Roman control over the modern regions of England and Wales took several decades to establish after Claudius' invasion of AD 43. Construction of Hadrian’s Wall began in 122, and it eventually extended 117 km across northern Britain from Wallsend on the River Tyne to Bowness-on-Solway. In 142, the Romans initiated the building of a second wall, the Antonine Wall, further north, across the Central Belt of Scotland, the narrower (63 km) gap between the Firth of Clyde and the Firth of Forth. That wall would take twelve years to complete but ongoing conflict with the Maeatae and Caledonian confederations forced the legions back to the line of Hadrian’s wall in 162.
Caledones and Maeatea
The Caledonians were a Brittonic-speaking tribal confederacy living in Scotland during the Iron Age and Roman eras. The historian Cassius Dio reported that the Maeatae confederation lived “next to the cross-wall which cuts the island in half” (perhaps meaning the Antonine wall) and that “the Caledonians are beyond them”. Dio goes on to describe the two tribes:
Both tribes inhabit wild and waterless mountains and desolate and swampy plains, and possess neither walls, cities, nor tilled fields, but live on their flocks, wild game, and certain fruits: for they do not touch fish. They dwell in tents, naked and unshod, possess tribal women in common, and in common rear their offspring. They are very fond of plundering consequently, they
