- The Roman occupation of South West Scotland never evolved beyond that of an invading army imposing itself on an indigenous population. Interaction with the local communities may not always have been negative, but there is no evidence of widespread assimilation by the locals. As for the Roman military itself, the collective identity of the army was paramount. In temporary camps, for example, the individual becomes invisible within the larger group (Jones 2006).
- Day-to-day routines would have been dictated by the needs of the military. Units – and the individuals serving within them – would have followed the orders of their commanding officers, with these officers receiving their own instructions from further up the hierarchy. Soldiers on manoeuvre or heading for a new posting would have completed a day’s march of around twenty miles, then worked together to dig a defensive ditch around their campsite. They would have erected their leather tents, milled their own grain and baked their own bread. In many respects, they were self-sufficient.
- Evidence for these temporary camps has been found as traces on aerial photographs from across much of the region. They are often found close to the road network or near river crossings. Annan Hill was identified close to the River Annan, Beattock (Bankhead) and Beattock (Bankfoot) near the Evan Water. These sites, along with Drumlanrig, Raeburnfoot and Ward Law, were located at the east of the region. Further west, on the Ayrshire coast, evidence for Roman temporary camps has been found at Girvan Mains and Ayr Academy.
- Even when they had settled into a more sedentary life at their assigned fort, Roman soldiers would have had busy days filled with hard manual tasks. Those posted on construction projects would have been building either frontier infrastructure, roads or forts like Birrens, Carzield, Dalswinton, Ladyward or Loudon. When these projects were completed, the soldiers billeted there would spend their days performing drills or weapons practice. Roman military training was notorious for being just as dangerous as the actual battles themselves, with numerous injuries and fatalities sustained amongst the troops. Generally, however, the military had access to competent surgeons, who could provide the injured at least with some chance of survival and recovery.
- Off duty, the Roman soldiers baked their own bread and cooked their own food. They might socialise in the bathhouse, which formed an important part of the more permanent military installations. It would be located outside the perimeter defences, which would also allow these facilities to be used by camp followers and other non-military personnel. Off-duty soldiers might amuse themselves by playing games of luck like dice, and gambling would probably have formed a frequent part of these interactions.
- The need to keep the legions occupied was considered imperative by the regime. Idle troops were considered at risk of sedition and rebellion. As is so often the case in the Roman world, there are contemporary or near-contemporary Roman writers who have left accounts of life in Roman military service, and manuals which instruct on all aspects of military existence, from how a Roman camp or fort should be properly laid out, to how best various types of artillery pieces might be sited and operated. Numerous archaeologists have alluded to these works in the course of their own writings, so there is no need to explore them in detail here.
- As far as identity was concerned, Roman culture and society could be both welcoming and inclusive. During the initial stages of conquest, Roman culture was imposed upon an area, and there might be little or no interaction between the indigenous population and the Roman invaders. Roman material culture might be used by indigenous leaders to win power and prestige, and the Romans often used this to manipulate local politics in a ‘divide and rule’ scenario. They would seek out sympathetic leaders and build good relations. The aim would be to encourage local tribes to keep the peace without too much Roman involvement, allowing the army to focus elsewhere. This would be followed by a process of ‘Romanisation.’ Tribal elites would adapt Roman customs and belief systems, sons might be sent to Rome for fostering, with the local tribes then being assimilated into the Roman world.
- Apart from small quantities of Roman material culture on indigenous Iron Age sites, there is little evidence that local communities ever adopted Roman lifestyles or habits and it is likely that the Romans did not expend much effort encouraging them. There are one or two tantalising instances where some degree of assimilation might be hinted at. The first example is a cremation burial at High Torrs, Luce Bay. Once thought to belong to a Roman soldier or itinerant sailor or merchant, the unusual use of cremation rather than inhumation plus the inclusion of Roman material culture which included Samian ware bowls, part of a Roman skillet and the binding from a wooden chest or box perhaps indicates that the deceased was a member of the local community who aspired in some ways to a Roman way of life (Breeze and Ritchie 1980). In the same general area, finds of mismatched mould valves for a counterfeit 2nd century AD Roman coin might represent efforts to replicate Roman coinage for local use following the Roman withdrawal, rather than an act of deliberate criminal intent.
