
| ANSWER : Rome through the period we are concerned with had around 30 legions (it varied). A garrison of 4 legions -reduced to 3 in the late 80's AD - is a substantial proportion of this number given that the legions had to control a huge Empire. Large provinces such as Egypt are notable for the small size of their garrison, at most one legion, and 4 legions would normally be considered the size of force required to hold major elements of Rome's frontiers such as the upper or lower Rhine. One theory put forward is that such a large garrison was required due to Britain's island nature, coupled with its remoteness, which made reinforcement in times of trouble difficult though this is not borne out by the ease and number of times that the Romans did actually reinforce the British garrison in the face of attacks from Scotland. The honours therefore go to the combatative tribes of ancient Scotland. Given that the rest of the British mainland succumbed to Roman rule fairly quickly and thereafter were noteworthy for proving absolutely no further problem for the Romans then it was the spirit of resistance from the tribes in Scotland that was the core of the problem for Rome in Britain and which forced it to maintain such a large and expensive garrison here. |
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| Q31 : What was the Roman name for the Clyde? | ||
| ANSWER : Ptolemy recorded the Firth of Clyde as the Clota Aest. As Aest translates as estuary - ie the modern "Firth" - then the river itself will have had the suffix Fluvius. See our article on Ptolemy's map for more of Scotland's ancient Roman place names (LINK). |
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| Q32 : Did gladiatorial fights take place in Scotland? | ||
| ANSWER : Almost certainly. Gladiators were the circus of their day, entertainers in an organised and highly profitable business that travelled and toured the provinces. Most fights did not end in death, that was an expensive rarity for the sponsor of the event. Scotland has the remains of several amphitheatres and undoubtedly more remain to be found. Such travelling troupes of entertainers will therefore have been seen in Scotland where their skills will have been appreciated by the garrison troops posted here, remote from the other luxuries of Rome. |
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| Q33 : Roman forts did not have very strong defences as the Romans placed no reliance on them, marching out instead to fight their opponents in the open field. | ||
| ANSWER : Untrue. This is perhaps the most prevalent misconception commonly trotted out by modern Roman military historians. Roman field fortifications were originally based on their simple marching camp defences; a ditch and rampart, to which towers, defended gateways and a substantial rampart walkway were added. In time the defences became gradually stronger and late forts had projecting towers for archers and artillery. The vast majority of Roman posts - those in Scotland are excellent examples - were for fairly small units who on account of their small numbers are unlikely to have ventured out to do battle each and every time larger numbers of belligerent tribesmen showed up. Indeed the records show that the forts granary was specifically designed to have the capacity to allow for - at best -erratic resupply and - at worst - siege conditions. Birrens (near Ecclefechan), Ardoch and Strageath (both in Strathallan) are all Roman forts in Scotland with multiple periods of occupation at which extensive multiple ditch systems were actively maintained as part of the forts defensive circuit instead of being backfilled during rebuilding works as the incorrect statement at the top would suggest happened. |
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| Q34 : Petillias Cerialis (a); campaigned in Scotland long before Agricola and (b); built the Gask Ridge frontier which was (c); Rome's first "frontier"in Scotland. | ||
| ANSWER : (a) True, (b) Untrue, (c) Untrue. (a); The Governor Cerialis built the securely dateable fort at Carlisle (71 to 72 AD) and the marching camp and fort at Dalswinton (near Dumfries) probably mark the high tide of Rome's penetration into the tribal lands of ancient Scotland in his time. There is however absolutely no reliable evidence dating Roman works any further north until Agricola's governorship seven years later. (b); The Gask Ridge frontier - far to the north of Cerialis's campaigning around Dumfries - as the entity we currently see on the map belongs to the Antonine period of the mid 2nd C AD. Its original forerunner was much more limited, being only a small part of the overall large Flavian frontier network in Scotland built on the orders of Agricola's successor - Sallustius Lucullus - which stretched ever north East beyond the River Tay following Caledonian defeat in battle in Mons Graupius eleven years after Cerialis's time. (c); Notions of "first frontier" are something of an academics fancy. Limes was the Roman term for the limits of their Empire on any given front, and indeed these peripheral zones could be very loosely understood with tribes far beyond bound to Rome by Treaties hammered out by the local Governor. As such Dalswinton could claim to be part - or at least an outlier - of Rome's earliest Lime in or bounding Scotland. Agricola repositioned this Lime (limit) in each of his three years of campaigning in southern Scotland from 