0:00:07 > 0:00:14'78AD. The most powerful army in the world arrived here -
0:00:14 > 0:00:18'a land of strange tribes and savage beasts.
0:00:19 > 0:00:22'A place they called Caledonia.'
0:00:22 > 0:00:25They would have terrorised the locals.
0:00:27 > 0:00:31They believed that they had a divine right to rule.
0:00:32 > 0:00:35'The mighty Roman legions had conquered all before them.
0:00:35 > 0:00:38'By warfare, repression,'
0:00:38 > 0:00:40bribery, genocide.
0:00:41 > 0:00:46But when they got to here, they stuttered to a halt.
0:00:46 > 0:00:49For over 300 years, the tribes of Northern Britain
0:00:49 > 0:00:53proved the most frustrating and formidable of adversaries.
0:00:56 > 0:01:00'I'm Dr Fraser Hunter. I'm an archaeologist.
0:01:00 > 0:01:04'I've spent 20 years uncovering our earliest histories.
0:01:05 > 0:01:08'The Roman invasion fascinates me.
0:01:08 > 0:01:14'How a voracious superpower took on the tribes of Iron Age Scotland.'
0:01:14 > 0:01:17CLAMOUR OF BATTLE
0:01:17 > 0:01:21'A conflict from ancient history.
0:01:21 > 0:01:25'But a conflict that resonates with our own world.'
0:01:27 > 0:01:29This was a battle of
0:01:29 > 0:01:31empire against insurgency.
0:01:33 > 0:01:35A battle of control. Of division.
0:01:35 > 0:01:37Of conquest.
0:01:40 > 0:01:45Tales from the edge of empire. The story of Rome's final frontier.
0:01:55 > 0:02:00'Our story begins here, in the heat and dust of North Africa,
0:02:00 > 0:02:04'at the ancient Roman city of Volubilis, in Morocco -
0:02:04 > 0:02:09'the southwest corner of the empire.'
0:02:13 > 0:02:17From here it's 2,500 miles
0:02:17 > 0:02:19to the eastern edge of the empire in Syria.
0:02:19 > 0:02:231,500 miles north, to the land they called Caledonia.
0:02:23 > 0:02:25And strange as it may seem,
0:02:25 > 0:02:27these ancient ruins hold a unique
0:02:27 > 0:02:31and fascinating piece of evidence about the history of Scotland.
0:02:34 > 0:02:37'This arch was built to celebrate the self-styled
0:02:37 > 0:02:39'conqueror of the Caledonians,
0:02:39 > 0:02:41'the Emperor Caracalla.
0:02:41 > 0:02:44'He and his father, the Emperor Severus,
0:02:44 > 0:02:49'had led massive military campaigns into third-century Scotland.
0:02:49 > 0:02:54'A great statue of Caracalla once stood above the arch.'
0:02:56 > 0:02:59So what we see today, is impressive, although it's restored,
0:02:59 > 0:03:02but it's only a fragment of how it would have looked
0:03:02 > 0:03:04cos the inscription that sits there at the moment
0:03:04 > 0:03:06would have had... would have been built into
0:03:06 > 0:03:09a much larger structure and on top of that,
0:03:09 > 0:03:11you have this enormous, great, bronze statue.
0:03:14 > 0:03:17'A fragment of cloak from Caracalla's statue has survived.
0:03:17 > 0:03:22'Housed in the archaeological museum of the city of Rabat.
0:03:22 > 0:03:26'It includes an early depiction of that great national stereotype,
0:03:26 > 0:03:30'the long-haired Caledonian warrior.'
0:03:33 > 0:03:34And here he is.
0:03:36 > 0:03:39The giveaway is the checked leggings...
0:03:40 > 0:03:44..the first ever depiction of tartan.
0:03:44 > 0:03:45And the shields too.
0:03:45 > 0:03:49They're Celtic in style, this guy's a Caledonian.
0:03:49 > 0:03:52You can see his head, cloak over the shoulders.
0:03:53 > 0:03:56But look at the arms.
0:03:56 > 0:03:59They're bound behind the back. This guy's a captive.
0:03:59 > 0:04:03He's a prisoner from the vicious campaigns of Severus and Caracalla.
0:04:07 > 0:04:09'And some of these men would have been force-marched
0:04:09 > 0:04:14'for months on end to all parts of the empire.
0:04:14 > 0:04:16'Living trophies of the Emperor's success.
0:04:18 > 0:04:22'Some might have been traded as slaves in the great markets.
0:04:22 > 0:04:25'Others were even less fortunate.
0:04:27 > 0:04:28'This mosaic from Tunisia
0:04:28 > 0:04:33'shows how one unfortunate Caledonian met his end.'
0:04:34 > 0:04:36Captured...
0:04:36 > 0:04:38marched for months to this desert province...
0:04:38 > 0:04:40sent to the amphitheatre.
0:04:40 > 0:04:45Killed by wild animals as exotic entertainment for the locals.
0:04:51 > 0:04:53We've long had a curious,
0:04:53 > 0:04:56rather cuddly relationship with the Romans.
0:04:56 > 0:04:59Hot baths, straight roads - all very Monty Python.
0:04:59 > 0:05:02In the western world we often see ourselves as
0:05:02 > 0:05:05the inheritors of Roman values and Roman culture.
0:05:05 > 0:05:09But this evidence from North Africa reminds us,
0:05:09 > 0:05:11the Romans were invaders -
0:05:11 > 0:05:12colonisers.
0:05:12 > 0:05:15Their strategies encompassed everything up to
0:05:15 > 0:05:18and including genocide.
0:05:18 > 0:05:23For the local tribes, the Roman arrival in what we call Scotland
0:05:23 > 0:05:25must have been absolutely terrifying.
0:05:30 > 0:05:34'That arrival came around the year 78AD.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39'35 years after landing in England,
0:05:39 > 0:05:42'the Roman armies turned their attentions to
0:05:42 > 0:05:46'conquering the north, and marched into modern-day Scotland.
0:05:51 > 0:05:54'Here, at Pennymuir, they built a temporary camp -
0:05:54 > 0:05:59' massive enclosure to protect 20,000 men on the move.'
0:06:03 > 0:06:05To the locals,
0:06:05 > 0:06:08this must have seemed like an army from a different planet.
0:06:08 > 0:06:12More people than they had ever seen in the one place together.
0:06:12 > 0:06:16An army with weapons that could kill you, at a great distance.
0:06:18 > 0:06:21This was first century shock and awe.
0:06:23 > 0:06:27'The Caledonians would have been amazed.
0:06:27 > 0:06:33'An army of some 20,000 men, all of them armed to the teeth.
0:06:33 > 0:06:37'An advancing column of soldiers, five miles long.
0:06:37 > 0:06:40'Thousands of horses and pack animals.
0:06:40 > 0:06:44'The creak and crash of wagons full of supplies.
0:06:44 > 0:06:48'The colourful flags, the gleaming helmets,
0:06:48 > 0:06:54'the bright brassy harness, the sound of an alien tongue.
0:06:54 > 0:06:56'The Roman Empire had arrived.
0:06:59 > 0:07:02'The Emperor Vespasian had ordered the invasion.
0:07:02 > 0:07:05'To be led by the Governor of Britain - Agricola.
0:07:05 > 0:07:08'And Agricola's life story survives.
0:07:08 > 0:07:13'Written by his son-in-law, Tacitus.'
0:07:13 > 0:07:18So not the most unbiased of sources, nor always the most reliable.
0:07:18 > 0:07:21Tacitus records that over the next few years,
0:07:21 > 0:07:26the forces of Agricola drove deeper and deeper into Scotland.
0:07:27 > 0:07:29LATIN QUOTATION IN TRANSLATION:
0:07:29 > 0:07:32"Repeated and successful battles
0:07:32 > 0:07:34"had conquered tribes up to that time unknown."
0:07:37 > 0:07:41Agricola's invasion of Scotland was an uneven battle,
0:07:41 > 0:07:46between a highly disciplined army with every technological advantage,
0:07:46 > 0:07:49and local tribes unused to this scale of threat.
0:07:51 > 0:07:55'In modern military jargon, it's called asymmetric warfare.
0:07:55 > 0:07:58'Powerful, regimented armies,
0:07:58 > 0:08:02'against unpredictable, small militias.
0:08:03 > 0:08:07'Major General Andrew Mackay led British forces in Afghanistan.
0:08:07 > 0:08:10'He knows, from experience, the challenges
0:08:10 > 0:08:12'Agricola would have faced.'
0:08:14 > 0:08:16He's got to start gaining a bit of intelligence.