- Another way in which local communities might be brought more fully into the Roman world was through the absorption of their men into the Roman army. Entire regiments might be recruited from the provinces. Because the Roman world was usually flexible in how it dealt with those born in its provinces and conquered territories, links were maintained with the original place of origin. We know that the auxiliary troops who served at Birrens described themselves as Tungrians and Germans, which indicates that they had originally been recruited from conquered Germanic tribes in the Rhineland. They had been accepted into the Roman world but were posted well away from their place of origin, so there was no chance of them rising up in revolt in their home territory.
- This flexibility also applied to the appropriation of local deities and their acceptance within the wider Roman Pantheon. Inscribed altar stones from Birrens are dedicated to the Roman pantheon, but there are also other deities whose origins lay elsewhere but who were adopted by individual Romans during their travels. At Birrens, we see dedications to Jupiter, Minerva and Fortune, but also an eastern deity called ‘Doliochenes’ and an indigenous British deity called ‘Brigantia.’ Military personnel might become part of eastern cults (the most famous of which is the cult of Mithras), which helped build cohesion amongst their peers and increase the bond between serving soldiers. It should be noted, however, that only Roman citizens, born of Roman citizens who ultimately would have had their roots in the city of Rome, could serve in the legions. Those of provincial descent were only eligible to serve amongst the auxiliaries, and often the most senior officers would have been drawn from amongst the Romans.
- Because the Romans left behind inscriptions marking offerings, military achievements and funerary sites, we finally find ourselves able to identify the names of groups and even individuals through the text that they left behind. We know that Birrens was occupied variously by Nerva’s Own First Cohort of Germans (Cohors I Neruana Germanorum), and we know that they numbered a thousand men in total, with a contingent of cavalry. Also serving at Birrens were the 2nd Cohort of Tungrians. Individuals who left their mark include Faenias Felix, who was the Commander of the Cohors I. Neruana Germanorum. It has also been possible to establish that Amandus the architect – who left another inscription at Birrens – would have served in Germany before he was sent to Scotland during the Severan campaign.
- Although the Roman military shared an overarching identity, there was scope for individual expression in terms of body ornament and household items, though the latter would have been restricted to senior officers. The rank-and-file soldiers were not allowed to marry. Senior officers, by contrast, travelled with their families, and they could enjoy the lavish lifestyle that Roman citizenry enjoyed across the empire. They could express their wealth and good taste through the food they ate, the fine tableware (like the famous glossy orange-red Samian ware), their clothing and their jewellery.
- Small personal items would have been accessible to everyone if they could amass sufficient wealth to purchase them. The quality of such items did, however, differ markedly, and this would have been reflected in the cost. In South West Scotland, we see several examples of a common form: finger rings, with inset stones or moulded glass. An iron finger ring from Carzield features one of these ‘intaglios,’ in this case a cornelian with a carved depiction of the sun god Helios (another eastern cult, well established by the 2nd century AD. The quality of the piece suggests it probably belonged to an officer, perhaps a Centurion. Another example from Birrens provides an example of an object more likely to have been acquired by an ordinary soldier. The intaglio is formed from moulded paste rather than a worked gemstone, and it features Venus Victrix. Once again, it probably dates to the 2nd century AD. (Henig 1969). Brooches of bronze or silver, sometimes with enamel inlay, have also been found on Roman military sites, suggesting that items of relatively local manufacture may also have been acquired and worn by serving soldiers.
- In some respects, we know a fair amount about the Roman soldiers who served in South West Scotland, particularly during the Flavian and Antonine campaigns. We know their regiments, and we sometimes even discover their names. From this information, we can glean more about their life-stories, what paths and directions they might have followed before they left their mark in the region. There remains, however, a substantial swathe of the population of which we know nothing. These were the hangers-on, the camp followers which seem to accumulate around any large body of soldiers. They would have comprised traders and merchants peddling all manner of goods and services, providing the soldiers with anything from trinkets to prostitutes, from medical cures to divinations to the gods. Some of the soldiers may have maintained unofficial families beyond the limits of their camp or fort, only being allowed to marry when their 20 or 25 year term of service was over, and they were able to settle down on a plot of land and see out their days in a place of peace and relative tranquillity. It would no doubt have been the dream of every serving soldier to reach that point in their career, but for many, death on campaign or death through injury during weapons practice would have put paid to their ambitions.