79 AD onwards. Indeed Agricola is recorded throwing a series of camps between the Forth and Clyde in 80 AD and this has the true honour of being the "first" recorded fixed frontier designed to act as such in Scotland. Ongoing excavations on the continent continue to explain (or contradict) when the Rhine frontier was first given a timber palisade running barrier, an innovation in Roman "fixed" frontiers. Such a static frontier line, fixed with a mural barrier is a concept which developed in general in the early 2nd C AD - Hadrian's Wall indeed is one of the best examples. A frontier line reinforced with a running barrier did not appear in Scotland till the Antonine Wall around 140 AD. It was to act as an outlier of this barrier that the elements of Lucullus's Flavian frontier known now as The Gask Ridge Frontier was recommissioned to act a stand alone element- some seventy years after Cerealis's time. |
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| Q35 : General Roy in his "Military Antiquities of the Romans in North Britain" speculated that Dalginross was the setting where the Ninth Legion was almost over-run in its camp by the Caledonians. | ||
| ANSWER : Yes, and we agree with him. The Ninth Legion - IXth Hispana - was targeted as the smallest of Agricola's three battlegroups campaigning in northern Scotland in 82 AD and almost over-run, being saved by Agricola bringing up his remaining troops just in the nick of time. See our 82 AD Addendum to our Mons Graupius article for fuller details of this fight near Comrie. | ||
| Q36 : Where was the battle of Mons Graupius fought? | ||
| ANSWER : Many sites have been proposed over the years as the location of the battle. However the most thorough and rigorous analysis of the facts available to us identifies The Clevage Hills next to Dunning in Strathearn as Mons Graupius. See our Mons Graupius article for full details (LINK). | ||
| Q37 : Did Romans use scale armour? | ||
| ANSWER : Yes. The Romans used many forms of armour and scale armour was widely used. The Roman term for this was "Lorica Squamata" and good examples of Roman scale have been unearthed in Scotland, particularly at the early 3rd C AD fortress site of Horrea Classis (Carpow) in Scotland. See our Roman Soldier article for an image of a Roman soldier wearing scale armour (LINK). | ||
| Q38 : Why did Roman Legions have an eagle standard? | ||
| ANSWER : Early Roman standards were topped by a wide range of animal images, however by the 1st C BC the eagle had become the totemic animal image used by the Legions. This standard was termed an "Aquila" and the soldier that carried it was known as an "Aquilifer". The eagle may have been chosen as it was associated with the powerful God Jupiter ; "Iupiter Optimus Maximus" (often shortened on inscriptions to IOM). The eagle was considered to be his messenger and alongside common imagery of Jupiter's thunderbolts probably had the meaning of heralding victory in battle. As such it was something of a good luck symbol for the Romans who were famously superstitious. |
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| Q39 : What was the Roman name for the Cairngorms? | ||
| ANSWER : Ptolemy's map records that the Romans knew the mountainous core of northern Scotland - The Cairngorms, Grampians, Breadalbane and Atholl - as the "Caledonius Saltus". See our article on Ptolemy's Map for fuller details (LINK). | ||
| Q40 : How did Romans tell the time? | ||
| ANSWER : The Romans had no accurate mechanical timepieces. The most common -the sundial - was affected by both the quality and duration of sunlight during different seasons, particularly at different latitudes the further north you are (such as Scotland). Particularly complex waterclocks are recorded in history, but most were simple ones which comprised a vessel of water with a bung hole at the bottom. The idea was that once the stopper was removed the water would exit in a predetermined flow, enabling marks on the container to indicate the passage of time as the water reached that level. However in reality with such simple devices it was impossible to maintain a steady flow of water as the water pressure in the container varied as the head of water reduced. Pliny famously complained that no two waterclocks ever recorded the passage of time at the same rate! |
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| Q41 : I was fascinated to read about Roman Garum fish sauce, is it available today? | ||
| ANSWER : Nuoc Mam (Nook' Mahm) available in Asian delicatessens (Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, Filipino etc) is considered to be esentially the same as ancient Roman Garum. | ||
| Q42 : What was a "Decurion" and what does it mean? | ||
| ANSWER : Decurion is usually associated with a Roman cavalry officer in charge of a turmae of around 30 men. A Decurion is normally considered to be the approximate equivalent of a Roman infantry officer - a Centurion - who was in charge of over 80 men. This raises many questions and unfortunately, answers few. The word Decurion comes from Latin Decuria - meaning a group of ten - which would suggest a Decurion was in fact in charge of only ten men. Less often mentioned is the infantry Decurion and this is normally taken to be the squad leader in charge of eight (or ten) soldiers who would share the same barrack room or tent on campaign. However, Centurion, again derived from the Latin Centuria for a group of one hundred men does not, based on current understanding directly reflect the number of men under his command so a question mark hangs over either how literally these names reflect the number of men under their command, or conversely whether the numbers we believe they commanded is in fact incorrect. A minor beauracratic role existed in the civilian population called Decurion. This appears to have been traditionally a post for members of the higher social orders in Roman society and the role seems to have been intimately connected with raising tax on set parcel of land. |
