Rome's Northern Frontier AD 70-235: Beyond Hadrian's Wall (Fortress)

The Roman excursions north of the Tyne-Solway line, the route of Hadrian's Wall, can be roughly divided into three main periods. Firstly, Agricola advanced against the Caledonii for six campaigning seasons culminating in the decisive battle of Mons Graupius in AD 83. Secondly, the Antonine Wall was built 70 miles to the north of Hadrian's Wall along the Forth-Clyde isthmus, though it marked the northern frontier of the empire for little more than 20 years. Finally, at the beginning of the 3rd century AD L. Septimius Severus arrived to restore order along the northern frontier, briefly reoccupying and repairing sections of the Antonine Wall. This title describes the fortifications left behind by each of these three attempts to subdue Rome's northernmost frontier.

Customer Reviews:

It is as it was

By Robbows - June 26, 2011

Another great product from Ospray, very detailed and correct. Well worth the price, a combination of text and detailed colour photos is what makes Ospray a great reference book. Love it.

Pretty average

By Dave Essery - September 8, 2008

This is a fairly average account of the Roman presence in Scotland, with enough small errors to be disappointing. For example the author (Nic Fields) makes the suprising statement that the Antonine Wall was briefly reoccupied and repaired by Septimus Severus and his sons c.208. There is however no archaeological evidence to support this, as David Breeze states in his much better 'The Antonine Wall' (2006) 'There is no indication that the Emperors Septimus Severus and Carcalla paid any attention to the Wall when they crossed it during their campaigns...'.

I found the layout of the text and illustrations confusing as well. The installations that were chosen as case studies were not illustrated, nor was a single ground plan of any of the sites mentioned in the text provided! Instead there were numerous illustrations and artistic reconstructions of sites that were hardly mentioned (if at all) in the main text. For example there are large artistic drawings of Cramond and... read more

Rome's Northern frontier

By m ziemann - April 8, 2013

Very interesting book. This would be a tough place to have your posted to. I enjoyed the text and found it to be source of new information. If you like to read about forts and walls, you will enjoy this book.