Hadrian's Wall

From an award-winning historian of ancient Rome, a definitive history of Hadrian's Wall. Stretching eighty miles from coast to coast across northern England, Hadrian's Wall is the largest Roman artifact known today. It is commonly viewed as a defiant barrier, the end of the empire, a place where civilization stopped and barbarism began. In fact, the massive structure remains shrouded in mystery. Was the wall intended to keep out the Picts, who inhabited the North? Or was it merely a symbol of Roman power and wealth? What was life like for soldiers stationed along its expanse? How was the extraordinary structure built--with what technology, skills, and materials? In Hadrian's Wall, Adrian Goldsworthy embarks on a historical and archeological investigation, sifting fact from legend while simultaneously situating the wall in the wider scene of Roman Britain. The result is a concise and enthralling history of a great architectural marvel of the ancient world.

Intro; TITLE PAGE; COPYRIGHT; TABLE OF CONTENTS; CHRONOLOGY; INTRODUCTION; One BRITANNIA: OUTPOST OF EMPIRE; Two HADRIAN: THE MAN, THE EMPEROR, AND THE GRAND DESIGN; Three BUILDING AND MANNING THE WALL: LEGIONS AND AUXILIA; Four FRESH MINDS: ANTONINUS PIUS TO SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS; Five THE ANATOMY OF HADRIAN'S WALL; Six FORTS AND TOWNS: SOLDIERS AND CIVILIANS; Seven LIFE ON THE WALL; Eight HOW HADRIAN'S WALL WORKED: UNDERSTANDING THE EVIDENCE; Nine CHANGING TIMES AND THE END OF EMPIRE; Ten VISITING HADRIAN'S WALL; ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS; ABOUT THE AUTHOR; MORE ADVANCE PRAISE FOR ""HADRIAN'S WALL.

SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READINGAPPENDIX: THE KNOWN AND PROBABLE GARRISONS OF THE FORTS ON HADRIAN'S WALL; CREDITS; NOTES; INDEX.