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| Q43 : What was an Onager? | ||
| ANSWER : An Onager was a wild ass. It was notorious for the kick it could unleash on the unsuspecting, so much so that the large single beam catapult used by the Romans was termed an Onager on account of its dramatic kick in operation. | ||
| Q44 : Records mention the Romans measuring long distances in paces. How long was a Roman pace? | ||
| ANSWER : The regulation pace was two steps long and was the distance measured between the left foot leaving the ground and making contact with it again. This was five Roman feet long which is 1.47 metres. | ||
| Q45 : Where is the most northerly Roman fort in Scotland? | ||
| ANSWER : Stracathro fort - a Flavian fort built after Mons Graupius in the late 1st C AD - near Edzell in Angus is currently the most northerly known fort in Scotland and the entire Roman Empire. It is possible however that more northerly forts remain to be found, particularly as the chain of forts skirting the Highland massif that Stracathro ends seems to be heading for the Mounth at Stonehaven where a fort could reasonably be expected to have been built. Suggested forts along the Moray coast currently remain unproven. |
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| Q46 : Which coin was worth more, a Sestertius or a Denarius? | ||
| ANSWER : The Denarius was more valuable. The rate varied depending on the era and latterly on the debased quality of metal used in their production. Usually a silver Denarius is considered to have been worth four brass or bronze Sestertius. | ||
| Q47 : Did the Romans eat pizza? | ||
| ANSWER : No, pizzas are considered to be an Italian creation and as such are later than Roman times. However pizza ovens - which require very high temperatures to cook the pizza rapidly are structurally similar to Roman ovens recovered archaeologically in forts. The Romans are known to have made flat bread and this may have been similar to pizza bases and cooked in such ovens. After that it was up to the indidual as to what they put on their bread or ate with it depending on availability. | ||
| Q48 : What colour were Roman soldier`s tunics? | ||
| ANSWER : Fierce debate surrounds that one. It used to be considered red but current opinion favours natural undyed colours due to the high cost of dyes in ancient times. Many modern reconstructions therefore favour an undyed flaxen colour but it remains possible that dyed colours were used as well. | ||
| Q49 : Modern "Turkish baths" are based on how the Romans bathed. | ||
| ANSWER : True. The Turks maintained the old traditions. Istanbul is simply old Constantinople. The best Roman bath remains to visit in Scotland are at Bothwellhaugh in Strathclyde Park and at Bearsden in Glasgow. A good example in northern England is the bathhouse at Chesters fort on Hadrians wall near Chollerford. Impressive remains of the vast legionary baths at Caerleon in southern Wales can be inspected under cover. At all these baths the various rooms for "bathing" at different temperatures can be seen. |
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| Q50 : The Roman term for Emperor was "Imperator". | ||
| ANSWER : "Imperator" was traditionally an honorifc title given to a victorious general by his troops. Augustus was the first to adopt this title as a permanent part of his name and later Emperors simply followed suit. However the title which the Romans correctly understood as Emperor was "Augustus". | ||
| Q51 : Surely water drawn into a fort through a sealed underground aquaduct would not be particularly fresh to drink. | ||
| ANSWER : True. The terminal point of such conduited water sources were often a dead drop from a decorative spout out into a tank where the tumbling action would mix it with air thereby freshening it for consumption. | ||
| Q52 : What did the Romans ever do for us? | ||
| ANSWER : This is a very common question. The famous phrase from Monty Pythons "The Life of Brian" goes: "Apart from the sanitation, medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh water system and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?" In Scotland a great many of the features noted above may well have followed in close association with the Roman military occupation and their installations but the reality is that none of these innovations survived their departure from Scotland. All would be (re)introduced in later times, such as Scots law which is founded - unlike English Law - on the principles of Roman Law. Roman Christianity is perhaps the only tangible lasting link that remains with us from the days of the late Empire and the years that immediately followed. |
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| Q53 : The Picts were a strange squat dark featured people. | ||
