Leopard Magazine: Creating a Roman confusion in the North-east

Leopard Magazine: Creating a Roman confusion in the North-east

In a previous article in Leopard (April 2015), I discussed some of the Roman objects found in Aberdeenshire and how these can reveal something of the relationships between the Romans and the native people of the North-east.

Since the 18th century, this has been a topic of great fascination to local historians, and some of the stories they have written also reveal much about more recent ideas of identity.

In 1793, General William Roy’s Military Antiquities of the Romans in Britain was published, including beautiful and accurate plans of the Roman sites that could be seen in the Scottish landscape. As any of these sites have now been destroyed, his plans continue to be useful for archaeologists.

Other antiquarians, such as John Stuart, professor of Greek at Marischal College, wrote in 1818 that “the historical records of the Romans, are our best guide, and almost only authority” to interpreting remains from antiquity. To classically-educated Scottish antiquarians of the early 19th century, the history of Roman Scotland was dominated by the Agricola, written by Tacitus, which culminates in the battle of Mons Graupius and the defeat of the Caledonians under their leader, Calgacus.

Attempts to link the literary account with archaeological evidence continue, despite General Roy’s warning that “unless a number of old Roman and Caledonian arms should, by mere accident, be dug up in the neighbourhood of those places, or that the vestiges of a camp should be discovered fronting one or other of them, we can never hope to ascertain the particular spot.”

Read more http://www.abdn.ac.uk/staffnet/documents/Leopard_Sept_2015_Roman_Confusion.pdf

*This article was written for the September 2015 edition of Leopard Magazine, click here to find out more.

Search News

Browse by Month

2024

  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May There are no items to show for May 2024
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov There are no items to show for November 2024
  12. Dec There are no items to show for December 2024

2014

  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul There are no items to show for July 2014
  8. Aug
  9. Sep There are no items to show for September 2014
  10. Oct There are no items to show for October 2014
  11. Nov
  12. Dec

2013

  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr There are no items to show for April 2013
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul There are no items to show for July 2013
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec There are no items to show for December 2013

2012

  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun There are no items to show for June 2012
  7. Jul There are no items to show for July 2012
  8. Aug There are no items to show for August 2012
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec

2011

  1. Jan There are no items to show for January 2011
  2. Feb There are no items to show for February 2011
  3. Mar There are no items to show for March 2011
  4. Apr There are no items to show for April 2011
  5. May There are no items to show for May 2011
  6. Jun There are no items to show for June 2011
  7. Jul There are no items to show for July 2011
  8. Aug There are no items to show for August 2011
  9. Sep There are no items to show for September 2011
  10. Oct
  11. Nov There are no items to show for November 2011
  12. Dec There are no items to show for December 2011