Severan Reconstruction of Hadrian Wall 205-207 AD
Who Fought
History & Significance
The Wall of Severus is believed to be a defensive fortification built by the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus (reigned AD 193–211) during his military campaigns in northern Britannia in the early 3rd century. Although the structure is mentioned in several classical texts, its precise location is academically disputed due to inconsistencies between sources. Scholarly consensus believes they are most likely referring to the Antonine Wall. However, Hadrian's Wall and Offa's Dyke have both been suggested as possible candidates. Archaeological evidence has been discovered showing parts of Offa's Dyke, on the England-Wales border, is at least as old as the mid 5th century, predating the 8th-century reign of the Saxon King Offa of Mercia by 300 years.
Septimius Severus arrived in Caledonia in 208 after Picts began making a series of attacks and incursions since 197. During these military operations in Scotland, the Wall of Severus was reportedly built. Cassius Dio, a Roman historian who lived at the time of Severus, makes no direct mention to any new fortification but does allude to the existing Antonine and Hadrian Walls. Late Roman historians interchange the name Severan Wall with the Antonine Wall. Other historical writers, such as Bede – an 8th-century English monk in the Anglic Kingdom of Northumbria –, link the fortification with Hadrian's Wall.
Eutropius (late 4th century) writes: "He had his last war in Britain, and to fortify the conquered provinces with all security, he built a wall for 132 miles from sea to sea. He died at York, a reasonably old man, in the sixteenth year and third month of his reign." (Eutropius, Historiae Romanae Breviarium viii 19.1, written in AD 369)
Historia Augusta (probably late 4th century), within the Life of Severus, mentions: "He built a wall across the island of Britain from sea to sea, and thus made the province secure — the crowning glory of his reign; in recognition thereof he was given the name Britannicus." (Historia Augusta, Life of Severus, 18:2, written around AD 395)
Bede (8th century) writes: "In the year of our lord 189 (AD), Severus became emperor (of Rome)... being of a harsh disposition and engaged in many wars, he governed the state vigorously, but with much trouble, having been victorious in all the grievous civil wars that occurred in his time, he was drawn into Britain by a revolt of almost all the confederated tribes, and after many great and severe battles, he thought fit to divide that part of the island that he recovered from the other unconquered nations, not with a wall as some have imagined but with a rampart, for a wall is made of stones. A rampart for which camps are fortified to repel enemies is made of sods cut out of the ground and raised high above the ground like a wall, having in front of it a trench from whence the sods were taken, with strong stakes of wood afitted above it. Thus Severus drew a great trench and rampart fortified with several towers from sea to sea, and there at York afterwards he fell sick and died."
The ground they fought on
The site of Severan Reconstruction of Hadrian Wall 205-207 AD lies on Yoredale Group, bedrock that formed in the Bashkirian. The rock here is limestone, argillaceous rocks and subordinate sandstone, interbedded.
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- Septimius Severus - Hadrian's Wall · English Heritage
- Wall of Severus · Wikipedia