| ANSWER : Highly unlikely. The Picts were simply the descendants of the Caledonians and the other tribes of Scotland who still practised tattooing and body painting at the end of the 3rd C AD and thereafter - hence the name given to them by the Romans; "Picti" meaning painted or figured people. As for build and looks there is nothing to make us believe they had changed intrinsically from how they appeared when two centuries earlier Tacitus described them as large men with red hair (probably auburn) and large strong limbs. Indeed he likened them in build to Germans, a people traditionally feared by the Romans as they tended to be larger and more strongly built people than the those of the Italian peninsula. The statement at the top is simply a hangover of old myth, usually invented in the Victorian period. |
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| Q54 : The Romans never fought the Scots as Scotland never existed in those days. | ||
| ANSWER : See our tribes of Ancient Scotland article for the timeline of the creation of modern Scotland against the ancient era when the Romans were here. Interestingly though the Scots, or as they were originally known the “Scotti” did exist in those years, first being mentioned in the late 3rd C AD around much the same time incidentally as the first mention of the name Pict or “Picti” appears in the ancient records. The Scotti originated out of Ulster and were ferocious seaborne raiders and a race that famously took part in the “barbarian conspiracy” of 367 AD when much of Roman Britain was over-run. |
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| Q55 : Was a Roman soldier well paid? | ||
| ANSWER : This varied depending on the era and the additional gratuities an insecure Emperor felt he needed to make to his soldiers to safeguard his position in troubled times. By the late era in Britain the military - it has been suggested – may have had to forego traditional monied salaries in whole or part in lieu of supplies and food. A soldier during the Principate era would have received much what he had since Augustus reforms and it was not till Severus time about two hundred years later that the soldiers wage was famously increased by a notable degree, one of the main reasons Severus’s immediate dynasty was so popular with the army. Legionary citizen soldiers were better paid than allied non citizen auxiliary soldiers, apparently by as much as three times and much of this may have represented a recognition of the trades that these men fulfilled for the army which was not generally expected of the auxiliaries. Horsemen would also receive different rates of pay from the infantry as they also had to feed their mounts. Bounties in war and Imperial donatives in peacetime helped ease the strain on the average soldiers purse, but the reality is that Roman soldiers were not highly paid and the junior NCO and administrative ranks were highly sought after as the pay for these grades were improved from that of the rank and file. |
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| Q56 : Did the Romans steal the land to build their forts and frontiers on? | ||
| ANSWER : What is almost certain to say is that in conquered or over-run territories the locals would simply be expelled to make way for such works. In settled provinces the law of the Pax Romana would require the landholder to be recompensed for his loss. Just about the only thing Severus gained out of his 209 AD expedition to Scotland we are told was land surrendered by the tribes during negotiations. The land in question was possibly the land on which Roman forts of the period will have been built, the vexillation fortress at Carpow for instance and the strong possibility is that yet more of his forts remain to be found. |
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| Q57 : Who is the first known Scotswoman? | ||
| ANSWER : Maybe not a Scotswoman but the first mentioned woman from the land that would become Scotland is the wife of a Caledonian tribal leader Argentocoxus (literally “silver leg”). She is recorded - by Dio - quipping with Severus’s wife Julia Domna over the private mores of Caledonian and Roman women and seems to have had the last word on the subject, no mean feat with a senior member of a particularly ruthless Imperial household! Women in ancient accounts are shadowy figures inhabiting in most cases the background and this is one of those rare cases when one of them steps forward into the limelight of the historical record. Unfortunately her name is not recorded and she is known only as the “wife of” her named husband. |
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| Q58 : When was Roman Christianity introduced into Scotland? | ||
| ANSWER : This is almost impossible to tell, and Christianities ancient forms in these lands were influenced by both the Roman and the Celtic branches. In much later eras the Roman branch came out on top, but famous examples of the Celtic branch include Saint Columba from the 6th C AD and Saint Patrick of the 5th C AD, a Briton possibly from around Carlisle in the Roman era. The Church itself records Saint Ninian setting up Candida Casa (the White House) at Whithorn in Galloway in the closing years of the 4th C AD in an attempt to evangelicise the southern Picts (the old Novantae) and even though some dispute the details, this is however the earliest direct and generally accepted reference we have. |
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| Q59 : What are the Cramond lioness and eagle? | ||
