ANTONINE WALL (BIRLINN)

For a generation the Antonine Wall in Scotland was the north-west frontier of the Roman Empire. Running from modern Bo’ness to Old Kilpatrick, it had forts at regular intervals connected by a road, while outside the fort gates clustered civil settlements. Antoninus Pius, for whom the wall was named, reigned longer than any other emperor save Augustus, yet relatively little is known about him. David Breeze examines this enigmatic life and the reasons for the construction and abandonment of his Wall.