The names behind the forts, armies and frontiers

Most of the people who lived in Scotland during the Roman period disappeared from the written record.

Thousands of soldiers served in the forts. Women, children, traders, craftspeople and servants lived alongside them. Communities already living in Scotland encountered Roman armies repeatedly over more than two centuries. But very few of those people left us their names.

The names which do survive are therefore precious. Some were carved onto altars and tombstones. Others appear on building inscriptions, military dedications or pieces of pottery. A handful survive because Roman historians wrote about them.

Together they allow us to move beyond forts, roads and armies and meet some of the individuals who inhabited the world of Roman Scotland.

And they were not all Romans. Some were Roman citizens. Some were soldiers recruited elsewhere in the Empire. Some were Britons. Some were Caledonians. For others, we simply do not know how they would have described themselves.

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Soldiers and officers named in Scotland

Nectovelius — a Brigantian at Mumrills

Nectovelius was the son of Vindex and came from the Brigantes of northern Britain. His tombstone was discovered at Mumrills on the Antonine Wall.

He died aged 29 after nine years’ service with the Second Cohort of Thracians.

His story shows how complicated identity could become in the Roman army: a Briton serving in a unit originally raised in Thrace and stationed on Rome’s frontier in Scotland.

Gaius Arrius Domitianus — the centurion at Newstead

At Trimontium/Newstead, four altars preserve the name of Gaius Arrius Domitianus, a centurion of the Twentieth Legion Valeria Victrix.

His unusually rich collection of dedications makes him one of the best-attested individual Roman officers in Scotland.

Marcus Cocceius Firmus — five altars at Auchendavy

Few soldiers in Roman Scotland left such a strong personal mark as Marcus Cocceius Firmus, a centurion of the Second Legion Augusta.

A remarkable group of altars from Auchendavy records his devotion to gods including Diana, Apollo, Jupiter, Victory, Mars, Minerva, Epona and the Genius Terrae Britannicae — the spirit of the land of Britain.

Valerius Nigrinus — a Tungrian cavalryman

Valerius Nigrinus was a duplicarius — a double-pay cavalry soldier — serving in the First Ala of Tungrians.

An altar found near Mumrills records his dedication to Hercules Magusanus, a deity particularly associated with communities around the lower Rhine.

His name, military unit and choice of god give us a glimpse of how people and beliefs travelled with the Roman army.

Lucius Minthonius Tertullus — commander at Cramond

At Cramond, an inscription records Lucius Minthonius Tertullus, prefect of the Fifth Cohort of Gauls, making a dedication to Jupiter.

His unusual family name has prompted suggestions of connections with North Africa, although the inscription itself does not tell us where he was born.

Flavius Lucianus — a soldier remembered at Shirva

A tombstone from Shirva, close to Auchendavy, commemorates Flavius Lucianus, a soldier of Legio II Augusta.

We know little more about him, but the stone provides something archaeology usually cannot: the name of one individual among the thousands of legionaries who came north.

Quintus Pisentius Justus — commander at Castlehill

Quintus Pisentius Justus commanded the Fourth Cohort of Gauls at Castlehill on the Antonine Wall.

An altar records his dedication to the Campestres, deities associated particularly with military training grounds, and to Britannia.

Lucius Tanicius Verus — prefect at Bar Hill

An altar from Bar Hill names Lucius Tanicius Verus, a prefect who made a dedication to Silvanus.

A man of the same name is known elsewhere in the Roman Empire, but whether they were the same individual remains uncertain.

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Women and families

Women are much harder to find in the written record of Roman Scotland, which makes the handful of surviving names particularly important. Archaeology tells us that women and children lived in frontier communities even when inscriptions do not name them.

Flavia Baetica — a wife at Birrens

An inscription from Birrens records Flavia Baetica, wife of Afutianus, son of Bassus, a centurion of the Second Cohort of Tungrians.

It was Flavia who arranged her husband’s memorial.