| ANSWER : Cramond was a Roman fort and port on the junction of the (Lothian) River Almond and the firth of Forth on the north west outskirts of Edinburgh. The lioness was a funerary monument of huge proportions showing a lioness devouring a man – a fairly typical funerary image representing it is thought the frailty and transience of human existence. It was found in the River Almond where some speculate it may have eventually ended up being used as a mooring bollard. It is now a centrepiece attraction in the National Museum in Edinburgh, a “must visit” impressive exhibit. The eagle is a Roman era figure engraved on a shoreside rock. Variously interpreted as representing an eagle or Mercury by those antiquarians who viewed it, its remains are now unfortunately too eroded to make a definitive identification. |
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| Q60 : Were Roman soldiers barracks built two storeys high? | ||
| ANSWER : Not that we know of in Scotland. Most structures with more than a single storey give away some clues in their foundations. Taller buildings need stronger walls and foundations (trenches for these normally being the only thing remaining) are accordingly more impressive. Most barracks in Scotland rely on timber construction off what is likely to have been a sleeper – beam laid on the ground. This is not really suggestive of supporting a two storey construction with the greater loads this would impose. Structures such as towers which we know did have more than one storey often have a masonry plinth in-situ off which a flight of stairs or a ladder gave access to the upper level(s). No such provision has so far been found in barracks in Scotland so it is safe to say that single storey barracks were the norm pending – of course – any archaeological findings to the contrary in the future! |
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| Q61 : Did the Romans really have flushing toilets and central heating? | ||
| ANSWER : Some but neither as we know it now. The grander buildings such as bath-houses and the commanders house would have some rooms with their floors built raised on a series of pillars. The void beneath this raised floor was heated by hot air forced in from an adjacent furnace giving an early form of under floor heating. Roman toilet seats were usually constructed as a bench with openings over a deep running channel. This channel was fed at one end from a cistern of one form or another - possibly filled with rainwater - with an outflow at the other end. How often water was poured in to flush the waste away is a matter of debate but for its time it was all pretty revolutionary stuff! |
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| Q62 : What is “site structural sequence”? | ||
| ANSWER : This is simply the order in which features were constructed on a site in antiquity over a period of time. For example in an original invasion context a marching camp may have been built on a site by an army on campaign then abandoned the next day as the troops marched off. The ground may have been the best available and a road may subsequently have then been built on the site overlying part of the marching camps ramparts and ditch during consolidation of the over-run territory. Perhaps a later signal tower was built along the line of the road and the road here altered to give a spur access to this tower as well as altering the remains of the marching camp below if it sat on part of that too. And so on. Its all a bit like a layer cake of activities which in the Scottish context records events of over 300 years of activity -often repeatedly - on certain key sites in Scotland. |
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| Q63 : Did the tribes use chariots after the battle of Mons Graupius? | ||
| ANSWER : Probably not. Dio’s description of the tribes during Severus’s invasion of 209 AD is the only mention after Mons Graupius of the chariot being used by the tribes of ancient Scotland. His and Herodian’s descriptions of the tribes is considered to be more than slightly fantastical however and the mention of chariots may perhaps be no more than a reference to Tacitus’s earlier works on the fighting techniques of the tribes in the “Agricola” which they will have had access to. Tablet 164 from Vindolanda -the famous wooden Vindolanda tablets - written apparently during the closing years of the 1st C AD certainly makes no mention of chariots and implies the tribes of southern Scotland at least – termed by the Romans as “Britunculli” – seem to have operated as mounted infantry much like the rapid moving hobbelars of the middle ages here. Chariot finds are certainly exceedingly rare, especially in the Roman period suggesting - to us - that the battle of Mons Graupius was probably the chariots swan-song. |
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| Q64 : How does the Roman numbering system work? | ||
| ANSWER : Roman numerals belong to a system termed multiple iteration. Therefore the “I” - which stands for one – gets lined up consecutively to make larger sums. Therefore “III” reads as 3. However to prevent it becoming unwieldy it introduces a subtractive system before jumping up to units with a larger value, for example; “V” equals 5 and to get the value for 4 a “I” (1) is placed before the “V” (five) to indicate that it is subtracted from it to give the resultant figure 4.
