The Romanization of northwest Iberia (modern Portugal)

During the last two centuries of the second millennium BCE a series of settlements were established along the coastal areas of northern Portugal. Their noble elite celebrated ritual banquets and participated in an extensive network of interchange of prestige items such as  cauldrons, knives, bronze vases, roasting spits, flesh-hooks, swords, axes and jewelry, from the Mediterranean up to the British Isles. But this network appears to collapse at the beginning of the first millennium and their open settlements were gradually replaced by fortified hill-forts constructed of earthen walls, battlements and ditches, which enclosed an inner habitable space. Trade dwindled to just the production of various axes and tools.

Then, beginning in the 6th century BCE, the "Castro" culture once again began to expand and widespread trade returned driven by Carthaginian merchants who brought imports of wine glass, pottery, and other goods.  The Carthaginians constructed emporia that sometimes even included temples and other civic structures. While the archaeological record of the Iron Age Castro suggests a very egalitarian society, a privileged class appears to have developed with better access to prestige items as evidenced by findings of large quantities of fibulae, pins, pincers for hair extraction, pendants, earrings, torcs, bracelets, and other personal objects used to enhance personal appearance.

Their hill-forts evolved as well, becoming semi-urban fortified towns we now know as oppida that in some cases housed several thousand inhabitants. These citadels included paved streets equipped with channels for stormwater runoff, reservoirs of potable water, and evidence of urban planning. Many of them also presented an inner and upper walled space, relatively large called acrópole by local scholars and the structures were surrounded by concentric ditches and stone walls sometimes reinforced with towers. Gates to these oppida become monumental and were decorated by sculptures of warriors.  Dwelling areas that have been excavated were frequently externally walled, with kitchens, sheds, granaries, workshops and living rooms ordered around an inner paved yard, sometimes equipped with fountains, drains and reservoirs.

People inhabiting the far northwestern corner of Iberia, now northern Portugal, became known as the Gallaeci. Those tribes living in what is now southern Portugal became known collectively as the Lusitani.

The people eventually encountered Rome when the Carthaginians hired them as mercenaries to fight the Romans during the Punic wars. During the Second Punic War between the years 218 and 201 BCE,  Silius Italicus reports a combined Celtic contingent of Lusitani and the Gallaeci led by a commander named Viriathus raided northern Italy whenever the terrain was too rough for Hannibal's famed Numidian cavalry. 

In retaliation, the Romans levied heavy taxes from the tribes. Between 209 and 169 BCE, the Roman army collected 4 tons of gold and 800 tons of silver from the locals and a number of their men were required to serve in the legions. The exploitation and extortion reached such an extreme degree that Rome had to create a special tribunal and laws, like the Lex Calpurnia which established the first permanent criminal court in Roman history, in order to deal with the growing number of crimes committed by Roman governors in the provinces.

In 150 BCE Praetor of Hispania Ulterior, Servius Sulpicius Galba joined forces with the Governor of Hispania Citerior, Lucius Licinius Lucullus and began to systematically depopulate Lusitania. Fearing a long siege and the destruction the Roman siege engines would cause in their towns, the Lusitanians sent an embassy to Galba to negotiate a peace treaty. Galba seemingly agreed but when the Lusitanians were gathered together to turn over their weapons, Galba's army surrounded them with a ditch, to prevent them from escaping. Then , Roman soldiers were sent in and began to massacre all the males of military age. Galba killed 9,000 Lusitanians and later sold 20,000 more as slaves in Gaul (modern France).  

Three years after the massacre, another Viriathus appeared with an understanding of Roman military tactics and proceeded to wreak havoc among the Romans until 139 BCE when he was betrayed and killed in his sleep by three of his companions who had been sent as emissaries to the Romans.  The warriors were bribed by Marcus Popillius Laenas to perform their treachery. However, when the three returned to receive their reward from the Romans, the Consul Quintus Servilius Caepio ordered their execution, declaring, "Rome does not pay traitors".

Viriathus stands as the most successful leader who ever opposed the Roman conquest in Iberia. During the course of his campaigns he was only defeated in battle against the Romans once, and from a military standpoint can be said to have been one of the most successful generals to have ever opposed Rome's expansion.