0:08:16 > 0:08:21He's got to figure out, who are the ruling elites?
0:08:21 > 0:08:23Who can I do the deals with?
0:08:23 > 0:08:25Who's going to be opposing me?
0:08:25 > 0:08:28Who are going to be the more difficult customers?
0:08:28 > 0:08:31Who am I going to have to squash?
0:08:31 > 0:08:35Who am I going to have to deal with in a more amicable way?
0:08:35 > 0:08:40The Romans would be looking to use
0:08:40 > 0:08:43all the kind of equipment and training
0:08:43 > 0:08:45and doctrine that had got them so far
0:08:45 > 0:08:48in creating such an enormous empire.
0:08:52 > 0:08:56'Tacitus continued his account of Agricola's invasion.'
0:08:56 > 0:08:58LATIN QUOTATION IN TRANSLATION:
0:08:58 > 0:09:02"The natives were harried as far north as the estuary of the Tay.
0:09:02 > 0:09:06"Overawed by terror the enemy did not venture to annoy our army...
0:09:06 > 0:09:10"though it suffered from shocking weather.
0:09:10 > 0:09:14"Time was found also for the planting of forts."
0:09:17 > 0:09:22'Forts were built as permanent bases for holding down the country.
0:09:22 > 0:09:27'This is Ardoch, just outside the village of Braco, in Perthshire.'
0:09:30 > 0:09:33Ardoch is remarkable because so much survives.
0:09:33 > 0:09:38This is the best preserved earthwork fort in the whole Roman Empire.
0:09:38 > 0:09:42And even after almost 2,000 years,
0:09:42 > 0:09:46we still get a fantastic picture of how the Roman army protected itself.
0:09:47 > 0:09:49At the bottom of these ditches,
0:09:49 > 0:09:53would have been the Roman equivalent of barbed wire -
0:09:53 > 0:09:57sharp, thorny bushes, nettles and other unpleasant things.
0:09:57 > 0:10:02An extra line of defence was the rampart of turf and timber.
0:10:02 > 0:10:06And you'd only enter the fort, through narrow causeways like this.
0:10:07 > 0:10:12'Forts, were just one part of a massive logistical operation
0:10:12 > 0:10:13'to conquer Scotland.
0:10:15 > 0:10:19'The fort at Ardoch was surrounded by enormous temporary camps.
0:10:21 > 0:10:23'These provided overnight accommodation
0:10:23 > 0:10:25'and a safeguard against attack.
0:10:27 > 0:10:30'Dr Rebecca Jones is an authority on
0:10:30 > 0:10:33'these formidable Roman constructions.'
0:10:33 > 0:10:36We've got a fort here, and that would have been occupied by
0:10:36 > 0:10:38about 500 men in timber buildings,
0:10:38 > 0:10:41who are garrisoning the territory -
0:10:41 > 0:10:44newly conquered territory - and actually placing themselves,
0:10:44 > 0:10:48occupying it, staying here for 10, 15, perhaps 20 years.
0:10:48 > 0:10:50To the north of the fort,
0:10:50 > 0:10:52there's a whole series of camps
0:10:52 > 0:10:55occupied at different times by soldiers who were coming through
0:10:55 > 0:10:58this area, when they were in various conquest phases.
0:10:58 > 0:11:01The camps are vast in size.
0:11:01 > 0:11:05One of them holds, potentially, up to 30,000 men.
0:11:05 > 0:11:08And what's the role of these camps?
0:11:08 > 0:11:11Soldiers needed an overnight halting place obviously,
0:11:11 > 0:11:13but also it's a mark in the landscape.
0:11:13 > 0:11:14This is the Romans, they've arrived.
0:11:14 > 0:11:16This is where we're conquering,
0:11:16 > 0:11:18this is where we're travelling through.
0:11:18 > 0:11:21And while they were here, they would have terrorised the locals,
0:11:21 > 0:11:23got the supplies that they needed,
0:11:23 > 0:11:25they would have carried some supplies with them,
0:11:25 > 0:11:27but 30,000 men, would have required
0:11:27 > 0:11:29an awful lot of additional supplies
0:11:29 > 0:11:30that they'd have got from the locals.
0:11:30 > 0:11:33When they're campaigning from one site to another,
0:11:33 > 0:11:35they would have departed one site,
0:11:35 > 0:11:37and the head of the column, as they marched along,
0:11:37 > 0:11:40would potentially arrive at the next site, some 20 miles away,
0:11:40 > 0:11:42whilst the tail was actually leaving the camp.
0:11:42 > 0:11:46Which must have been quite a tremendous sight in the landscape.
0:11:50 > 0:11:53'From Ardoch, the Romans headed along the Gask Ridge,
0:11:53 > 0:11:55'skirting the southern Highlands.
0:11:56 > 0:11:59'Then, they marched northeast -
0:11:59 > 0:12:00'along Strathmore,
0:12:00 > 0:12:03'in the good land south of the Grampians.'
0:12:07 > 0:12:10A lot of people think the Roman Empire
0:12:10 > 0:12:13began and ended at Hadrian's Wall.
0:12:13 > 0:12:16In fact the Roman army drove deep into northeast Scotland.
0:12:18 > 0:12:21'This is Stonehaven. A town just south of Aberdeen.
0:12:21 > 0:12:23'The Romans were here.
0:12:25 > 0:12:28'And Agricola's advancing army was relentless.'
0:12:31 > 0:12:35LATIN QUOTATION IN TRANSLATION:
0:12:35 > 0:12:38"Caledonia must be penetrated.
0:12:38 > 0:12:40"The furthest shores of Britain
0:12:40 > 0:12:44"must, once for all, be discovered in one continuous campaign."
0:12:48 > 0:12:49Just, there is a gap here.
0:12:49 > 0:12:52That looks believable as well.
0:12:52 > 0:12:54'Professor Bill Hanson of Glasgow University
0:12:54 > 0:12:58'has been studying Roman Scotland for almost 40 years.
0:12:58 > 0:13:03'He's come to meet me, in the misty hills above Stonehaven.
0:13:03 > 0:13:07'The site of a Roman marching camp, Raedykes -
0:13:07 > 0:13:12'one of a series of camps on Rome's northern frontier.
0:13:12 > 0:13:17'This bank and ditch, are part of a massive Roman marching camp.'
0:13:17 > 0:13:22This unremarkable grassy field, was once the temporary home,
0:13:22 > 0:13:24for some 20,000 Roman soldiers.
0:13:24 > 0:13:28It was a huge, logistical operation.
0:13:28 > 0:13:30Food and other supplies,
0:13:30 > 0:13:32a baggage train pulling all kinds of things,
0:13:32 > 0:13:35advanced weaponry, catapults, a field hospital.
0:13:35 > 0:13:40It begs the question. Why did they come here?
0:13:40 > 0:13:41It really boils down to,
0:13:41 > 0:13:45trying to finish off the conquest of the island.
0:13:45 > 0:13:50Whether they were after economic gain, is much debated.
0:13:50 > 0:13:54Certainly it's clear that, the area that they did consolidate
0:13:54 > 0:13:58after the, after this, firs-century campaigning,
0:13:58 > 0:14:02was the area of Scotland that has the richest agricultural land.
0:14:02 > 0:14:06But there may also have been an interest in acquiring resources,
0:14:06 > 0:14:09particularly minerals, particularly metals.
0:14:09 > 0:14:11There was gold in Scotland.
0:14:11 > 0:14:14Lead, in particular, and silver because the two often go together.
0:14:14 > 0:14:16So they well may have been looking for that,
0:14:16 > 0:14:19but there's some considerable debate about the extent to which
0:14:19 > 0:14:22those sort of economic drivers were behind the process.
0:14:22 > 0:14:24At the end of the day, it really is about conquering the world.
0:14:24 > 0:14:28They believed that they had a divine right to rule.
0:14:30 > 0:14:34'To rule Scotland, Agricola would have to deal conclusively with
0:14:34 > 0:14:36'the Caledonian tribes.
0:14:37 > 0:14:40'Six years into the Roman invasion,
0:14:40 > 0:14:43'the two sides met at Mons Graupius -
0:14:43 > 0:14:47'the first recorded battle on Scottish soil.'
0:14:49 > 0:14:53Tacitus brings to life a great war leader of the Caledonians -
0:14:53 > 0:14:57Calgacus, Scotland's first Braveheart.
0:14:58 > 0:15:00"We stand now as one, the last of the free.
0:15:02 > 0:15:04"There is no other race beyond us.