Her unusual cognomen Baetica strongly suggests an association with the Roman province of Hispania Baetica in southern Spain, although the inscription cannot tell us her precise birthplace.

Vibia Pacata — a woman’s voice at Westerwood

One of the most remarkable personal inscriptions from the Antonine Wall was found near Westerwood.

Vibia Pacata made a religious dedication to the Silvanae and Quadruviae and is associated in the inscription with Flavius Verecundus, a centurion of Legio VI Victrix.

The monument is a votive altar, rather than a tombstone.

Pacata’s origins remain uncertain. North Africa has traditionally been suggested, but religious and naming evidence also raises the possibility of connections with the Danubian provinces.

Verecunda — one name and many questions

A small tombstone from Shirva contains little more than:

D M VERECVNDAE

“To the spirits of the departed, for Verecunda.”

That is almost everything we know.

Her single name has encouraged various interpretations, but the inscription does not tell us whether Verecunda was local or immigrant, enslaved or free.

Julia of Strageath

At Strageath Roman fort, someone scratched the name IVLIA — Julia onto an amphora.

Was Julia its owner? Did the vessel belong to a woman living at the fort? Was the name written by somebody else?

We cannot know. It is nevertheless a tantalising glimpse of an individual whose name survives even though her story does not.

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Children and families from across the Empire

Salamanes — a fifteen-year-old at Shirva

A gravestone found at Shirva records a boy called Salamanes, who died aged 15. His name is Semitic and has parallels in the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire.

The inscription cannot tell us where he or his family were born, but it provides another glimpse of the culturally diverse population living around Rome’s Scottish frontier.

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Caledonians and Britons known from ancient writers

Not every surviving name comes from an inscription.

Roman authors occasionally name people involved in campaigns in northern Britain. These sources have to be treated differently because we see these individuals through Roman eyes.

Calgacus

Calgacus is the most famous named Caledonian.

Tacitus presents him as one of the leaders facing Agricola’s army before the Battle of Mons Graupius and places a long speech in his mouth.

Calgacus may have been a genuine historical individual, but the famous speech is a literary composition by Tacitus rather than a transcript of what a Caledonian leader actually said.

Among the many thousands of people who resisted Roman expansion in Scotland, he is nevertheless one of the very few whose name entered the surviving literary record.

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Caledonians whose names survive elsewhere in the Empire

There is another remarkable source of evidence.

People described as Caledonians occasionally appear in inscriptions thousands of kilometres from Scotland. These inscriptions offer rare evidence for people moving in the opposite direction — from northern Britain into the wider Roman Empire.

Quintus Fulvius — son of a Caledonian in Spain

An inscription from Santo Tomé in the Spanish province of Jaén records:

Quintus Fulvius, son of a Caledonian.

It also records Gaius Flaminius, who erected the monument.

Whatever the precise story behind the inscription, it provides extraordinary evidence of a man identified through a Caledonian parent living far from northern Britain.

Maria and Maria — Caledonian women at Carnuntum

A tombstone from Petronell-Carnuntum in Austria records two women, apparently both named Maria.

One is explicitly described as:

Maria Caledonia

— “Maria, the Caledonian”.

She died aged about 60, while the second woman was about 15. Their tombstone is important evidence that Caledonian women as well as men could find themselves thousands of kilometres from Britain.

A Caledonian in Austria

Another Austrian inscription preserves the end of the name of a man described as a Caledonian:

…rutius Caledo

He died aged about 60.

The same inscription names Vasso, son of Musso, who erected the monument for himself and his wife.

Although the first man’s complete name has been lost, the stone adds to the evidence for people explicitly described as Caledonians living on the Danube frontier.

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The Roman commanders

Some individuals are known not because their monuments happened to survive, but because they directed Rome’s campaigns in Scotland.

Gnaeus Julius Agricola

Agricola, governor of Britain from AD 77/78, led a series of campaigns deep into Scotland. His story survives principally because his son-in-law, the historian Tacitus, wrote a biography of him. Agricola’s campaigns established many of the forts and military routes which would shape later Roman operations in Scotland.