After the death of Viriatus, the Gallaecians and Lusitanians kept fighting and as a result the Roman general Decimus Junius Brutus Callaicus led a successful punishment expedition into the North in 137 BCE. The victory he celebrated in Rome granted him the title Callaicus (“Galician”). During the next century Gallaecia was still theatre of operation for Perpenna (73 BCE), Julius Caesar (61 BCE) and the generals of Augustus (29-19 BCE), but gradually the native people acquired Roman culture and language and eventually gained the status of "Citizens of Rome". Although most of their oppida were abandoned or converted to religious sanctuaries, some continued to be occupied up to the 5th century CE when the Germanic Suevi established themselves in the region.

Rebuilt hut in the oppidum of Santa Tegra, A Guarda, Galicia earth courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Froaringus

Statue of a Gallaecian Warrior, Castro Culture, 1st Century CE, North Western Iberian Peninsula, courtesy of the National Museum of Archaeology (Portugal) and Wikimedia Commons.

Gold fibula, of long-footed form decorated with the figure of a naked warrior, wearing a Celtic helmet, with scabbard suspended from his waist and carrying a sword (scabbard and pommel are both of La Tene type), with another figure of a hunting dog jumping up to him. The eyes of both figures were originally inlaid with enamel. The arched bow has eight curls and the side panels are elaborated with running spirals and loops, also originally inlaid with blue enamel. Each end of the brooch is terminated by a dog's head. The hinge or spring and pin are now lost. The long foot of the fibula comprises two thick wires, twisted together and terminated with another dog's head, jaws agape and ears raised. The brooch was probably made by a Greek craftsman active on the Iberian Peninsular. Image courtesy of the British Museum and Wikimedia Commons.

Diadem from Moñes (Piloña, Asturias). Warriors with horned helmets parade carrying torcs and cauldrons, Castro Culture, 3rd - 1st century BCE, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Ángel M. Felicísimo

Lunula from Chão de Lamas, Coimbra (Portugal) courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Luis Garcia. (removed glare spots) 

Boat-shaped earrings decorated with filigree and granules, Gallaecian, gold, from the "Bedoya Treasure", exhibited in the Museum of Pontevedra

Late Bronze Age golden helmet from Galicia courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Carlos de Paz.

Iron Age Castro Culture Torcs from Asturias, Spain courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Dageno.

Head of an stone Iron Age Galician warrior, wearing a torc. Now, in the Museo Provincial de Ourense, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Froaringus.

A Castro Culture severed head sculpture courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Froaringus.

Nabia Fountain in Braga, Portugal. The deity probably had an association with water, the sky and the earth courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Snitrom

Galician Celtic Stele for the deceased, called Apana, presumably an aristocrat of the tribe of Celtic Supertamáricos courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Alexandre Gal.

Mosaic from the Casa dos Repuxos Roman villa in ancient Conimbriga, Portugal courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Halley Oliveira

Roman mosaic with marine life in ancient Conimbriga, Portugal courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Marta Magalhães 

Mosaics in the House of the Swastika in ancient Conimbriga, Portugal, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Carole Raddato.

Roman mosaic with man and dog in ancient Conimbriga, Portugal courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor GFreihalter (Adjusted perspective and cropped)

Mosaic in ancient Conimbriga, Portugal courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Elisardojm. (Adjusted perspective and cropped)

Roman peristyle with mosaics in ancient Conimbriga, Portugal courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Elisardojm

A Roman mosaic depicting Dionysus (?) in ancient Conimbriga, Portugal, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Elisardojm.

A Roman mosaic depicting a man walking a dog (?) in ancient Conimbriga, Portugal, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Elisardojm

More Roman mosaics in ancient Conimbriga, Portugal courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Duca696.

Conimbriga is one of the best preserved Roman archaeological sites in Portugal.  You can see many more of its beautiful Roman mosaics here:  

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Ancient_Roman_mosaics_in_Conimbriga

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Epona

 The worship of Epona, "the sole Celtic divinity ultimately worshipped in Rome itself",  was the patroness of cavalry and widespread in the Roman Empire between the first and third centuries CE.  This is unusual for a Celtic deity, most of whom were associated with specific localities.  Evidence of her worship was first found in the Danubian provinces and scholar Fernand Benoît asserted that she had been introduced in the limes of Gaul by horsemen from the east.  However, although the name is Gaulish, dedicatory inscriptions to Epona are in Latin or, rarely, Greek. They were made not only by Celts, but also by Germans, Romans, and other inhabitants of the Roman Empire. An inscription to Epona from Mainz, Germany, identifies the dedicator as Syrian.