Roman numerals are as follows: I (unus) = 1 V (quinque) = 5 X (decem) = 10 L (quinquaginta) = 50 C (centum) = 100 D (quingenti) = 500 M (mille) = 1,000 |
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| Q65 : Why did the Romans use scrolls, could they not bind books? | ||
| ANSWER : Book binding is indeed a medieval innovation however the book like “codex” - bound wax tablets – was used in ancient times and became the successor of the scroll in late antiquity. Scrolls have a very ancient pedigree and Egyptian papyrus and the Dead Sea scrolls from Judea are well known examples. | ||
| Q66 : How did the Romans build arches? | ||
| ANSWER : The same way as everyone else. A timber frame – termed formwork - was put up to support the brick or concrete arch. The formwork was necessary to support this until the last and uppermost brick was in place – termed a keystone – or until the concrete had set hard by which time both means of construction had become self supporting. The formwork was then removed. | ||
| Q67 : Did the Picts shave their heads bald? | ||
| ANSWER : If they did then no-one in antiquity took the time to record the peculiarity. Later era Pictish carvings show representations of some warriors with what appears to be a short pointed beard and long hair combed back into to the nape of the neck. It remains improbable that the sides of the head alone were shaven either, that look - the Celtic tonsure - being the preserve of Celtic Christian monks whereas Roman Christian monks shaved the top of their head “Friar Tuck” style. | ||
| Q68 : What are hoards and why are they buried? | ||
| ANSWER : Hoards are buried deposits. We have already termed the spectacular Inchtuthil nail find a “hoard” but this is due to size of the collection. The usual reference to a hoard is Roman coinage in a clay vessel of some kind which has been deliberately buried, probably for safekeeping. Concentrations of hoards whose latest coins date to broadly similar periods is usually interpreted as signalling troubled times around about the time of those latest coins. Hiding away portable goods such as coins, particularly higher value coins of silver and gold would be among the few options available to the poor, or those located in areas remote from the protection of garrisons faced with the threat of invasion or raiding. The fact they were not retrieved could in some instances mean that their hiding places were lost and could not be retrieved but the bulk of this non retrieval must point in a lot of cases to a bleaker fate that may have befallen the original owner. | ||
| Q69 : Did the Romans wear socks? | ||
| ANSWER : It used to be thought not, yet tablet number 346, one of the Vindolanda tablets shows a request from a soldier to his relatives seeking some cold weather clothing, amongst which is mentioned socks | ||
| Q70 : Why did the Romans name their roads in Britain with very un- Roman names like Watling Street and Dere Street, or are these names not Roman? | ||
| ANSWER : Correct, the names date from later eras, and the examples you mention, as well as the classic “Stanegate” are all Anglo Saxon names for earlier Roman roads. The roads would still be used, even though probably in very poor condition by the time of the Anglo Saxon era in the southern half of Britain. | ||
| Q71 : Were Roman forts reused after the Romans abandoned them? | ||
| ANSWER : Yes in some cases but not as places of defence. Many cities in the southern half of Britain grew up out of Roman legionary fortresses (admittedly in the Roman period). York Minster sits on top of the Eboracum fortresses Principia and tantalising snapshots can be seen of the former in the crypts beneath. On this line, a surprising number of churches sit on top (not always orthogonally) of the Principia of smaller Roman forts too. Examples such as Ardoch, Inveresk, Cramond, Carlisle and Bewcastle spring to mind immediately. It is not clear if placing religious establishments over Roman forts had a particular meaning, however at a practical level so much ready cut reusable masonry on the site would have proven a great attraction to church builders. | ||
| Q72 : What are finger key-rings? | ||