Quintus Lollius Urbicus

About sixty years later, Quintus Lollius Urbicus, governor of Britain under Antoninus Pius, commanded another major advance into Scotland. Under Urbicus, Roman forces moved north of Hadrian’s Wall and constructed the new frontier which became the Antonine Wall.

Antoninus Pius

Emperor Antoninus Pius never came to Scotland himself, but the conquest carried out by Urbicus was undertaken in his name. The resulting frontier still bears his name: the Antonine Wall.

Septimius Severus

In AD 208 an emperor did come north. Septimius Severus, born at Lepcis Magna in North Africa, travelled to Britain with the imperial court and a large army and launched the last great Roman campaign into Scotland.

He died at York in AD 211.

Julia Domna — an emperor’s wife

Severus’s Syrian-born wife Julia Domna accompanied the imperial household to Britain.

Cassius Dio preserves a famous exchange between Julia Domna and the unnamed wife of the Caledonian Argentocoxus. Although the conversation comes to us through a Roman author, it gives us a rare glimpse of two elite women on opposite sides of the frontier.

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Connected with the northern frontier, but not known in Scotland

A useful distinction needs to be made between people actually attested in Scotland and people whose stories are relevant because they belonged to the military and civilian world immediately to the south.

Gaius Cossutius Saturninus — an African soldier on Hadrian’s Wall

Gaius Cossutius Saturninus came from Hippo Regius, beside modern Annaba in Algeria, and served in Legio VI Victrix. His tombstone was discovered near Birdoswald on Hadrian’s Wall.

His legion certainly operated in Scotland and helped construct the Antonine Wall, but there is currently no evidence that Gaius himself crossed into Scotland. His story nevertheless demonstrates the extraordinary geographical range of the army serving Britain’s northern frontiers.

Marcus Ulpius Januarius

The name Marcus Ulpius Januarius occurs in several inscriptions around the Roman Empire, including examples in Britain. One man of this name is known from Chester and another from Brough-on-Humber.

At present, however, there is no secure Scottish inscription identifying a Marcus Ulpius Januarius, so he belongs in the wider frontier story rather than among the people securely named in Scotland.

Claudia Severa

Claudia Severa is one of the best-known women from Roman Britain because part of a birthday invitation written in her own hand survives among the Vindolanda tablets.

She lived just south of the modern Scottish border rather than in Scotland itself, but her letters provide unusually personal evidence for the sort of military families who lived around Rome’s northern frontier.

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How do we know their names?

There are several very different kinds of evidence.

Inscriptions found in Scotland give us the strongest link between an individual and a particular place. Altars, tombstones and building inscriptions may preserve a name, military unit, rank, family relationship or religious dedication.

Names scratched onto objects can tell us less. Julia’s name on the Strageath amphora, for example, proves that the name was present at the fort but does not tell us exactly who Julia was.

Ancient authors preserve figures such as Agricola, Calgacus and Septimius Severus, but their accounts were written for Roman audiences and need to be read critically.

Inscriptions elsewhere in the Empire provide another perspective. The Caledonians found in Austria and Spain show that movement was not simply one-way. People from northern Britain could also travel — voluntarily or otherwise — far beyond their homeland.

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A surprisingly international Scotland

Put these people together, and Roman Scotland begins to look very different.

There are legionaries and auxiliary soldiers, Britons and Caledonians, officers and ordinary soldiers, women and children. Their names connect Scotland with northern England, the Rhine, Gaul, Spain, North Africa, Syria and the Danube.

At the same time, inscriptions in Austria and Spain show people identified as Caledonians living far beyond Britain. The forts of Roman Scotland were therefore not occupied by one homogeneous group of “Romans”.

They were places where people from across the Empire encountered communities who were already here — and where some of those local people became part of that much wider Roman world.

Most remain anonymous. But occasionally an altar, tombstone, pot or ancient text preserves something extraordinarily personal:

a name.