Epona's feast day in the Roman calendar was given as December 18 on a rustic calendar from Guidizzolo, Italy. She was incorporated into the imperial cult by being invoked on behalf of the Emperor, as Epona Augusta or Epona Regina.

Perceptions of native Celtic goddesses changed under Roman hegemony. only the names remained the same. As Gaul was Romanized under the early Empire, Epona’s sovereign role evolved into a protector of cavalry. The cult of Epona was spread over much of the Roman Empire by the auxiliary cavalry, alae, especially the Imperial Horse Guard or equites singulares augustii recruited from Gaul, Lower Germany, and Pannonia. A series of their dedications to Epona and other Celtic, Roman and German deities was found in Rome, at the Lateran. Her cult is said to have been "widespread also in Carinthia and Styria."

Epona relief from the Limes fort Kapersburg, 2nd century CE, in the Wetterau Museum in Friedberg with the inscription: In h(onorem) d(omus) d(ivinae) de(ae) Epon(ae) Bilic[i]/us Gematus col(l)eg(ii)s su[i]/s de iu[s(su)] de(ae) I[mp(eratore) C]a[e]s(are) L(ucio) Sep[t(imio)] / [Severo] A[rabic]o Adia[b(enico)] / [Parth(ico) ma]xi[mo] co(n)s(ule) II[I]. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Haselburg-müller.

Copper alloy figure of the goddess Epona, seated between two ponies, Romano-British, at the British Museum.

Gallo-Roman bas-relief in Saint-Béat marble representing the Celtic goddess Epona courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Ecole d'Agassac (31).

The worship of Epona in Thessaloniki may have been introduced by Galerius, who was descended from a region along the Danube. This relief is the only evidence of Epona's cult in Macedonia. 4th c. CE now in the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, Greece, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Tilemahos.

Replica of the figure of the horse goddess Epona found in the former Roman vicus in Boppard, Germany courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Christian Kipping.

Silver dish in the shape of a shell, detail of the central medallion representing the goddess Epona surrounded by two foals. From the Rethel treasure, collected around 270 to 280 CE. courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Zunkir

Sculpture of Épona, 2nd, 3rd-century, sandstone, found in Le Hérapel site (Cocheren, Moselle, France now in Metz Museum courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Fab5669.

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The Gundestrup Cauldron: Nuragic influence?

Mark Cartwright of the Ancient History Encyclopedia just published and excellent article on the Gundestrup Cauldron and I wish to share it with you.  But first some of my personal musings about the object.

The Gundestrup Cauldron, dated to the 1st century BCE, was discovered by workers cutting peat blocks in a bog near Gundestrup, North Jutland, Denmark on 28 May 1891 CE. The details of the decorative reliefs on the cauldron show a clear Celtic influence but some motifs, particularly the exotic animals (lions or leopards, elephants, and griffins), suggest, too, a Near Eastern influence so that scholars generally attribute its manufacture to peoples living in the Lower Danube region, specifically Dacia or Thrace (which is today’s Romania and Bulgaria). The use of silver is another link with the Lower Danube region as it is rare in Celtic art but not so in Thracian art. 

When I first encountered Nuragic art from Sardinia, I wondered if those people may have had an influence on the creators of the Gundestrup Cauldron as well, since there seemed to me to be a stylistic similarity. I was especially struck by the appearance of what looked to me like horned appendages on the heads of Nuragic warriors depicted as bronze figurines.

One of the roundels on the Gundestrup Cauldron depicts the hunting or sacrifice of a bull. Bulls or half-man, half-bull figures appear to have had religious significance to the Nuragic people as well and were frequently depicted on ships and bronze vases, and used in religious rites. A figure riding a dolphin is also depicted in the decorative panel. Dolphin iconography is common in the art of island peoples.