0:15:04 > 0:15:07"Nothing but the crash of sea upon the rocks
0:15:07 > 0:15:12"and more deadly still, the Romans. They have pillaged the earth.
0:15:12 > 0:15:18"To plunder, butchery and rape they give the false name of empire.
0:15:18 > 0:15:22"They make a desert and call it peace."
0:15:25 > 0:15:30The speech is pure Hollywood. It's also pure fiction.
0:15:30 > 0:15:32It tells us more about Roman propaganda needs
0:15:32 > 0:15:34than it does about facts on the frontier.
0:15:34 > 0:15:38Supposedly 10,000 Caledonians killed,
0:15:38 > 0:15:41but only 360 of our plucky Roman heroes.
0:15:41 > 0:15:44And they were playing the B team.
0:15:44 > 0:15:47The legionaries, the crack heavy infantry,
0:15:47 > 0:15:49supposedly weren't even involved.
0:15:52 > 0:15:55'The Caledonians didn't have a written culture.
0:15:55 > 0:15:58'We can't read their account of the battle.
0:15:58 > 0:16:02'But their history, their culture
0:16:02 > 0:16:05'and the things that were important to them, can all be uncovered.
0:16:07 > 0:16:10'I've come to Birnie, just south of Elgin.'
0:16:12 > 0:16:15I don't get to work in places like
0:16:15 > 0:16:17the Parthenon or the Valley Of The Kings.
0:16:17 > 0:16:20I work in places like pig farms.
0:16:20 > 0:16:22We've spent 14 summers digging here.
0:16:26 > 0:16:322,000 years ago, this was a thriving community - farmer folk.
0:16:32 > 0:16:37Not Scottish or Caledonian, they'd no notion of nationality.
0:16:37 > 0:16:40Essentially these were small-scale societies.
0:16:40 > 0:16:45A land of big farms controlling their local area.
0:16:45 > 0:16:50'Modern techniques are giving us a much clearer picture
0:16:50 > 0:16:53'of how these Iron Age people lived.
0:16:53 > 0:16:58'Dr Matthew Nicholls from Reading University
0:16:58 > 0:17:00'has translated volumes of archaeological evidence
0:17:00 > 0:17:05'into a digital version of how this site may have looked.'
0:17:05 > 0:17:08That's fantastic. That gives us a great sense of some of the buildings
0:17:08 > 0:17:11as we look down onto them - these roundhouses.
0:17:11 > 0:17:13These are really large structures as well, aren't they?
0:17:13 > 0:17:15Yeah, I think this is the important thing.
0:17:15 > 0:17:17People call them huts but these are huge big houses.
0:17:17 > 0:17:19I mean these are 16 to 20 metres in diameter -
0:17:19 > 0:17:23absolutely massive and many of them with more than one storey in them.
0:17:23 > 0:17:25You know, you'd have an upper floor.
0:17:25 > 0:17:27I've put a couple of shadowy people into the centre
0:17:27 > 0:17:30of the area there to try and give a sense of that scale,
0:17:30 > 0:17:33and buildings like this one particularly are really huge.
0:17:33 > 0:17:34I think that this is the problem,
0:17:34 > 0:17:37we lose so much in this kind of organic architecture
0:17:37 > 0:17:39that just doesn't survive,
0:17:39 > 0:17:41whereas on a Roman site in stone it does survive.
0:17:41 > 0:17:43But of course you can do all kinds of things
0:17:43 > 0:17:45with organic architecture with,
0:17:45 > 0:17:47you know, fancy rope work or fancy turf work.
0:17:47 > 0:17:50It would have made these buildings look big and grand and impressive.
0:17:50 > 0:17:54I tried to put in some evidence, or some reconstructive imagery,
0:17:54 > 0:17:57of what led to the prosperity of the site.
0:17:57 > 0:17:59So a suggestion of agriculture.
0:17:59 > 0:18:01Yes, the agriculture's all important.
0:18:01 > 0:18:03But the craft activities are key as well, and the iron smelting
0:18:03 > 0:18:07taking place over there, the blacksmithing, bronze casting,
0:18:07 > 0:18:11pot making, leather working, a whole range of crafts are going on here.
0:18:11 > 0:18:13Both for them to use and to show off with,
0:18:13 > 0:18:15but also to exchange with other folk and, you know,
0:18:15 > 0:18:18as a result, build their connections, build their power.
0:18:18 > 0:18:22'The people who lived here were labelled "barbarians"
0:18:22 > 0:18:24'by Roman propaganda.
0:18:24 > 0:18:28'The archaeology disproves that completely.'
0:18:35 > 0:18:38'And when I'm not in a muddy ditch, this is my office.
0:18:39 > 0:18:43'The National Museum of Scotland.
0:18:43 > 0:18:45'For me the great joy of working here,
0:18:45 > 0:18:48'is that when everyone's left for the night,
0:18:48 > 0:18:50'I can enjoy the exhibits on my own.
0:18:52 > 0:18:56'The archaeology we've unearthed all across Scotland gives you
0:18:56 > 0:18:59'a real sense of what mattered to the people living in
0:18:59 > 0:19:01'these Iron Age communities.'
0:19:03 > 0:19:05Well this is one of the nicest finds from Birnie.
0:19:06 > 0:19:09Tiny wee glass gaming piece.
0:19:09 > 0:19:11Just like a wee marble.
0:19:11 > 0:19:15And it shows us these folk not only had spare time on their hands,
0:19:15 > 0:19:18but this is a little masterpiece of technology
0:19:18 > 0:19:23with these swirls of blue and white glass set into it.
0:19:23 > 0:19:27These are skilled craft workers, not just savages or simple farmers.
0:19:29 > 0:19:33This hoard from Blair Drummond shows the craft skills,
0:19:33 > 0:19:37the power and the connections of some people in Iron Age Scotland.
0:19:38 > 0:19:42Locally made, gold neck ornaments - torcs -
0:19:42 > 0:19:46along with one that's inspired by both Mediterranean
0:19:46 > 0:19:48and local craft styles,
0:19:48 > 0:19:52with its wonderful Mediterranean style decoration in the terminals.
0:19:54 > 0:19:57The finds can tell us what was important to these people.
0:19:57 > 0:20:00And this is part of a group of horse harness fittings.
0:20:00 > 0:20:02And horses and chariots are one of the ways
0:20:02 > 0:20:04you'd show off in Iron Age society.
0:20:04 > 0:20:07This is a strap junction.
0:20:07 > 0:20:10You'd fasten two leather straps from the horse harness together.
0:20:10 > 0:20:13And, rather than just a plain, boring old junction,
0:20:13 > 0:20:15they decorate these things.
0:20:15 > 0:20:18So on this one you've got all these, wonderful curving lines and...
0:20:18 > 0:20:22trumpet shapes and enamelled decoration on it.
0:20:22 > 0:20:25These folk decorated the things that were important to them -
0:20:25 > 0:20:28horse equipment, jewellery and also weaponry.
0:20:28 > 0:20:31A few folk were warriors
0:20:31 > 0:20:34and for them the sword was a symbol of status
0:20:34 > 0:20:38and the sword scabbard showed that off, with its wonderful decoration.
0:20:41 > 0:20:45'Scotland's warriors had been soundly beaten at Mons Graupius.
0:20:45 > 0:20:49'Their collected armies had been massacred.
0:20:49 > 0:20:53'Large areas of Caledonia had been conquered.
0:20:54 > 0:20:56'And now, they were to be colonised.
0:20:59 > 0:21:03'For the Romans, a new phase of the operation began -
0:21:03 > 0:21:08'to mop up resistance, to police the native population
0:21:08 > 0:21:11'and to push on into the Highlands.
0:21:12 > 0:21:14'The very centre of that new strategy was located here
0:21:14 > 0:21:16'at Inchtuthil, near Blairgowrie.'
0:21:25 > 0:21:30Here, on the banks of the River Tay, was a massive Roman barracks.
0:21:30 > 0:21:35Big enough to take an entire legion - over 5,000 thousand men.
0:21:35 > 0:21:38You can maybe just see on the far side of the field
0:21:38 > 0:21:40where the Land Rover's parked.
0:21:41 > 0:21:44That's the other side of the fortress.
0:21:44 > 0:21:46That's the scale we're talking about here.
0:21:50 > 0:21:53'The fortress was 50 acres in size.
0:21:53 > 0:21:57'Roughly the area of 25 football pitches.
0:21:57 > 0:22:00'Ten times the size of the London Olympic Stadium.'
0:22:10 > 0:22:13- It would have been a very dramatic thing in the landscape.- Yeah, yeah.
0:22:13 > 0:22:15Very forbidding, I would have thought.
