Hey Jones Wall is one of the most famous Roman sites in Britain. This physical frontier

on a far flunk corner of the Roman Empire. But it was not the only wall the Romans constructed

in Britain. They built another and this one even further north that crossed the neck of

Scotland between the Firth of Fourth and the River Clyde. This was the Antenine Wall.

Let's talk about this wall and its history I am chatting with Andrew Tibbs. Andrew has

recently written a book all about the Romans in Scotland and no surprise the Antenine

Wall forms a key part of that history. Enjoy!

Andrew, welcome to the show. Thanks for having me.

Now first of all the Antenine Wall and Roman Scotland can we say that this wall is the

northernmost physical barrier of the Roman Empire.

No, that would be very misleading. It's the northernmost limit of the Empire in the Antenine

period although they do fall back to Hadrian's wall around about the time he dies. In the

first century we've got evidence of them going up into Aberdeenshire so just outside

in Venice there are a couple of Roman camps. There are some antiquarian accounts that indicate

maybe they've gotten even further than that. Later when Septimius Severus becomes Emperor

he decides he's going to try and conquer Scotland. It's a bit of a pattern with the

emperors and he goes up. We don't know exactly how far he gets. We know he's in Aberdeenshire.

We've got evidence of him setting up Roman camps up there. We've got an account that says

he stood on the edge of Britain and marveled at how the length and the days were completely

different from back in Rome. Probably a lot colder as well. We don't know where that is.

It's an account. It may be fabricated, I suspect, he stood somewhere and said this.

But that was also pushing the limit of the empire. Even in the Antenine period the wall is

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