Nuragic artists themselves were probably influenced by the Phoenicians who began visiting Sardinia around 900 BCE and may account for the "Near Eastern influence" described by some art historians.  Nuragic statues and figurines have been found wearing what appears to be eastern dress. But these are just my own speculations though.

https://www.ancient.eu/Gundestrup_Cauldron/

The roundel of the Gundestrup Cauldron. The scene shows the hunting or sacrifice of a bull. Above the bull is a human figure and there are two hunting dogs and possibly a lizard.  Image courtesy of Claude Valette (CC BY SA)

 

A panel from the Gundestrup Cauldron showing a seated god with stag’s antlers, often identified as Cernunnos, an ancient Celtic god who represented nature, flora and fauna, and fertility. There is also a stag and deer on the left side and on the right five strange animals and a small figure riding what may be a dolphin. Image courtesy of Malene Thyssen (CC BY SA)

 

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Burial of a Celtic Prince

The Hochdorf Chieftain's Grave is a richly-furnished Celtic burial chamber dating from 540 BCE near Hochdorf an der Enz (municipality of Eberdingen) in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Beginning in 1968, a volunteer at the State Antiquities and Monuments Office in Baden-Württemberg, Renate Leibfried, kept coming across stone fragments plowed up in the field. She reported her observations and the Archaeological Preservation Office identified what had been a large burial mound.  Dr. Jörg Biel led a complete excavation of the site between 1978 to 1979.

The grave contained a Celtic prince, roughly 40 years of age and 6 ft 2 in tall, who was laid out on a bronze recliner with eight wheels.  He wore a gold-plated torc on his neck, a bracelet on his right arm, a hat made of birch bark, a gold-plated dagger made of bronze and iron, rich clothing, amber jewelry and the remains of thin embossed gold plaques which once decorated his now-disintegrated shoes. Other grave goods included a razor knife, a nail clipper, a comb, fishing hooks, and arrows. At the foot of the funerary couch was a large cauldron decorated with three lions around the rim. This cauldron was originally filled with about 100 gallons of mead. The east side of the tomb contained an iron-plated wooden four-wheeled wagon holding a set of bronze dishes.  A collection of drinking horns hung on the walls was enough to serve nine people.  

A reconstruction of the burial can be viewed at the Hochdor/Enz Celtic Museum which opened in 1991.  The original finds of the Hochdorf princely burial are to be found in the Württemberg State Museum in Stuttgart’s Old Palace although both are currently closed due to the pandemic. 

Reconstruction of the Celtic Hochdorf Chieftain's Grave in the museum nearby the location of the original grave courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor, Magnus Hagdorn

Celtic-style bronze lion replacement on the Hochdorf cauldron, 540 BCE, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Xuan Che.

Hochdorf cauldron with drinking horns courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Dr. Bernd Gross.

Greek-style Bronze lion on the Hochdorf cauldron, 540 BCE, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Xuan Che.

Gold fibulae of the Hochdorf Celtic Prince courtesy of Harry Meinhardt. Two identical brooches, one of which has been slightly compressed, are composed of seven parts. The body is of solid gold, the hoops have been hammered out in a square cross-section. The garment hooks were joined with a piece of fluted sheet metal.

Reconstruction of the Hochdorf Celtic prince with his gold burial goods courtesy of Pinterest.

Gilded in preparation for the afterlife, this 42cm long, bronze and iron dagger was carried by the prince in life. The blade was protected by a richly decorated sheath. The gold coating made for the burial consisted of 16 parts, all precisely fitted onto the dagger without any fold, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Rosemania.

Gold shoe plaques from the Hochdorf Chieftain's Grave, Germany, c. 540 BCE, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Rosemania

Hochdorf gilded drinking horn, 540 BCE, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Xuan Che.

Reconstruction of the grave good chariot of a Celtic prince in Hochdorf, Germany, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor NobbiP

I saw this beautiful miniature of a Celtic prince riding into battle in a chariot accompanied by his body guard and hound in my image search. The Celtic Chieftain Chariot is in 75mm scale and it is a scrathbuilt, the sculptor of this figure is Andrea Jula while the painter is Fabrizio Russo. Image courtesy of https://sergeantblackart.wordpress.com/.../showcase.../

 

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Ancient cavalry spurs

Early spurs had a neck that ended in a point, called a prick, riveted to the heel band. The spur was used by the Celts during the La Tène period (which began in the fifth century BCE), and is also mentioned by Xenophon (circa 430 - 354 BCE.) in his treatise "On Horsemanship".  

When the horse is about to leap over any obstacle, Xenophon recommends applying the spur on takeoff, so that the horse will use his whole body over the obstacle and make a safer jump. If this is not done, Xenophon points out, he may lag with his hind end. Xenophon goes on to admonish those wishing to make a horse "showy" to spare the spur. He emphasized that the rider should not pull on the bit nor spur or whip the horse, as this type of riding causes the opposite effect, simply distracting and frightening the animal and causing him to dislike being ridden. Instead, Xenophon urges, the horse must enjoy himself. He should be trained to be ridden on a loose rein, to hold his head high, arch his neck, and paw with his front legs, taking pleasure in being ridden.

