05-05-2010, 11:01 AM
Quote:Still, why would Rome would be so willing (at least under Domitian it seems) to attempt to hold onto Scotland, & then so willing to give it up under Nerva? Was it just Domitian trying to live up to his father & brother?
Quote:Apparently there was a change of emperors and the new guy decided to move the legion back south again--just BEFORE they finished building their new fortress!
As far as I know, there's nothing to suggest that Inchtuthil was abandoned after the reign of Domitian. Tacitus claims that Britain was 'given up' under that emperor, but in this case we don't have to just take his word for it: unworn coins were found at Inchtuthil dating to 86, but none for 87 or any later year. This corresponds with the suggested transfer of legion II Adiutrix to the Danube around this same year. The withdrawal from the conquests in Scotland was Domitian's work, then, not that of Nerva or Trajan.
Or is there some new evidence, perhaps? Wikipedia notes that "recent archaeology has cast some doubt on this [date for evacuation], indicating that the fortress may have been in use for considerably longer than previously thought." But there's no reference to this 'evidence', and nothing I can find suggests what it might be :? //www.theromangaskproject.org.uk/Pages/Introduction/Agricola-hecame.html:95sl3gum]The Roman Gask Project[/url]). Was this the 'recent archeology', or is there something else?
Another interesting essay, following up on the Breeze one: More Thoughts on why the Romans Failed to Conquer Scotland
- Nathan
Nathan Ross
