Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 122 (1992), 189-195 Ravennas and the Antonine Wall MannJC * ABSTRACT The so-called Ravenna Cosmographer, in his description of Britain, has a very accurate section on Hadrian's Wall, providing an acceptable list of the forts, with their names, in the correct order. This manifestly is case the with not purported his Antoninethe the list for is it Wall,and object of this paper searchto possiblefor reasons this.for INTRODUCTION RAVENNE TH : A COSMOGRAPHE HADRIAN'D RAN S WALL assessinn I informatioe gth n tha Ravenne tth a Cosmographer provide Antonine th r sfo e Wall, s instructivii t looo et kinformatioe th firs t a t n whic suppliee hh r Hadrian'sfo s Wall t mighI . e b t expected tha informatioe tth Antonine th r nfo e Wall woul f comparablo e db e value. Cosmographee Th r list sfort e mos th f Hadrian' o sf o t s Wall maie Th . n sequence appeara n si section in which he is consciously listing a connected list of sites (which he calls civitates) stretching acros countrye sth , even thoug doee ht specificallh sno y describ sitee eth lyins sa g along a Wall (unlike the Notitia Dignitatum, which in a similar situation uses the words per lineam Valli). The Cosmographer states: iterum sunt civitates in ipsa Britania qu(a)e redo tramite de una pane in alia, id est de oceano in oceano esistunt, hac dividunt in tercia porcione ipsam Britaniam, id est. (There are also places in Britain itself, which stand in a direct line from one part to the other, tha fros i t m ocea oceano nt dividd thira an , f edof par Britainf o t : these are.) . There then follows this lis f sites:to 1 143 Serduno Wallsend 4 14 Condecor Ben well 145 Vindovala Rudchester 146 Onno Halton Chesters 147 Celuno Chesters 148 Brocoliti Carrawburgh 149 Velurtion Housesteads 150 Esica Great Chesters 1 15 Banna Birdoswald 152 Uxelludamo Stanwix 3 15 Avalana Burg Sandy hb s 154 Maia Bowness on Solway The order is geographically correct. His source was a good one, but five of the 17 forts of Hadrian's Wall are missing from the list. t Catherine'S 8 2 * s Avenue, Bletchley, Milton Keynes 190 | SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF SCOTLAND, 1992 Three of these forts are omitted because they had already been listed: 0 13 Magnis Carvoran 131 Gabaglanda Castlesteads 2 13 Vindolande Chesterholm These three names were given earlier, probably becaus Rives ea Smit& t h suggested (1979, 210), they were written to the south of the Wall on the map which the Cosmographer was using e maith nf o sequence (unlik2 1 e th e , which will have been writte e north)th o nt . They were probably written to the south of the Wall because all three, and only these three, were actually physically detached from the Wall, Vindolanda by about a mile, the other two in each case by only a few yards. Having mentioned them once, the Cosmographer, in accordance with his almost universal practice, forebore to mention them again. He thus lists 15 of the 17 forts of Hadrian's Wall. These 15 may be listed as follows, in their correct order, with their know probablr no e sizes: 2 size acres hectares 7 1. Serduno 1 4. Wallsend Condecor Benwell 5.64 2.2 Vindovala Rudchester 4.5 1.8 Onno Halton Chesters 4.3 1.7 (original size) Celuno Chesters 3 2. 5.75 Brocoliti Carrawburgh 3.5 1.4 0 2. Velurtion 5 Housesteads Vindolande Chesterholm 3.5 1.4 Esica Great Chesters 3 1.2 Magnis : Carvoran 3.5 1.4 1 2. Banna 3 5. Birdoswald Gabaglanda Castlesteads 3.75 1.5 Uxellodamo Stanwix 9.32 3.8 Avalana Burgh by Sands c 4.5-5 1.8-2.0 Maia Bowness on Solway 5.9 2.4 The two which are missing are: Pons Aelius Newcastle Congavata(?) Drumburgh Of these, Drumburgh cover aren sa f abou ao t 1.96 acres (0.8 ha)r NewcastlFo . have ew o en dimensions, but the limited topography of the site suggests that the fort there also measured less than about two acres. If this is correct, it may be that the Cosmographer omitted these sites simply because of their small size. With this reservation we may note that he has produced a very accurate list of the forts, in the correct order from east to west (allowing for the three listed prematurely), and apparently correct in number. Although some of the names are corrupt (notably apparently thiVelurtion)n i sp arema ae seemth , havo st e bee s notn t ha wouli plai, e h reado nt d seeman , , introduce inappropriaty dan r