0:22:15 > 0:22:16Can we have a look at the fortress?
0:22:16 > 0:22:19This gives us a more close-in view of the fort.
0:22:19 > 0:22:2164 different barrack blocks there for the legionaries
0:22:21 > 0:22:24to live in, about 5,500 men.
0:22:24 > 0:22:27And then the tiled roofs - headquarters building, hospital,
0:22:27 > 0:22:30houses for the officers built in a grand Roman courtyard style.
0:22:30 > 0:22:34The workshop for blacksmithing and wagon making activities.
0:22:34 > 0:22:37In the middle of it all, that's the headquarters building -
0:22:37 > 0:22:39the principia - but slightly smaller than we'd expect
0:22:39 > 0:22:41for a fort of this importance.
0:22:41 > 0:22:43And perhaps that's a sign that they were going to rebuild it
0:22:43 > 0:22:46on a grander scale, when they got round to finishing the place.
0:22:46 > 0:22:49Had they been here longer, we'd be looking at a very magnificent
0:22:49 > 0:22:52praetorium there - the house of the commanding officer,
0:22:52 > 0:22:54who'd be a very high ranking general indeed.
0:22:54 > 0:22:57Very important man, friend of the Emperor.
0:22:58 > 0:23:00When they dug here in the '50s and '60s,
0:23:00 > 0:23:03they found a pit containing over a million nails.
0:23:03 > 0:23:06Ten tonnes of nails.
0:23:06 > 0:23:09And the effort involved in making those, and then in shipping them
0:23:09 > 0:23:14here, gives you some idea of the scale of the Roman endeavour.
0:23:16 > 0:23:20'The Romans thought they were in Caledonia to stay.
0:23:20 > 0:23:22'Their newly-built infrastructure of roads,
0:23:22 > 0:23:26'forts and signal towers helped to keep the peace
0:23:26 > 0:23:29'and connected Caledonia
0:23:29 > 0:23:31'to the rest of the Roman world.'
0:23:34 > 0:23:37This northern outpost was on track to become a fully-fledged
0:23:37 > 0:23:39province of the Roman Empire.
0:23:40 > 0:23:44But only four years after the battle of Mons Graupius,
0:23:44 > 0:23:49the unstoppable forward momentum of the mighty Roman Empire stopped.
0:23:53 > 0:23:57'The armies that controlled Scotland were needed elsewhere.
0:23:57 > 0:24:00'And urgently.
0:24:00 > 0:24:03'A rebellion that began in modern-day Romania
0:24:03 > 0:24:07'was becoming a genuine threat to the stability of the empire.
0:24:10 > 0:24:14'With fewer men, the Romans could control less of Caledonia.
0:24:14 > 0:24:19'Inchtuthil and the whole northern frontier was abandoned.'
0:24:23 > 0:24:24'Elsewhere in the empire,
0:24:24 > 0:24:27'these great fortresses gave life to settlements.
0:24:27 > 0:24:31'And over time those grew into towns and cities.'
0:24:31 > 0:24:35York, Vienna and Strasbourg were all legionary fortresses.
0:24:37 > 0:24:41These Perthshire fields could have been a great Scottish city.
0:24:41 > 0:24:43Inchtuthil might have been Scotland's capital.
0:24:48 > 0:24:50'Instead, the Romans headed south.
0:24:52 > 0:24:56'The Highlands, the Central Lowlands, were left behind.
0:24:57 > 0:24:58'Left for another day.
0:25:02 > 0:25:04'A new frontier, a buffer zone was created
0:25:04 > 0:25:07'across the North of England.
0:25:07 > 0:25:12'An area that's been studied for decades by Professor David Breeze.'
0:25:15 > 0:25:17'They added more forts, smaller forts which are
0:25:17 > 0:25:21'more to do with frontier control, looking out...
0:25:21 > 0:25:23'looking out for people, moving in the landscape.
0:25:23 > 0:25:26'And they added towers.
0:25:26 > 0:25:27'Towers are to do with observation,'
0:25:27 > 0:25:29keeping your eye
0:25:29 > 0:25:31on what's happening in the frontier zone.
0:25:31 > 0:25:33So we can see, that this is a frontier.
0:25:34 > 0:25:37Although it lasted a whole generation,
0:25:37 > 0:25:40it clearly wasn't sufficient for the Romans because
0:25:40 > 0:25:44then Hadrian came along and decided he would add something new to it.
0:25:58 > 0:26:00This is the best way of, actually,
0:26:00 > 0:26:03creating a system of frontier control,
0:26:03 > 0:26:06otherwise your system of forts and towers
0:26:06 > 0:26:12have gaps in them, obviously, but a wall is a very definitive statement.
0:26:12 > 0:26:14Is this the first time that's been done?
0:26:14 > 0:26:18Hadrian came to Britain from Germany and in Germany, we are told,
0:26:18 > 0:26:21he ordered the construction of a palisade or a fence,
0:26:21 > 0:26:22which is not like a garden fence,
0:26:22 > 0:26:26these are socking great timbers a foot across.
0:26:26 > 0:26:29So why does Hadrian build a wall rather than expand?
0:26:29 > 0:26:34It's probably, in part, Hadrian's attitude of mind.
0:26:34 > 0:26:36He very much favoured Greek culture
0:26:36 > 0:26:37and the Greeks, at the time,
0:26:37 > 0:26:40were not expansionists, unlike the Romans.
0:26:40 > 0:26:42Also I think, he's realising at the time
0:26:42 > 0:26:44that there's a problem in manpower.
0:26:44 > 0:26:48The Roman army's a voluntary army, you see. So against that background,
0:26:48 > 0:26:51he's building Hadrian's Wall in part to say, "Right, OK,
0:26:51 > 0:26:54"we're stopping here. This is the end."
0:26:56 > 0:26:59'Even today, almost 2,000 years on,
0:26:59 > 0:27:02'Hadrian's Wall is mind-blowing.
0:27:07 > 0:27:10'The local tribes-folk must have been amazed.
0:27:10 > 0:27:15'Thousands of men, building a stone wall 80 miles long,
0:27:15 > 0:27:16'15 feet high.
0:27:18 > 0:27:21'Today, we think of it as a defensive installation.
0:27:21 > 0:27:23'But is that all it was?'
0:27:26 > 0:27:29The Roman army didn't fight from walls,
0:27:29 > 0:27:32it preferred to go out into the open to defeat an enemy
0:27:32 > 0:27:37and there its superior training, its high discipline,
0:27:37 > 0:27:42its well-armed troops was more likely to defeat an enemy.
0:27:42 > 0:27:45Even a more substantial enemy.
0:27:45 > 0:27:48So I think we should be careful about the defence argument alone.
0:27:48 > 0:27:52What's going to be really more troublesome is raiding.
0:27:52 > 0:27:55One of the interesting aspects about the Roman Empire
0:27:55 > 0:27:56and its frontiers, along every frontier
0:27:56 > 0:27:58we've got evidence for raiding.
0:27:58 > 0:28:01And we have a really interesting inscription from modern Hungary,
0:28:01 > 0:28:05which says, the frontier was built against
0:28:05 > 0:28:07the actions of petty raiders.
0:28:07 > 0:28:12But once it's here, I think we then move onto another aspect of it,
0:28:12 > 0:28:13which is perhaps more bureaucratic.
0:28:13 > 0:28:17You could only come into the Roman Empire
0:28:17 > 0:28:18at specified places.
0:28:18 > 0:28:22And you could only proceed under military supervision.
0:28:24 > 0:28:25If I'm a tribesman,
0:28:25 > 0:28:30for generations my family have grazed their cattle over there.
0:28:30 > 0:28:32We've raided cattle from over there.
0:28:32 > 0:28:35We've got family on that side of the wall,
0:28:35 > 0:28:38the sacred places are over there, this wall stops all that.
0:28:39 > 0:28:42Now, if I want to go and meet the family, if I want to go to
0:28:42 > 0:28:45one of the gatherings, I have to ask permission.
0:28:45 > 0:28:49I have to come to one of these gateways through the wall.
0:28:49 > 0:28:53I have to knock and in daylight they might let me through.
0:28:53 > 0:28:55If they like me. And they'll search me.
0:28:55 > 0:28:57And they'll take my weapons.
0:28:57 > 0:28:59And I need to get permission to do anything.
0:28:59 > 0:29:02And as soon as I enter the Roman Empire, I need permissions,
0:29:02 > 0:29:06I get taxed on things, they're keeping an eye on me at every point.
0:29:07 > 0:29:10And a squaddie's word is law. I've got no comeback here.
