When the Emperor Hadrian came to power in Rome, there was obviously no presence of the complete Pax Romana in Britain. Hadrian’s biographer stated that the Britons could not be kept under control (A victory is indicated by a coin minted in AD119 with Britannia). The British tribes, the Brigantes, Selgovae and Novantae were a constant thorn in the Romans side and were difficult to keep under control (there are even suggestions of interactions between the Brigantes (part of the Roman province) and Selgovae (Lowland Scotland)!). The Emperor Hadrian himself visited Briton and decided that though the conquest of the Picts would be no trouble for the Roman war machine, the mountainous terrain would prove impossible for complete subjugation of them. This would prove to be a “formidable and unprofitable task”. Therefore, the Emperor Hadrian ordered the construction of a massive monument to himself in the form of the wall, a division between the barbarians in the north and provincials in the south. Some have suggested that it may have been influenced by the Great Wall of China (due to its appearance and function), but there is absolutely no evidence for this.
The wall was definitely built by Roman legionaries, indicated by archaeological evidence found at sites (most obvious being the stamp of the legions on buildings) but was manned exclusively by auxiliaries and possibly numeri (irregular units). Sixteen forts were located along the wall and could easily accommodate whole auxiliary units, around 500 to 1000 men (In Stanwix, the largest fort along the wall, there are speculations that a military cavalry unit was stationed here (Ala Petriana), the only one in Britain). Between the forts ran mile castles and turrets, but as to the question of who manned these, the answer is unclear. Some have suggested the possibility that the unit of the forts were in charge of a certain section of the wall, and it was therefore their responsibility to man the mile castles and turrets. However, after the original plan it was not possible for each fort to spare the men to man these, hence the possibility of numeri being employed to be stationed in the buildings. Despite the possibility, there is no evidence of such troops in Britain during the second century. The alternative to this argument (and the most probable explanation) was that there were two or three auxiliary units with the exclusive task of running the mile castles and turrets along the wall. This is suggested by the identification of a cohort of Vardulli mentioned only in mile castle 19. On the other hand, there is evidence for the mile castles housing up to 60 men and the turrets (between the mile castles) garrisoned by 4 men!
If the idea of a giant wall with forts, castles and turrets manned with between 8 and 10 thousand soldiers, dividing two lands is mentioned then listeners will automatically assume that the wall was placed there with the purpose of defence or offence. This is not the case and is what many archaeologists have debates about. If it wasn’t for the fact that there were not enough soldiers at any one point of the wall to defend it, should a large force attack it. Then the answer would be simple. But this was not the case. It is believed that the wall wasn’t as formidable as it appears to be. Due to the limited number of soldiers available to garrison the wall, if the Picts had massed an army and attacked a single section of wall then despite help from the nearest mile castles and possibly nearest two forts (either side) the army could break through. The carnage would be amplified if the Brigantes to the south also rebelled at the same time.
Another important fact to consider is that originally, many of the forts faced south, into the land of the Brigantes. This suggests that initially, it wasn’t the Picts that the Romans were worried about.
We therefore draw the conclusion that the wall was rather a political and strategical project, designed to protect the province as well as to divide the Roman province from the Barbaricum (As Hadrian’s Biographer said himself, the wall was to “separate the Romans from the Barbarians”). The mile castles and turrets provided an excellent observation system and the movement through the provincial frontier could be properly monitored and controlled. For civil persons, there was probably a very liberal handling suggested by the many gates through the wall. The movement in and out of the province was thus closely supervised by the army but allowed.
Patrolling the wall between the turrets, mile castles and forts is still a matter for discussion since on broad parts of the wall it is possible, but as of yet there is absolutely no evidence.
We are now gathering the idea that the wall was there to control movement and to discourage raiding parties. It is without doubt though that should someone wish to cross the wall undetected, it is easily possible. The psychological effect that the wall would have on the Britons and Picts though was possibly the most important effect of the wall. Despite the wall being breached quite easily, the sheer size and power indicated to those to the south the Pax Romana and the protection that they received and to those to the north, the power of the Romans. Therefore, the main function of the wall was most probably to “Shock and Awe” the inhabitants and designed to maintain order.
