Rome’s First Frontier: The Flavian Occupation of Northern Scotland

Hadrian’s Wall and the Antonine Wall are Britain’s best-known Roman frontiers but a more northerly line is also known, on and around the Gask Ridge in Perthshire, which seems to represent the earliest fortified land frontier anywhere in the Roman Empire. Research over the last 10 years has revealed more and more about this system. In the process, it has revolutionised our picture of the Roman occupation of the north of Scotland, which now seems likely to have begun well before the time of the famous governor Agricola. Moreover, the Roman remains can now be set more firmly in the context of the pre-existing Iron Age society, to produce a more peaceful picture than expected. This detailed account, by two scholars intimately associated with the latest research, provides an up-to-date and detailed, yet approachable, account of these early years of the Romans in Scotland.