Hadrian's Wall, Northern Border of the Roman Empire
A video tour and brief history of Hadrian's Wall, once the frontier border of the Roman Empire dividing England and Wales from Scotland.
Have you ever wondered why Scotland and England (and Wales!) are so similar and yet, in some ways, so different? Although they share common cultural ancestors, thousands of years of history separated the two kingdoms before eventually reuniting them. Perhaps nothing marks this division like Hadrian’s Wall, which marks the ancient boundary between Roman and Celtic Britain.
The first Roman “invasion” of Britain was led by Julius Caesar himself in 55 BCE. But his visit was brief, more of a detour from a larger campaign against the Celtic peoples of France. Caesar established a relationship between Britain and Rome, and Roman trade began to reach the islands. Around a century later, in 43 CE, the Romans prepared a real invasion under Aulus Plautius.
The Roman conquest moved slowly, over the course of several decades, moving ever farther north over modern England and Wales. The Iceni Queen Boudica, for example, led her doomed rebellion against Rome around 60 CE.
Although General Agricola, whose campaigns in Britain were documented by the historian Tacitus, successfully conquered parts of Scotland, Roman hold on the region never stuck. It may be that the difficulty of fighting native people in their own mountainous terrain was too much effort. By the reign of Emperor Hadrian, 117 to 138, Rome’s northern frontier borders had been established along Hadrian’s and the Antonine Wall.
The Antonine Wall is slightly farther north than Hadrian’s, but it was built mainly from wood compared to Hadrian’s stone. Hadrian’s Wall, meanwhile, is still remarkably well preserved today. The Romans protected their border with stone forts and a large moat, discouraging raids and smuggling from the north. It also placed a barrier between once similar cultures that would have historic impacts for centuries to follow.
This video, courtesy of UNESCO, takes us on a tour of Hadrian’s Wall, including artists’ depictions of the wall and its forts in their heyday.
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