0:29:12 > 0:29:15This wall is a huge interruption for us.
0:29:15 > 0:29:18It would cause enormous resentment.
0:29:20 > 0:29:24This bureaucratic element, of controlling access to
0:29:24 > 0:29:28Roman space, just as we are so interested in controlling access
0:29:28 > 0:29:29to our space.
0:29:29 > 0:29:34Countries build great walls to protect their frontier zone
0:29:34 > 0:29:38from, as they see, troublesome people from the other side.
0:29:43 > 0:29:47Generations of Scots have taken a mistaken pride in this wall.
0:29:47 > 0:29:51Thinking that it justifies their warlike reputation.
0:29:51 > 0:29:54That they were too tough for the Roman Empire.
0:29:54 > 0:29:56But you could take an opposite view.
0:29:57 > 0:30:01That the Romans chose not to stay in Caledonia.
0:30:01 > 0:30:03Decided it wasn't worth having.
0:30:03 > 0:30:07That there weren't the resources there to keep them.
0:30:07 > 0:30:10That this was a planned withdrawal, not a retreat.
0:30:12 > 0:30:15The truth, I think, was a mixture of both.
0:30:16 > 0:30:20From the Roman point of view, the northern tribes were troublesome.
0:30:20 > 0:30:24This was a restless frontier. The wall is testament to that.
0:30:25 > 0:30:28But in the end, this was a pragmatic decision.
0:30:28 > 0:30:31Caledonia was more bother than it was worth.
0:30:33 > 0:30:36'But Hadrian's successor had other ideas.
0:30:37 > 0:30:40'16 years after construction of the wall began,
0:30:40 > 0:30:42'Antoninus Pius came to power.
0:30:44 > 0:30:49'A respected senator, and a man with his own ideas on where best
0:30:49 > 0:30:52'to place Rome's northern frontier.
0:30:55 > 0:30:58'The new Emperor was faced with two problems.
0:30:59 > 0:31:03'Continued conflict with the Caledonians.
0:31:03 > 0:31:05'And also the problem of his own credibility.
0:31:07 > 0:31:09'He had no military honours.
0:31:10 > 0:31:13'Antoninus Pius would not be the last leader
0:31:13 > 0:31:17'to seek domestic popularity from foreign military adventures.'
0:31:20 > 0:31:24Caledonia was a place where reputations could be won.
0:31:24 > 0:31:27And there was little to be won on Hadrian's Wall.
0:31:28 > 0:31:31So, some 60 years after Agricola's campaigns,
0:31:31 > 0:31:33the legions ventured north again.
0:31:34 > 0:31:39'In charge was a man called Quintus Lollius Urbicus.
0:31:39 > 0:31:42'He led his men into Central Scotland.
0:31:43 > 0:31:46'The lowlands between the Clyde and the Forth.
0:31:46 > 0:31:50'And the shortest space between Britain's east and west coasts.
0:31:50 > 0:31:54'The perfect location to build another wall.
0:31:56 > 0:31:58'Nowadays we call it the Antonine Wall.
0:32:00 > 0:32:02'It was made of turf and timber,
0:32:02 > 0:32:05'so much less survives than at Hadrian's Wall.
0:32:06 > 0:32:08'But it was once a formidable monument.
0:32:08 > 0:32:13'The legions adorned the wall with inscribed slabs
0:32:13 > 0:32:16'to celebrate their part in overpowering Caledonia.'
0:32:18 > 0:32:21This is the most spectacular of these discs and slabs.
0:32:21 > 0:32:23From the east end of the Antonine Wall,
0:32:23 > 0:32:26at Bridgeness on the Firth of Forth.
0:32:26 > 0:32:30And here the army marked their great victory for the new Emperor.
0:32:30 > 0:32:33This is their view of that victory...
0:32:34 > 0:32:38..with the locals defeated, captured and slaughtered.
0:32:38 > 0:32:42It's a classic piece of Roman propaganda.
0:32:45 > 0:32:49'For these poor subjugated locals, this new wall
0:32:49 > 0:32:53'was every bit as daunting and disruptive as its predecessor.'
0:32:57 > 0:32:59First, you'd have to get across these pits.
0:32:59 > 0:33:02And these would have been hidden under branches and foliage.
0:33:02 > 0:33:06If you fall through, you're falling onto sharpened wooden stakes.
0:33:06 > 0:33:08Seriously nasty.
0:33:12 > 0:33:15Then there's this ditch, like we saw at Ardoch earlier
0:33:15 > 0:33:17but much, much bigger.
0:33:17 > 0:33:20Nine metres across, originally four metres deep,
0:33:20 > 0:33:23and with nasty, jaggy thorn branches in the bottom of it.
0:33:25 > 0:33:27And there's the wall itself.
0:33:27 > 0:33:31Four metres high, near vertical turf, palisade on top of that,
0:33:31 > 0:33:33Roman soldiers on top of that.
0:33:35 > 0:33:37'We call them Roman soldiers.
0:33:38 > 0:33:43'But most of the men stationed in Caledonia had never been to Rome.'
0:33:47 > 0:33:49When we think about the Roman army,
0:33:49 > 0:33:51most people think about guys like these.
0:33:51 > 0:33:53Roman legionaries.
0:33:53 > 0:33:55Men from the Med with their swords and sandals,
0:33:55 > 0:33:58shivering in our cold northern climate.
0:33:59 > 0:34:01But they were the exception.
0:34:01 > 0:34:05Most of the garrison of Roman Scotland didn't come from the Med.
0:34:05 > 0:34:08They came from all around the Roman world.
0:34:09 > 0:34:14'The empire recruited soldiers from the territories it conquered.
0:34:14 > 0:34:18'Along the Antonine Wall, recruits came from England, France, Belgium.
0:34:20 > 0:34:21'And even further afield.'
0:34:24 > 0:34:28These battered fragments of pottery come from a casserole dish,
0:34:28 > 0:34:31of a style we still use today.
0:34:31 > 0:34:34It's called a tagine, a North African style of cooking.
0:34:34 > 0:34:38And this was made and used by North African soldiers,
0:34:38 > 0:34:40serving in Scotland for the Roman army.
0:34:41 > 0:34:44There was also tremendous social variation.
0:34:44 > 0:34:47The humble squaddie would cook his own food,
0:34:47 > 0:34:52and he'd be serving a rubbish wine, in rubbish wine flagons like this.
0:34:52 > 0:34:56And eating his burnt meal from a pot like this.
0:34:56 > 0:35:00The officer class would have their meals cooked by slaves or servants.
0:35:00 > 0:35:04And they'd be dining on food eaten from
0:35:04 > 0:35:07high quality pottery like this, imported from France.
0:35:07 > 0:35:11And drinking the best quality wine in bronze flagons like this
0:35:11 > 0:35:14work of art from the Mediterranean.
0:35:14 > 0:35:17And sometimes with this Roman material, you can get
0:35:17 > 0:35:21so close to these dead soldiers you could almost feel their breath.
0:35:21 > 0:35:26On the bottom of this pot, the owner carved his name -
0:35:26 > 0:35:30Victorinus - so that nobody would nick it.
0:35:31 > 0:35:34There was a real mix of people on the Roman frontier.
0:35:34 > 0:35:37People from all around the Roman Empire coming together
0:35:37 > 0:35:41in Scotland, and you see this mix of cultures as part of frontier life.
0:35:41 > 0:35:44This brooch is a really nice example of that.
0:35:44 > 0:35:48Cos you look at this swirling decoration, typical Celtic art,
0:35:48 > 0:35:51and yet the idea of putting it on this kind of brooch
0:35:51 > 0:35:53is a Roman one.
0:35:53 > 0:35:56So what we're seeing here, is a mixing of Roman and local styles
0:35:56 > 0:35:59creating this new culture on the frontier.
0:36:00 > 0:36:03'The Antonine Wall brought cultures together,
0:36:03 > 0:36:06'as much as it kept people apart.
0:36:07 > 0:36:11'And for me the best example of that is here, at Inveresk,
0:36:11 > 0:36:13'to the east of the wall.
0:36:13 > 0:36:17'The cemetery was laid out on the site of a Roman fort.
0:36:19 > 0:36:22'Matthew Nicholls has built a fascinating picture of how
0:36:22 > 0:36:25'soldiers and civilians would have come together.'
0:36:26 > 0:36:29Here's the fort on the higher ground in the loop of the river
0:36:29 > 0:36:31but spreading beyond it is a civilian settlement
0:36:31 > 0:36:33that started a Roman town, Vicus.
