The history of England, from the earliest times to the Norman ConquestHodgkin, Thomas
History
The history of England, from the earliest times to the Norman Conquest
Hodgkin, Thomas
Great Britain -- History -- To 1066
It was probably in the year 120, three years after his accession to
the empire, that Hadrian visited Britain. The journey may have been
only part of his pre-arranged tour through the western portion of his
dominions, but it is also possible that it was the result of some
recent and special disaster in Britain to the Roman arms. Some forty
or fifty years afterwards the orator Fronto alluded to “the great
number of soldiers slain by the Britons during the reign of Hadrian,”
and it is allowable at least as a matter of conjecture to couple these
words with the ominous disappearance of one of the legions stationed
in Britain from the army list of the empire. The unlucky Ninth legion,
once quartered at Lincoln, afterwards at York, had been, as we have
seen, nearly destroyed in the insurrection headed by Boadicea. It had
again suffered most severely, under Agricola, from a night attack made
by the Caledonians before the battle of Mons Graupius. And now, just
about this time, either in the later years of Trajan or the earlier
years of Hadrian, it vanishes clean out of the lists of the Roman
army and is replaced by the Sixth legion, surnamed the Victorious,
which was brought over to Britain and stationed at Eburacum. There is
some discussion as to the earlier cantonment of the legions, whether
four or three, that had been quartered in Britain, but as to the
general question of their allocation during, at least, the second
and third centuries of our era there can be no doubt. The Second
legion (_Augusta_) at Isca (Caerleon-upon-Usk); the Sixth (_Victrix_)
at Eburacum (York), and the Twentieth (_Valeria Victrix_) at Deva
(Chester), have left abundant tokens of their long-continued presence.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account