Despite Xenophon's reputation for equestrian knowledge, however, the famed Companion Cavalry of Alexander the Great did not use spurs, bit, or stirrup. 

Bronze spurs have been found in Etruscan tombs dating to the 2nd century BCE, though, and iron or bronze spurs were used by Julius Caesar's auxillia cavalry, as evidenced by archaeological finds in England, and, later, throughout the Roman Empire. 

Some examples of Roman period spurs have been found in bogs and thought to have been offered by Germanic populations as a sacrifice to the gods, along with other war booty, after a successful battle. 

Germanic or Gallo-Roman prick spur, 2nd - 3rd century CE

Bronze Celtic spur from about 300 BCE courtesy of horsefactbook.com

More simple spur from a Roman military workshop in Aquincum, a Roman municipium north of modern Budapest, Hungary, 2nd century CE, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Bjoertvedt

 

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The mingling of Greco-Roman and Celtic mythology

 As I was looking through the images I took at the British Museum in 2016, I saw this drinking cup and wondered about the symbolism depicted on it.  Although the horseman could be just any mounted warrior and not a mythical hero, that would be unusual during the 6th century.  Although the Spartan kings during this time period were accompanied by 300 royal guards called hippeis (cavalrymen),  they were actually infantry hoplites like all Spartiatai. The Spartans did not utilize a cavalry of their own until late into the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE), when small units of 60 cavalrymen were attached to each mora (unit of 576 men composed of four lochoi of 144 men each). 

This cup was produced, though, about the time of earliest contact between the Greeks and the Celts which occurred around the Greek colony of Massalia in 600 BCE. Celtic elites traded for wine, drinking vessels, and other status symbols with merchants from Greece and Etruscan Italy. Perhaps Celtic mythology would provide a clue.

In 2007, I was researching a bronze head of a bull with three horns found in Octodurus and came across research focused on Celtic mythology related to sacred bulls and cranes and epigraphic evidence on the Pillar of the Boatmen, a monumental Roman column erected in Lutetia (modern Paris) in honor of Jupiter by the guild of merchant boatmen in the 1st century CE. Although dedicated to Jupiter and Tiberius Caesar Augustus, the column is thought to also depict the Celtic god Esus (also spelled Esos) pruning or chopping down the tree of life on one side and the deity Tarvos Trigaranos, a bull with three cranes sitting on its back, on an adjacent side.  Scholars of Celtic mythology each have their own interpretation of the symbolism represented, including that of the three cranes.  They point out that a similar relief was found in Treves where Esus is cutting a tree that contains three birds and the head of a bull sitting in its branches. It has been speculated that the three cranes appear to be a mystical grouping to the Celts.  Scholar Mary Jones points out in Welsh mythology there are the three birds of Rhiannon, mother of the Celtic hero Pryderi and related to the Gaulish horse goddess Epona.  As told in the Celtic compilation, the Mabinogion, Rhiannon's birds were sent to show the seven survivors of Prydein the way to the Otherworld.  Although the Mabinogion was compiled in the 12th-13th centuries CE, it is thought to have been based on much earlier oral traditions. 

In his text, "Birds in the Ancient World,"  Jeremy Mynott points out that in Greco-Roman folklore, a gathering of cranes indicate an impending attack by enemy forces. So if we consider all of these sources, this depiction of a horseman riding amidst three cranes could represent a hero like Pryderi with portentious goddesses in bird form riding to battle, or even a Greco-Roman version of the Celtic god Esus (associated in Greco-Roman folklore to Mercury or Mars) wearing a tree of life headdress, with his accompanying cranes, riding to victory, as represented by Nike. (I'm still not sure what the bird riding on the horse's neck or the eagle-like raptor may symbolize).

This is just my own attempt at suggesting what the symbolism represented here might be.  I'd be interested in hearing what some of you think the iconography represents.

Spartan black-figured kylix with horseman, birds, and a winged figure, possibly Nike (Victory), attributed to the Rider Painter, 550-530 BCE that I photographed at the British Museum in 2016.