intrusiveo e names which really belon otheo gt r features. Correlation with the Notitia Dignitatum confirms the identification of forts in most cases. MANN: RAVENNAS AND THE ANTONINE WALL I 191 ANTONINE TH E WALL mighe W t have expecte dsimilaa r accuracy wit Antonine hth esituatioe Wallth t bu , sadls ni y different Rives a , Smit& t h 211(1979& 6 ) hav19 convincingl,w eno y demonstrated sectioe Th . n dealing wit Antonine hth e Wall start bravelf sof y enough wordn i , s echoing those use introduco dt e Hadrian's Wall: iterum sunt civitates in ipsa Britania recto tramite una alteri conexa, ubi et ipsa Britania plus angustissima oceanode oceanoin esse dinoscitur, est.. id . These words make it almost certain that the Cosmographer was attempting to name structures along the Antonine Wall, and this seems to be confirmed by the fact that the first name on the list, Velunia, is certainly that of the fort at Carriden (JRS 47, 1957, 230 no 18) just east of the eastern end of the Wall at Bridgeness, and reasonably to be regarded as the first fort if we reckon fro e east ms witth A . h Hadrian's Wall e Cosmographeth , s attemptinwa r namo gt e forts from eas westo t . For convenience, the Cosmographer's list may be given here: 191 Velunia 2 19 Volitanio 3 19 Pexa 194 Begesse 5 19 Colanica 6 19 Medio Nemeton 7 19 Subdobiadon 8 19 Litana 199 Cibra 0 20 Credigone t seemI s likely that Colanic place th s eai which appear Colanis sa Ptolemyn ai , while Rive& t Smith suggest that Cibra is Ptolemy's Coria. Ptolemy places both Colania and Coria in the central lowlands, assignin gDamnoniie botth o ht thud an ,s conceivably both place t leas sa neay e la t th r Antonine Wall. However, whereas for Hadrian's Wall the number of forts in the list correlates perfectly wit e numbehth r knowe groune argumentth th n f o n(i d s abov e accepted)eb e Antoninth r fo , e Wall there is a great discrepancy between the Cosmographer's 10 forts and the number to which archaeolog pointn yca . Admittedly Antonine case th th f eo n i , e Wal suffee w l r fro mdeficienca y which doe t cripplsno r stude ou f Hadrian'yo argun lattere s ca case th Walle th f w eo that, n I . , fro evidence m th grounde encumberes th n wa eo t i , d wit forts 7 lesso cash 1 e n mor o n Th ,d .e ean e Antoninth f o e Wal s differenti l e cannow : t poin precisa o t t e numbe f palpablo r e forts distributed along its length. The Antonine Wall was begun (as John Gillam brilliantly demonstrated: 1975) as virtually a copy of Hadrian's Wall, with large forts (large enough, that is, to hold a complete unit) at distances from each other strictly comparable wit originae hth l Hadrianic 'standard f abouo ' t seven miles, and with defended gateways at about one-mile intervals along its whole length. (It seems clear that the ditch was everywhere dug immediately afterwards.) The plan was altered even before construction had been completed: smaller forts were interspersed at about two-mile intervals, at least along some part of the length of the Wall. This was presumably to answer a need in frontier control which became apparent only after construction had begun. Sizeable bodies of men placed at frequent intervals along the line suggest a form of localized pressure from the north which differed from that encountered on Hadrian's Wall in Hadrian's reign. What 192 SOCIET ANTIQUARIEF YO SCOTLANDF SO , 1992 precise form this greater pressure took we can hardly say, but it seems to have been thought real enough. f thiI s were simply overland pressure fro norte mth hnorthere (anth n do n frontie f Britaino r , clearla threase y b yt only became eviden thire th df t o century towardd en e s;th before then hostility fro norte entirels mth hwa y land-based) t couli , arguee db d that there woulgreao n e td b nee r dfo any reinforcement eas f abouo t t Mumrills, Wale th r l betweefo n ther Bridgenesd ean s facee th s 3 south Forthe shorth f eo . Howeve cleas i t i r, frobe r my tha evidencma t groune th n eo d that, from at least Rough Castle westward, this reinforcement did indeed take place, and we may note the following primary and secondary forts:4 Primary Secondary knowe b o nt size size larger than acres hectares acres hectares two acres (0.8 ha) Old Kilpatrick 4.2 1.7 1 Duntocher 0.5 0.2 Castle Hill 3.2 1.3 2 Bearsden 2.3 0.9 3 Balmuildy 4 1.6 4 Cadder 2.8 1.1 5 Kirkintilloch Auchendav1 y1.