0:36:33 > 0:36:36I think this is a really exciting thing with Inveresk,
0:36:36 > 0:36:38the fact that it's not just a military stronghold.
0:36:38 > 0:36:40Here we've got the evidence
0:36:40 > 0:36:42for everything happening round about the fort.
0:36:42 > 0:36:44Lots of agriculture, trade and industry activities,
0:36:44 > 0:36:48bathhouse outside the fort possibly, and also evidence for temples,
0:36:48 > 0:36:51parade ground, possible amphitheatre.
0:36:51 > 0:36:53You really get the sense of life here.
0:36:53 > 0:36:55This isn't just the soldiers coming in
0:36:55 > 0:36:57and beating people up, there's a whole community developing.
0:36:57 > 0:37:00What's happening over on the right there?
0:37:00 > 0:37:03Down here, a parade ground, an area perhaps for military displays
0:37:03 > 0:37:05or town events with possible religious buildings
0:37:05 > 0:37:08at one end of it. Around that, agricultural buildings
0:37:08 > 0:37:10and land for growing crops.
0:37:10 > 0:37:13And here the vicus itself, the town with its street down the middle
0:37:13 > 0:37:16and buildings spreading off on thin plots to the north and south.
0:37:16 > 0:37:19It really gives a sense of a community here.
0:37:19 > 0:37:21And when you think, also in here would be all the industry,
0:37:21 > 0:37:23the pottery kilns, and the metalworking,
0:37:23 > 0:37:26and also the facilities the soldiers needed -
0:37:26 > 0:37:29the fast food joints and where their families are staying as well.
0:37:29 > 0:37:30And the whole thing,
0:37:30 > 0:37:33still dominated by the fort up on the high ground at the top.
0:37:33 > 0:37:38'At Inveresk, the camp followers and merchants offered services
0:37:38 > 0:37:40'and goods for sale to the soldiers.
0:37:42 > 0:37:44'But this was only part of the story.
0:37:44 > 0:37:47'This community was at the sharp end
0:37:47 > 0:37:50'of a huge imperial supply chain,
0:37:50 > 0:37:55'transporting the choice cuts of empire to the front line.'
0:37:55 > 0:38:00Excavations here found a massive 250 gallon wooden barrel,
0:38:00 > 0:38:02once filled with German wine.
0:38:02 > 0:38:07And work in the sewers of the Roman fort at Bearsden showed that
0:38:07 > 0:38:12the soldiers there had exotic Mediterranean foods in their diet -
0:38:12 > 0:38:17fig, celery, dill and coriander. This was a good life.
0:38:17 > 0:38:19'And Caledonian communities
0:38:19 > 0:38:22'could themselves get a taste of the good life.
0:38:23 > 0:38:27'Here at Castle Craig, on a hilltop south of Perth,
0:38:27 > 0:38:30'a team of archaeologists
0:38:30 > 0:38:34'led by Heather James has discovered an Iron Age broch -
0:38:34 > 0:38:36'a stone roundhouse -
0:38:36 > 0:38:38'with evidence that the inhabitants
0:38:38 > 0:38:41'had access to a wider, wealthier world.'
0:38:41 > 0:38:43It's very exciting to find
0:38:43 > 0:38:44within the material
0:38:44 > 0:38:48within the broch, not just the artefacts you'd associate with
0:38:48 > 0:38:50farming, like a sickle
0:38:50 > 0:38:53and weaving combs and spindle whorls.
0:38:53 > 0:38:57But we also have Roman goods like a brooch, Roman glass, pottery.
0:38:57 > 0:38:59So all these things
0:38:59 > 0:39:01give an indication that the people who live here are being given
0:39:01 > 0:39:04some fantastic objects, Roman objects,
0:39:04 > 0:39:08perhaps in exchange for supplying goods
0:39:08 > 0:39:10and food to the troops that were up here.
0:39:12 > 0:39:15This is at the top of the local social pyramid
0:39:15 > 0:39:18dealing with the Roman world. The Romans are marching up and down
0:39:18 > 0:39:20that area over there.
0:39:20 > 0:39:24And one of the ways they keep this area quiet, is by making sure
0:39:24 > 0:39:26they've got good relationships with the local population.
0:39:26 > 0:39:28Essentially bribing them,
0:39:28 > 0:39:30paying them off, keeping on good terms with them.
0:39:30 > 0:39:32- Can I?- Yes, please do.
0:39:34 > 0:39:36That is stunning.
0:39:36 > 0:39:38- It's very heavy, isn't it?- Yeah.
0:39:38 > 0:39:41Typical weight for 2nd-century Roman.
0:39:43 > 0:39:46Made probably in northern Italy, somewhere like that.
0:39:46 > 0:39:49It's quite a flashy example,
0:39:49 > 0:39:51the fact that you've got the decoration there as well.
0:39:51 > 0:39:54In local context this is a real way of showing off. You know,
0:39:54 > 0:39:57very few folk would have had access to those kind of things.
0:39:57 > 0:40:00'For the Romans, what happened at Castle Craig
0:40:00 > 0:40:01'and sites like it
0:40:01 > 0:40:05'was all about winning hearts and minds.
0:40:05 > 0:40:08'A strategy that's still very much in use.'
0:40:08 > 0:40:09You can give them land,
0:40:09 > 0:40:11give them riches, give them money,
0:40:11 > 0:40:16allow them access, allow them trading opportunities,
0:40:16 > 0:40:20to ensure that the ruling elites are those who support you
0:40:20 > 0:40:22and you absorb them within you.
0:40:22 > 0:40:25I think the other thing is you've just got to simply make sure
0:40:25 > 0:40:28that the public goods that you might...
0:40:28 > 0:40:33introduce as part of your rule are favourable to citizens.
0:40:33 > 0:40:37If a citizen of a country is relatively safe,
0:40:37 > 0:40:42well, that's a... that's a big bonus in your favour.
0:40:42 > 0:40:44And they're unlikely to want to side with someone
0:40:44 > 0:40:47who's going to make life much more insecure
0:40:47 > 0:40:49when they can get about with
0:40:49 > 0:40:54trading and living a relatively peaceful life.
0:40:56 > 0:41:00The Roman invaders provided a natty lifestyle for local bigwigs.
0:41:00 > 0:41:06But the ruthless face of Roman imperialism was never far away.
0:41:06 > 0:41:10Time and again, they showed they were capable of unspeakable cruelty.
0:41:12 > 0:41:18'Rome had crushed local uprisings all across the empire.
0:41:18 > 0:41:21'At Masada in modern-day Israel,
0:41:21 > 0:41:24'they laid siege to a Jewish sect in a hilltop fort.
0:41:24 > 0:41:29'A thousand men and women endured a three-month siege.
0:41:29 > 0:41:35'Then committed suicide, rather than surrender to the Roman aggressors.'
0:41:39 > 0:41:43And Scotland might have had her very own Masada.
0:41:43 > 0:41:46I'm flying over Burnswark Hill, just outside Lockerbie.
0:41:46 > 0:41:50And from the air, you can clearly see the two Roman camps
0:41:50 > 0:41:52threatening the Iron Age hillfort.
0:41:56 > 0:41:58'I think the two camps were siege camps.
0:41:59 > 0:42:03'The locals had resisted or attacked the Romans.
0:42:03 > 0:42:06'They had retreated to their hillfort.
0:42:06 > 0:42:09'And the Romans came to get them.'
0:42:09 > 0:42:14The three circles just outside the southern camp are the best clue.
0:42:20 > 0:42:22This massive earthen mound was probably
0:42:22 > 0:42:25the base for a piece of Roman heavy artillery.
0:42:26 > 0:42:29Some scholars argue it was a training ground,
0:42:29 > 0:42:31a practice range if you like.
0:42:32 > 0:42:36But I think the evidence suggests there was a real siege here.
0:42:36 > 0:42:39That the Romans took the time to bring up
0:42:39 > 0:42:44their heavy technology to terrify the locals.
0:42:45 > 0:42:48'The invaders had a significant technological advantage
0:42:48 > 0:42:51'over the Caledonians.
0:42:51 > 0:42:58'Every legion had 60 of these deadly scorpion catapults.'
0:43:01 > 0:43:04- And how does it work? - This is a 27-inch bolt,
0:43:04 > 0:43:08which the machine was designed to shoot.
0:43:08 > 0:43:10It has a point which makes a small hole,
0:43:10 > 0:43:14and these are sharp corners which will cut its way in.
0:43:14 > 0:43:16It will penetrate plate armour.
0:43:16 > 0:43:20Elevate more, more. That's it. That's about right. Shoot there.