| ANSWER : These are not the simple rings on which loose keys are now kept (though the Romans too would have had similar). Romans used simple locks, usually rudimentary tumbler and bar types. A common archaeological find is a finger ring with a key head added as an extension to the ring, a fairly safe way of making sure you did not loose your key! | ||
| Q73 : Did the Picts speak Gaelic? | ||
| ANSWER : Unlikely, the Picts are reckoned to have spoken a regional variation of the old British/ Welsh language – then Brythonic – that was also spoken by the rest of the indigenous population of the British Isles. Gaelic was the language of the Scots who originated out of Ulster and who brought the language across with them. | ||
| Q74 : Who were the Otadeni? | ||
| ANSWER : That is a rendition of the tribe in south east Scotland and part of north east England used in Ptolemy’s map of Britain who are now more usually referred to as the Votadini. They ultimately became known as the (Manau) Goddodin. See our article on the Traprain Treasure to read more on this tribe. | ||
| Q75 : What was a Clibinarius? | ||
| ANSWER : A particularly heavily armoured Roman cavalryman of the later Roman period. The Romans adopted heavy cavalry originally to counter such heavily armoured troops fielded by the Persians and the Sarmatian tribes of what is now the south west Asian steppe. Apparently the name comes from the Latin for a boiler, hence the nickname for those unfortunates who probably sweltered in panoplies of full armour as “boiler-men”! | ||
| Q76 : Who was the Romans’ chief God? | ||
| ANSWER : Jupiter (also known as Jove). He equated to Classical Greece’s Zeus. He was referred to as Iuppiter Optimus Maximus (Jupiter best and greatest). Other religions gained dominance in Rome at times depending on the predilections of various Emperors such as Sol Invictus, literally a Sun God and usually much preferred by Syrian Emperors. Christianity, bringing with it Abrahamic absolute monotheism took hold in Rome and Constantine the Great (as termed by Christian hagiographers) famously made it the State religion in the early 4th C AD. | ||
| Q77 : Why are the Caterthuns known as the White and Brown Caterthuns? | ||
| ANSWER : The Caterthuns is a twin peaked hill - the peaks are joined by a gentle saddle - located deep in Angus near Brechin. The twin peaks are both crowned by native hillforts. The older – the Brown Caterthun – is so called as its heather coloured earth ramparts look brown, whereas the tumbledown stone ramparts of the later fort on the other hill appear white (grey actually) – hence the White Caterthun. The Caterthuns are a smashing site to visit and have a remarkably lengthy history of occupation. The site is also one of the candidate sites for the battle of Mons Graupius; see our article for fuller details. | ||
| Q78 : What is a cingulum? | ||
| ANSWER : Cingulum translates as a girdle. The term is most often used in relation to the cingulum militare which was the Roman soldiers’ belt and the decorated apron of straps which added protection to the loins. See our Roman soldier article for images of soldiers wearing these. | ||
| Q79 : Were Roman Emperors Gods? | ||
| ANSWER : Deification was inferred upon an Emperor (and sometimes their wife) after their deaths in cases where they were popular or where the succeeding Emperor was sympathetic to them. The famous nutty Emperors of the Julio-Claudian dynasty are notable for their marked reluctance to wait until their deaths to be translated to glory. In the later Empire, especially under Diocletian the Emperors gained an “association” with Gods; part of the Orientalising process notable at the time that would lead stylistically in many ways to the potentate status later Byzantine Emperors were held in. | ||
| Q80 : Were Roman marble busts painted? | ||
| ANSWER : Yes and impressive they must have been too! Roman carvings from around the Empire can be incredibly crude pieces, but the surviving busts of Emperors are remarkably skilful pieces of work. In some eras they used idealised styles, but in others there was a marked attempt at good quality representations, of the type not witnessed again until the renaissance portraits. These then would be excellent examples that would enable a populous who did not have TV, newspapers and the like a chance of knowing exactly what the Emperor looked like. See our Chronicles of the Emperors to see the Emperors busts. | ||
©2009 Roman Scotland. All Rights Reserved
First Published March 2009
