PR-2237IRE Ancient Rome

Romans In Britain – Hadrian
Hadrian reigned as emperor from 117–138 AD.
Early in his reign he travelled to all parts of the
Roman Empire, for he was concerned about security
on its borders. Trajan, the great soldier-emperor before
him, had wasted men and money on extending the
Empire’s frontiers. Though an experienced soldier
himself, Hadrian believed in a smaller Empire with
better defences against attacks by barbarian tribes.
Secure borders enabled the provinces to flourish and
provide taxes and tribute (metals, wine, grain etc.)
to Rome. Though the two European rivers, the Rhine
and the Danube, provided natural barriers against
the Goths, he built forts between them to keep out
the Germanic tribes, but his most famous work was
the building of a wall from sea to sea in northern
England.
Activity Box
1. Which emperor increased the size of the Roman Empire?
2. The Goths were the tribes.
3. Why are there gaps in Hadrian’s Wall today?
4. Hadrian’s Wall was built of stones and
5. What is ‘tribute’?
Hadrian’s Wall
Small settlements grew up along the wall as local Britons provided food and
other supplies for the troops. The wall was originally 4.5 m to 6.5 m high.
6. Which seas are at the ends of the Wall? (Atlas needed)
7. Who provided services to the Roman troops?
8. Why did Caracalla move his army back to Hadrian’s Wall?
Hadrian on a denarius
(Roman coin). The first
emperor to wear a beard.
Around 117 AD warlike tribes from Caledonia
(Scotland) and northern Britannia (Britain) attacked
the Romans and caused widespread destruction. After
Hadrian’s visit to Britain he thought a huge army
was needed to conquer Caledonia and then defend it.
In 122 AD he ordered a wall to be built to ‘separate
the Romans and the barbarians’.
The wall, partly turf and partly stone, was about 120
km long and took over five years to build by Roman
soldiers, for the legions had engineers and craftsmen
skilled in building fortifications.
Auxiliaries, conquered people who had joined the
Roman army, usually manned the wall for the next
250 years. Much of Hadrian’s Wall remains today in
spite of stones being taken to build local churches,
roads and even private homes.
The famous general, Agricola, had defeated the
Scottish tribes, but over 100 years later they were still
troublesome. The emperor Caracalla later concluded
a peace treaty with the Scots and withdrew his armies
to Hadrian’s Wall, which became Britain’s northern
border in the third century AD.
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