Antonine Wall set to take centre stage

[Viggen]

The Roman wall that Hadrian didn

[ASCLEPIADES]

The Roman wall that Hadrian didn

[Northern Neil]

Quote (sic): "Breeze believes the walls were created to protect territory rather than for military defence".

 

It's just me?

I think he means that the actual rampart wall itself was a demarkation barrier rather than a defensive curtain wall upon which troops were tactically deployed. I take issue however with the view that it was too narrow a platform on which to fight, and I believe it still had a walkway and parapet, otherwise why the defensive ditch? The lie of the ditch and breadth of the turf-on-stone rampart suggest a parapet walk width of around 6 feet, which is easily wide enough to fight from, or at least hurl missiles from, in the event of an incursion. Even though intended more as a barrier, I find it hard to imagine that it wasnt equipped with some kind of parapet to protect patrolling troops against an oppurtunistic, long-distance shot from a bow or sling.

 

Hadrian's wall, at some points 8ft. wide and at others 6 ft, was certainly wide enough to patrol and if neccessary, fight from.

[Melvadius]

UNESCO have now included the Antonine Wall as an extension to the "Frontiers of the Roman Empire" World Heritage sites already on the list: From todays press release:

 

'The Antonine Wall (United Kingdom), a 60 km long fortification in Scotland has been inscribed as an extension of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire (Germany and the United Kingdom), a transboundary property inscribed in 1987 and extended in 2005. The Antonine Wall was started by Emperor Antonius Pius in 142 AD as a defence against the