0:43:20 > 0:43:26- And we're off.- Wow.- That is about 140 metres. Just at a guess.
0:43:26 > 0:43:28So you could reach the top of the hill? You could reach the fort?
0:43:28 > 0:43:31Yes, from here.
0:43:31 > 0:43:33It's a deadly looking thing. If you've got a row of them
0:43:33 > 0:43:35along the ramparts, a deadly looking thing.
0:43:35 > 0:43:38So you've got 180 of these bolts in the air at any one time.
0:43:38 > 0:43:40And they would be battery shot.
0:43:40 > 0:43:43They would be shot to an order.
0:43:43 > 0:43:46They would fire and they would pick out weak spots in the opposition,
0:43:46 > 0:43:47they would look for the chief.
0:43:47 > 0:43:50They would look for an attack, and they would then barrage,
0:43:50 > 0:43:53fire, shoot at that.
0:43:54 > 0:43:58'The Romans had a range of heavy artillery.
0:43:58 > 0:44:01'Catapults, mounted on the earth mounds,
0:44:01 > 0:44:05'fired murderous stone balls far into the hillfort.
0:44:06 > 0:44:10'Slingers used lethal lead shot to pick people off.'
0:44:13 > 0:44:17Up here on top of the hill, it must have been terrifying.
0:44:17 > 0:44:21Crammed in with your extended family, your children,
0:44:21 > 0:44:23probably running out of food,
0:44:23 > 0:44:29with the iron grip of the Roman army all around you.
0:44:35 > 0:44:37There's no record as to what happened.
0:44:37 > 0:44:40But it's unlikely it ended well for the defenders.
0:44:40 > 0:44:44The Roman army didn't really believe in prisoners.
0:44:44 > 0:44:47Men would most likely have been killed.
0:44:47 > 0:44:51Women and children sent into slavery.
0:44:52 > 0:44:56'The Romans always saw themselves as the good guys.
0:44:56 > 0:44:59'But they were an army of occupation.
0:44:59 > 0:45:03'And of course some of the Caledonians would have resisted
0:45:03 > 0:45:05'and become more warlike.
0:45:06 > 0:45:10'The Romans had created a problem
0:45:10 > 0:45:13'that they themselves would have to solve.
0:45:14 > 0:45:18'And it was a problem they'd have to solve with less men.
0:45:18 > 0:45:23'Once again, troops had been sent to countries of greater importance.
0:45:24 > 0:45:28'And so, only 20 years after beginning construction,
0:45:28 > 0:45:31'the Romans gave up the Antonine Wall
0:45:31 > 0:45:34'and retreated back to its predecessor.
0:45:36 > 0:45:41'Rome needed a new kind of solution to the problem of Caledonia.
0:45:41 > 0:45:45'Not manpower. But money.
0:45:47 > 0:45:50'And at Birnie in the summer of 2000,
0:45:50 > 0:45:53'we uncovered amazing evidence of just that.'
0:45:55 > 0:45:57It was a dreich afternoon.
0:45:57 > 0:46:00We were digging around here at the base of the plough soil,
0:46:00 > 0:46:03and what we found, was truly spectacular.
0:46:09 > 0:46:10And here it is.
0:46:10 > 0:46:14A hoard of Roman silver from the heart of a Caledonian farm.
0:46:14 > 0:46:17And the following season they found another hoard.
0:46:17 > 0:46:19Buried in two bags just a few metres away.
0:46:21 > 0:46:26It looks to me like a series of payoffs to a powerful local leader.
0:46:26 > 0:46:29Rome couldn't fight everybody.
0:46:29 > 0:46:33Battles or sieges like Burnswark took a lot of resources.
0:46:33 > 0:46:36And they could also use diplomacy, or bribery if you like,
0:46:36 > 0:46:39as a way of dealing with the local tribes.
0:46:39 > 0:46:44This policy was used across northern Scotland in the trouble spots.
0:46:44 > 0:46:46And in the years after the Antonine withdrawal,
0:46:46 > 0:46:50it helped to bring peace, at least for a while.
0:46:54 > 0:46:58'50 years after the death of Antoninus Pius,
0:46:58 > 0:47:02'a man raised in the bustling olive oil cities of North Africa,
0:47:02 > 0:47:06'would be the next to attempt a conquest of Caledonia.
0:47:07 > 0:47:11'The Emperor Septimius Severus.
0:47:14 > 0:47:18'The Governor of Britain wrote to Severus saying that the Barbarians
0:47:18 > 0:47:22'were in revolt, destroying virtually everything on the island.
0:47:26 > 0:47:28'The Emperor went on the offensive.
0:47:29 > 0:47:33'He and his son Caracalla would lead a massive assault.
0:47:34 > 0:47:38'The third major Roman invasion into present-day Scotland.
0:47:39 > 0:47:44'The final surge. The last throw of the dice.
0:47:44 > 0:47:48'This was a military operation on a truly epic scale.'
0:47:49 > 0:47:52ANCIENT GREEK QUOTATION IN TRANSLATION:
0:47:52 > 0:47:54"Let no-one escape sheer destruction.
0:47:54 > 0:48:00"Not even the babe in the womb of the mother."
0:48:00 > 0:48:03'These fields, at St Leonards in the Scottish borders,
0:48:03 > 0:48:06'were a key part of that campaign.'
0:48:10 > 0:48:15There's nothing to see here. Absolutely nothing.
0:48:15 > 0:48:18But this field hides the biggest marching camp
0:48:18 > 0:48:21known in the entire empire.
0:48:21 > 0:48:23The sheer scale of it is amazing.
0:48:23 > 0:48:27It would take me 40 minutes to walk round the perimeter.
0:48:31 > 0:48:34'This was one of the largest armies
0:48:34 > 0:48:37'ever assembled for battle in the history of the British Isles.
0:48:37 > 0:48:42'Rome's last chance to colonise Scotland.'
0:48:46 > 0:48:48We don't know exactly how the camp was laid out,
0:48:48 > 0:48:50or what units Severus had with him on campaign,
0:48:50 > 0:48:52but from reading through ancient sources,
0:48:52 > 0:48:56I'd put about 35,000 people into here, with the tents arranged,
0:48:56 > 0:48:58as we know they did in orderly line,
0:48:58 > 0:49:01separated by type of unit, type of soldier. Baggage train, hospital,
0:49:01 > 0:49:03and here in the centre, the Emperor's tent,
0:49:03 > 0:49:05right in the middle of the camp.
0:49:05 > 0:49:07Also very near the highest point of the camp.
0:49:07 > 0:49:11It does make the point that this was the Emperor himself on campaign,
0:49:11 > 0:49:13you know, for a while this was
0:49:13 > 0:49:15the heart of the Roman Empire, for at least a day or two.
0:49:15 > 0:49:18Yes. Leading the troops in person - at that stage getting on in years
0:49:18 > 0:49:20and he had gout and he had problems with his sons -
0:49:20 > 0:49:22but he was nevertheless here and trying to
0:49:22 > 0:49:24lead the Roman Empire forward against the enemy.
0:49:24 > 0:49:27And all around him thousands of his loyal troops.
0:49:33 > 0:49:35Severus gathered his forces at Carpow,
0:49:35 > 0:49:37on the southern bank of the River Tay.
0:49:42 > 0:49:47And what happened next, became the stuff of Roman military legend.
0:49:47 > 0:49:51The heartland of the troublesome tribes lay to the north.
0:49:52 > 0:49:55To get at them, Severus did what a modern army would do.
0:49:57 > 0:50:00To get across the river, he built a pontoon, a bridge of boats.
0:50:05 > 0:50:09'This first ever Tay Bridge, was commemorated in a Roman coin.
0:50:10 > 0:50:14'The Emperor's troops were poised to flood north.
0:50:15 > 0:50:19'To finally and conclusively conquer Caledonia.
0:50:22 > 0:50:24'And yet it didn't happen.
0:50:24 > 0:50:25'Once again,
0:50:25 > 0:50:30'the legions were thwarted by the Caledonian insurgents.'
0:50:30 > 0:50:33GREEK QUOTATION IN TRANSLATION:
0:50:33 > 0:50:35"It was easy for them to escape.
0:50:35 > 0:50:39"To disappear into the woods and marshes
0:50:39 > 0:50:41"because of their knowledge of the terrain,
0:50:41 > 0:50:44"but all this hampered the Romans."
0:50:46 > 0:50:50Severus died in York before the campaigns were finished.
0:50:50 > 0:50:55And it's said his sons "came to terms with the barbarians".
