05-21-2013, 07:28 AM
Quote:Then also as far as Ptolemy's map things are realy vague for some one has even used the Roman fort of Whitley Castle to be the Epiacum of that map, and where they have got that from I would love to know.It goes back to Rivet & Smith, Place-Names of Roman Britain (1979), Brian, where they suggested that it was "probably the Roman fort at Whitley Castle", on the basis (I would guess -- they don't say) that Ptolemy lists it as the northernmost polis of the Brigantes. Some caution should have been advised, as Whitley Castle appears to be an Antonine fort (and late Antonine, at that), whereas Ptolemy's source is normally assumed (on good grounds) to have been Flavian. Earlier researchers had put Epiacum at Ebchester, which at least appears to have been a Flavian foundation, but (by the time of the Antonine Itinerary, at least) Ebchester was pretty certainly called Vinovia. (Epiacum doesn't figure in the AI.)