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Review: Arrows of Fury by Anthony Riches Empire Series Book 2

A history resource article by Mary Harrsch © 2017

In Book 2 of Anthony Riches' Empire series, we find our hero, Centurion Marcus Valerius Aquila, now known as Marcus Tribulus Corvus to deceive agents of the vengeful Roman emperor Commodus, heading to the coast to pick up a century of replacements from Gaul to fill in the ranks of the 2nd Tungrian cohort.  The cohort suffered horrendous casualties in the climactic "Battle of the Lost Eagle" at the end of Book 1 and the rebellious Selgovae chieftain, Calgus, is still at large and forging new alliances to drive the Romans back to Hadrian's Wall and eventually off the island of Britain altogether.

Unbeknownst to Marcus, though, the newly appointed prefect of the 1st Tungrian cohort, a nasty piece of work transferred in from the continent, arrives at the resupply depot first, bribes the replacements officer, and makes off with the sturdy, well-trained Gauls.  When Marcus arrives, the only replacements left are two centuries of Hamian archers originally from Roman Syria.

Hamian archers depicted in the video game "Rome Total War" courtesy of Creative Assembly

Historical note: "Cohors Prima Hamiorum Sagittaria", a unit of bowmen recruited from the city of Hama in the Orontes valley in northern Syria were one of only two whole regiments of archers known to have been stationed in Britain.  Although the original contingent arrived in approximately 120 CE, subsequent units served in Britain until the end of the Roman occupation.

Although these men are some of the finest archers in the world, Marcus quickly sees they do not possess the solidly muscled bodies and brute strength needed to man a shield wall against the ferocious indigenous warriors his unit will face in the next confrontation.  To make matters worse, the Hamians' armor is too light to withstand a spear thrust.  So, Marcus sets out to get them properly equipped and begins to train them in the use of sword and shield once they return to their auxiliary headquarters in the fortress known in the book as Noisy Valley.

But Marcus needs months of physical training to bring his new men to the same level of strength of the other Tungrian infantrymen. The Hamians struggle under the weight of infantry mail shirts and kit and can barely complete a standard day's march let alone be ready to fight if attacked.

Just a few days later, though, word is received that Calgus has attacked and overrun one of the nearby forts known as White Strength with the help of the previously friendly Votadini tribe.

Historical note: The Votadini occupied what is now southeast Scotland and northeast England, extending south of the Firth of Forth and from the Stirling area down to the English River Tyne, including at its peak what are now the Falkirk, Lothian, and Borders regions of eastern Scotland, and Northumberland in northeast England. Between 138–162 CE the Votadini came under direct Roman military rule as occupants of the region between the Hadrian and Antonine Walls. Then when the Romans drew back to Hadrian's Wall the Votadini became a friendly buffer state, getting the rewards of alliance with Rome without being directly under its rule, until about 400 CE.

Calgus' raid is successful but his relationship with the Votadini is contentious so Calgus conspires with his cunning seer to rid himself of the troublesome tribe's war band.

Meanwhile, although ill-prepared, Marcus and his Hamians are dispatched to hunt down the Votadini and Marcus finds his unit's archery skills indispensable when he is ordered to assault an old but well-positioned hill fort.

But the ultimate test comes in the novel's climax when Marcus' troops must fight for their lives against the ferocious Venicones, another of Calgus' allies, who have trapped Marcus' century on the wrong side of a strong flowing river.

Closeup of a second century CE Roman sarcophagus depicting a battle between the Romans and Celts.  Photographed
at the Dallas Museum of Art in Dallas, Texas by Mary Harrsch © 2006

Historical note: The Venicones, a small but fiercesome people, inhabited the area between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth near the Roman fort of Horrea Classis on the eastern coast of modern-day Scotland. It is believed by modern scholars that their name meant "hunting hounds" or "kindred hounds." The Venicones were one of the few groups in northern Britain at the time that buried their dead in stone-lined graves and made ritual offerings of decorated metal objects, including massive bronze armlets, in local bogs and lakes.  These armlets could weigh over 1.5 kg each and were worn one on each arm. Tacitus in his Agricola, chapter XI (c. 98 AD) described the Caledonian warriors as red-haired and large limbed, which Tacitus considered features of Germanic origin.



Once again Anthony Riches has brilliantly recreated the precarious existence of the Roman auxiliaries stationed between the Hadrian and Antonine Walls in the late second century.  He has populated the novel with vibrant characters and made this reader feel part of the brotherhood that bonds courageous men together in times of crisis.  The battle scenes are visceral and not for the squeamish but I highly recommend this series and look forward to the next installments with great anticipation.

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