The Wall: Rome's Greatest Frontier

by Alistair Moffat

Overview

A “compelling, thought-provoking and entertaining history” of Hadrian’s Wall, one of Britain’s most intriguing landmarks (Herald).

Hadrian’s Wall is the largest and one of the most enigmatic historical monuments in Britain. Nothing else approaches its vast scale: a land wall running seventy-three miles from east to west and a sea wall stretching at least twenty-six miles down the Cumbrian coast. Many of its forts are as large as Britain’s most formidable medieval castles, and the wide ditch dug to the south of the Wall, the vallum, is larger than any surviving prehistoric earthwork.

Built in a ten-year period by more than thirty thousand soldiers and laborers at the behest of an extraordinary emperor, the Wall consisted of more than twenty-four million stones, giving it a mass greater than all the Egyptian pyramids put together. At least a million people visit Hadrian’s Wall each year, and it has been designated a World Heritage Site.

In this book, based on literary and historical sources as well as the latest archaeological research, Alistair Moffat considers who built the Wall, how it was built, why it was built, and how it affected the native peoples who lived in its mighty shadow. The result is a unique and fascinating insight into one of the wonders of the ancient world.

“Wonderfully entertaining.” —The Independent

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780857904812
Publisher:	Birlinn, Limited
Publication date:	02/12/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	308
Sales rank:	19,707
File size:	7 MB

About the Author

Alistair Moffat was born and bred in the Scottish Borders. A former Director of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Director of Programmes at Scottish Television, he now runs the burgeoning Borders Book Festival as well as a production company based near Selkirk. He has written twelve books, including Kelsae, The Reivers, The Sea Kingdoms, The Borders and The Wall, all of which are published by Birlinn.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements ix

List of Illustrations xi

Map xiii

Preface xv

1 Caesar, Claudius and the Elephants 1

2 Britannia Barbarica 31

3 The North Road 51

4 Dinner on the Stone Road 80

5 The Day the Empire Came 120

6 Let One Stone Stand Upon Another 134

7 Abandonment, Invasion and Desertion 179

8 After Britannia 235

9 After Hadrian 245

10 Days on the Wall 250

Appendix 1 Significant Roman Emperors During the Time of Britannia 257

Appendix 2 Significant Governors of Britannia 259

Bibliography 261

Index 263

Editorial Reviews

This is a definitive piece of research, colourfully and humorously written, beautifully illustrated with fine photography and enhanced by a necessary map, dates of the Common Ridings, names of Border families and a selection of evocative Border Ballads'

Scots Magazine

A most compelling, thought-provoking and entertaining history'

Herald - Rosemary Goring