Hadrian's Wall: why the Romans built the most famous defensive structure in their history (7 photos)

Its length is 117 kilometers. And it took only 6 years to build.





The large-scale capture of Britain by the Romans began in 43 AD. Emperor Claudius sent four legions there - it is clear that such forces did not succeed in subjugating the island inhabited by rebellious tribes. However, the military leadership did not plan to take these lands at once and relied on the systematic squeezing of the locals further and further north. The capture lasted for decades and ended with another emperor, Hadrian, in 122 AD. ordered to consolidate on the existing borders.



Emperor Hadrian

In his opinion, Rome did not need new territories and should stop at what it already had. In the southern part of the island there were territories inhabited by the Romans and tribes that had conquered them. In the north - where modern Scotland is now located - the Picts, Celts, Scots, Brigantes and other guys who did not want to lie down under Rome settled.

This is how Hadrian's Wall appeared - one of the most famous man-made structures in history.

Construction lasted from 122 to 128 AD. The length of the rampart is 117 kilometers, the height is 6 meters. In fact, it was a giant and fortified fence, it divided Britain at its narrowest point from the Irish to the North Sea. The construction was supervised by the governor of the island Aulus Platorius Nepos.





As a result, a powerful stone wall 3 meters wide appeared. Every 1.5 km, fortified forts for legionnaires were placed on it. And between them there were watchtowers and watchtowers with sentries. When the sentries saw suspicious movements below, they lit signal fires and warned their comrades of the danger. The permanent garrison of the rampart consisted of about 20 thousand fighters.



Initially, civilians were not allowed to settle near the rampart. Then the Roman administration realized that someone still had to serve the legionnaires, and many villages immediately appeared near the wall.

The rampart saved the Romans from raids from the north for many years and served until 407 AD, when Rome could no longer control its former territories and left Britain. And soon the Western Roman Empire ended.



As for the rampart, locals stole stones from it to build houses and churches until the 18th century. It was only saved by the intervention of the English authorities - they took the ancient heritage site under protection and the vandalism stopped.

And in our time, George Martin liked Hadrian's Wall. During a trip to Britain, he went to this ancient monument, walked around there and was really impressed. And soon he sat down to write the epic saga "Game of Thrones": in it, Hadrian's Wall turned into a giant wall of ice, which is stormed with varying success by northern savages.



So the rampart lasted almost 2 thousand years. Now there is little left of it, but if it had not been taken apart for building materials, it would still be standing, and in its original form. Whatever you say, the Romans knew how to build conscientiously.