0:50:55 > 0:50:58A phrase that suggests sweeteners and subsidies rather than
0:50:58 > 0:51:01the crushing military victory of Roman propaganda.
0:51:03 > 0:51:06Once more the Romans fell back on Hadrian's Wall.
0:51:07 > 0:51:10But this conflict had created more problems than it solved.
0:51:13 > 0:51:15'Three campaigns -
0:51:15 > 0:51:18'first Agricola, then Antoninus Pius,
0:51:18 > 0:51:22'and finally Severus - had all failed.
0:51:22 > 0:51:25'And now, all across the empire,
0:51:25 > 0:51:29'Roman control was under increased threat.
0:51:30 > 0:51:34'From the Goths. The Saxons.
0:51:34 > 0:51:36'The empire was in mortal danger.
0:51:36 > 0:51:39'And in Caledonia,
0:51:39 > 0:51:43'the Roman invaders were set to face a new challenge.
0:51:44 > 0:51:48'The Caledonian tribes had been shaken by the Roman attacks,
0:51:48 > 0:51:53'and reformed into new, more threatening groups.
0:51:53 > 0:51:55'The Romans called them Picti -
0:51:55 > 0:51:57'the painted people.
0:51:58 > 0:52:01'Nowadays we call them the Picts.
0:52:03 > 0:52:07I've come to see this Pictish symbol stone at Abdie Kirkyard
0:52:07 > 0:52:10in Fife, an ideal place
0:52:10 > 0:52:13to meet up with Dr Alex Woolf of St Andrews University -
0:52:13 > 0:52:16a leading authority on these mysterious people.
0:52:18 > 0:52:20To begin with, back in the days of Agricola
0:52:20 > 0:52:22and some of his successors,
0:52:22 > 0:52:24the Romans probably thought that they were gradually
0:52:24 > 0:52:28going to be expanding the frontier and take over the whole island.
0:52:28 > 0:52:31They saw the Picts, or the people who would become Picts,
0:52:31 > 0:52:33as simply other tribes that would be subdued.
0:52:33 > 0:52:35And as that frontier became permanent,
0:52:35 > 0:52:37and they realised that they couldn't penetrate,
0:52:37 > 0:52:41for any length of time, north of the Forth into the fringes of
0:52:41 > 0:52:46the Highlands, they probably began to idealise the Picts
0:52:46 > 0:52:47as an unbeatable barbarian,
0:52:47 > 0:52:49more savage than anyone they'd encountered before.
0:52:49 > 0:52:53We have the British Latin writer Gildas.
0:52:53 > 0:52:56He describes the Picts as foul hordes,
0:52:56 > 0:53:01coming out of their rocks like worms and almost subhuman.
0:53:01 > 0:53:04And that's very different from the way say Tacitus presented
0:53:04 > 0:53:06Caledonian leaders like Calgacus.
0:53:06 > 0:53:10There they were seen as noble opponents.
0:53:10 > 0:53:11But by the late Roman period,
0:53:11 > 0:53:14they've become almost subhuman savages.
0:53:14 > 0:53:16And that to some extent is a way of the Romans
0:53:16 > 0:53:20legitimising their own failure, in being unable to pacify this area.
0:53:22 > 0:53:23'Under sustained attack,
0:53:23 > 0:53:26'the once mighty empire was becoming desperate.
0:53:28 > 0:53:31'No price was too high to retain control.
0:53:32 > 0:53:36'Rome was quite prepared to sell the family silver.
0:53:37 > 0:53:41'This remarkable hoard was found at Traprain Law,
0:53:41 > 0:53:44'the site of an early hillfort east of Edinburgh.'
0:53:46 > 0:53:49This is barely a quarter of the Traprain treasure.
0:53:49 > 0:53:53The biggest and most spectacular hoard of Roman silver known
0:53:53 > 0:53:56from beyond the edge of the empire.
0:53:56 > 0:54:01And it can tell us the story of the death throes of Roman Scotland.
0:54:01 > 0:54:06It dates to the middle of the 5th century or so,
0:54:06 > 0:54:10and consists of really flashy, elite Roman tableware -
0:54:10 > 0:54:13plates and bowls and cups and spoons.
0:54:13 > 0:54:15But look at the condition of it.
0:54:15 > 0:54:18Bent, broken, battered.
0:54:18 > 0:54:21Almost all of it was in bits, when it went into the ground.
0:54:22 > 0:54:25Now, when it was first found, this was thought to be loot,
0:54:25 > 0:54:27that our barbaric ancestors
0:54:27 > 0:54:29had descended on the Roman world as it died,
0:54:29 > 0:54:33looted and plundered the rich villas, and chopped these treasures
0:54:33 > 0:54:36to pieces because, of course, they were barbarians,
0:54:36 > 0:54:38who couldn't understand proper classical art.
0:54:39 > 0:54:42This seems a pretty dodgy argument now.
0:54:42 > 0:54:44There's plenty of good parallels from this elsewhere,
0:54:44 > 0:54:46and other suggestions are possible.
0:54:46 > 0:54:48So why do we have all this material here?
0:54:48 > 0:54:50It might be a bribe.
0:54:50 > 0:54:52It might be similar to the coin hoards we saw earlier.
0:54:52 > 0:54:54But it could be payment.
0:54:54 > 0:54:56Payment for services rendered.
0:54:57 > 0:55:02A lot of this silver is chopped into particular weight units.
0:55:02 > 0:55:05The weight unit you'd use in dealing with the Roman world.
0:55:05 > 0:55:09Whoever had this silver was dealing with Rome.
0:55:09 > 0:55:14And a likely scenario, is that this is payment for soldiers.
0:55:14 > 0:55:16That the people in Traprain Law
0:55:16 > 0:55:19are acting as warriors for the Roman army.
0:55:19 > 0:55:23So this is the bounty of a late-Roman mercenary
0:55:23 > 0:55:27serving to protect the last remnants of the Roman frontier
0:55:27 > 0:55:30from the Picts lying to the north.
0:55:32 > 0:55:36'For more than three centuries, the Roman invaders enjoyed
0:55:36 > 0:55:40'a technical, financial and, above all, military superiority.
0:55:41 > 0:55:45'But somehow it hadn't been enough.'
0:55:45 > 0:55:51We've seen throughout counter insurgency, that the large,
0:55:51 > 0:55:55well-equipped army isn't necessarily the army that wins through.
0:55:55 > 0:55:59Because large armies do find it very hard to adapt,
0:55:59 > 0:56:02to change the status quo and to adopt a different course
0:56:02 > 0:56:06because the current course is the one that's always worked.
0:56:06 > 0:56:10And I would imagine part of what made Roman life very difficult
0:56:10 > 0:56:14for the Romans here, was that inability to constantly adapt
0:56:14 > 0:56:18against an insurgency that was adaptable.
0:56:18 > 0:56:20So the things that made them successful
0:56:20 > 0:56:23- are the things that crippled them in the end?- Inevitably.
0:56:28 > 0:56:31'By the 5th century, the Roman Empire
0:56:31 > 0:56:34'was little more than a memory for the people of Caledonia.
0:56:37 > 0:56:42'In time, Rome would become a byword for civilisation.
0:56:43 > 0:56:46'Pictish artists copied Roman styles.
0:56:46 > 0:56:49'Pictish kings took Roman names.
0:56:50 > 0:56:53'Rome was no longer a threat.
0:56:53 > 0:56:56'But its influence lived on for centuries.'
0:57:05 > 0:57:09'1,800 years ago, tartan clad Caledonians
0:57:09 > 0:57:12'were marched to the deserts of North Africa -
0:57:12 > 0:57:15'the spoils of a faraway war.'
0:57:18 > 0:57:22To celebrate, the Romans built this great triumphal arch.
0:57:22 > 0:57:28But there was no great triumph. Scotland was never conquered.
0:57:28 > 0:57:30The empire always had bigger fish to fry.
0:57:30 > 0:57:33But Scotland was certainly transformed by
0:57:33 > 0:57:36three centuries of contact and conflict with Rome.
0:57:36 > 0:57:42Like every superpower since, the empire manipulated local societies,
0:57:42 > 0:57:46created tension and strife. Some people got seriously rich.
0:57:46 > 0:57:50Some got seriously annoyed and fought back.
0:57:51 > 0:57:56So in the end, how should we assess Rome's influence on Scotland?
0:57:56 > 0:57:59For me it was both a force of aggression and a force for change.
0:57:59 > 0:58:03A golden opportunity AND a mortal danger.
0:58:03 > 0:58:07Two sides of exactly the same coin.
0:58:29 > 0:58:32Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd