and much has changed about the old place. Hmmm, a person is gone two minutes and everything is suddenly moved around.
Above is a photograph of Hadrian's Wall in Cumberland where two friends and I spent last weekend walking a 25 mile length of the 80 mile phenomenon. 2,000 years ago and over a ten year period the wall was built on the orders of Emperor Hadrian. A man clearly used to getting his own way Hadrian declared that the Picts (early Scottish folk) must be kept out.
"A wall it is then," Said Hadrian pointing to his troops who were from milder climes and therefore unhappy with the cold north of England. "And besides, the hard work will keep you both occupied and warm, so set to," And lo, they did.
2,000 years down the line Tom, Doug and I spend an excellent few days in the wall's company enjoying mile forts, encampments, Mithran Temples and assorted Roman ruins. All very impressive and especially so given the best response to the Roman arrival my ancesters could muster was painting their naked bodies in woad. This act terrified the Romans to such an extent they quickly overan the country. Unfortunately for the Romans the north of Britain was also where the Picts lived and though somewhat woadish in outlook the Pictish preference was for cleaving with axes rather than painting statements on the body. Incidentally the Romans never defeated the Picts and though not much respecting of naked blue types with wild eyes and messy hair they were more circumspect when dealing with huge bearded men swinging 30 kilos of sharpened metal. Hence the 80 mile wall that stretches from the Irish Sea in the west to the North Sea in the east.
7 comments:
So it wasn't Asterix and Obelix who terrorised the 'poor' Romans.
How's your mate Sean?
How's your knee?
After reading about woad, I'd like a plant!
Hah! GG tipped me off that you were back!
I'm a huge fan of Hadrian's wall. Always liked the notion that he couldn't find any other way to "stabilize" the situation. Visited it once, though as a tourist it was much more difficult to find a standing bit of it than I'd thought it would be.
Having been to the Highland Games in the US, I'm not surprised. Seeing large men toss telephone poles around provokes a respectful pause. Even though they weren't blue.
and how are your neighboring catz?
G,
Asterix and Obelisk were Gauls who might have been heroes in these parts had there been cartoons 2,000 years ago. Mind you if there had been cartoons the Romans would not have liked it at all. Apparently they didn't take kindly to people taking the piss and especially people who lived under the Roman heel.
Re woad. It was a big thing here two thousand years ago. I think it stopped the hessian from chaffing.
Hayden,
We were walking along remote bits of the wall. Any wall near villages was pulled down and used to build, er, villages. There's quite a lot remaining though.
Re the catz. They still whine and whinge but less so now because my two friends whose cats used to shit in my plant pots broke up messily and she got the cats. When she left the cats went with her. Yay!
x
I love this photo. Dearly.
B.
Well Buffy,
Ta v much.
x
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