Editing History of Scotland (section)

==Roman invasion==
{{Main|Scotland during the Roman Empire}}
[[File:Bridgeness slab detail.JPG|thumb|left|upright|[[Ancient Rome|Roman]] cavalryman trampling conquered [[Picts]], on a tablet found at [[Bo'ness]] dated to {{Circa|lk=no|142}} and now in the [[National Museum of Scotland]]]]
Of the surviving pre-Roman accounts of Scotland, the first written reference to Scotland was the [[Greeks|Greek]] [[Pytheas]] of [[Marseille|Massalia]], who may have circumnavigated the [[British Isles]] of [[Albion]] ([[Great Britain|Britain]]) and [[Ierne (placename)|Ierne]] (Ireland){{Refn|{{Langx|grc|"...&nbsp;ἐν τούτῳ γε μὴν νῆσοι μέγιστοι τυνχάνουσιν οὖσαι δύο, Βρεττανικαὶ λεγόμεναι, Ἀλβίων καὶ Ἰέρνη..."}}, ''...&nbsp;en toútōi ge mēn nēsoi mégistoi tynkhánousin ousai dýo, Brettanikaì legómenai, Albíōn kaì Iérnē...'', "...&nbsp;there are two very large islands in it, called the [[British Isles]], [[Albion]] and [[Ierne (placename)|Ierne]]..."<ref>{{Cite book |last=[[Aristotle]] or [[Pseudo-Aristotle]] |title=On Sophistical Refutations. On Coming-to-be and Passing Away. On the Cosmos. |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1955 |pages=360–361 |translator-last=Forster |translator-first=E. S. |chapter=On the Cosmos, 393b12 |translator-last2=Furley |translator-first2=D. J. |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/onsophisticalref00arisuoft}} at the [[Open Library]] Project. {{DjVulink}}</ref>}}<ref name="LSJBrettanike">{{LSJ|*bretaniko/s|Βρεττανική|ref}}</ref> sometime around 325&nbsp;BC. The most northerly point of Britain was called ''Orcas'' (Orkney).<ref name="Diodorus(5.21.4)">Diodorus Siculus' ''Bibliotheca Historica'' Book V. Chapter XXI. Section 4 [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0540%3Abook%3D5%3Achapter%3D21%3Asection%3D4 Greek text] at the [[Perseus Project]].</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Forsyth |first=Katherine |title=Scotland: A History |date=2005 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780199601646 |editor-last=Wormald |editor-first=Jenny |editor-link=Jenny Wormald |location=Oxford |language=en |chapter=Origins: Scotland to 1100 |author-link=Katherine Forsyth |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/scotland00jenn |chapter-url-access=registration}}</ref>{{Rp|10}} By the time of [[Pliny the Elder]], who died in AD&nbsp;79, Roman knowledge of the geography of Scotland had extended to the ''Hebudes'' ([[The Hebrides]]), ''Dumna'' (probably the [[Outer Hebrides]]), the [[Caledonian Forest]] and the people of the [[Caledonii]], from whom the Romans named the region north of their control [[Caledonia]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Breeze |first=David John |title=The ancient geography of Scotland |date=2002 |work=In the Shadow of the Brochs |publisher=Tempus |isbn=978-0-752-42517-7 |editor-last=Smith |editor-first=Beverly Ballin |pages=11–13 |ol=7982318M |author-link=David Breeze |editor-last2=Banks |editor-first2=Iain |editor-link2=Iain Banks}}</ref> [[Ptolemy]], possibly drawing on earlier sources of information as well as more contemporary accounts from the [[Gnaeus Julius Agricola|Agricolan]] invasion, identified 18 tribes in Scotland<ref>List in Ptolemy's ''Geography'' -in Greek- of all tribes-cities of [[Albion]], including non-Scots: {{Cite book |last=Claudius Ptolemy |title=Claudii Ptolemaei Geographia |publisher=sumptibus et typis Caroli Tauchnitii |year=1843 |editor-last=Nobbe |editor-first=Carolus Fridericus Augustus |volume=I |location=Leipzig |pages=70–73 |chapter=Book&nbsp;II, ch.&nbsp;iii, §7–30 |author-link=Ptolemy |chapter-url=http://www.wilbourhall.org/pdfs/ptolemy/Claudii_Ptolemaei_GeographiaVOL_I.pdf}}</ref> in [[Ptolemy's Geography|his ''Geography'']], but many of the names are obscure and the geography becomes less reliable in the north and west, suggesting early Roman knowledge of these areas was confined to observations from the sea.<ref>{{Harvp|Moffat|2005|pp=236–237}}.</ref>

The [[Roman invasion of Britain]] began in earnest in AD&nbsp;43, leading to the establishment of the Roman province of [[Britannia]] in the south. By the year 71, the [[List of Roman governors of Britain|Roman governor]] [[Quintus Petillius Cerialis]] had launched an invasion of what is now Scotland.<ref>{{Harvp|Moffat|2005|pp=229–233}}.</ref> In the year 78, [[Gnaeus Julius Agricola]] arrived in Britain to take up his appointment as the new governor and began a series of major incursions. He is said to have pushed his armies to the estuary of the "River Taus" (usually assumed to be the [[River Tay]]) and established forts there, including a legionary fortress at [[Inchtuthil]]. After his victory over the northern tribes at [[Mons Graupius]] in 84, a series of forts and towers were established along the [[Gask Ridge]], which marked the boundary between the Lowland and Highland zones, probably forming the first Roman ''limes'' or frontier in Scotland. Agricola's successors were unable or unwilling to further subdue the far north.<ref>{{Harvp|Moffat|2005|p=245}}.</ref> By the year 87, the occupation was limited to the [[Southern Uplands]]<ref>Hanson, William S. ''The Roman Presence: Brief Interludes'', in Edwards, Kevin J. & Ralston, Ian B.M. (Eds) (2003). ''Scotland After the Ice Age: Environment, Archeology and History, 8000 BC—AD 1000.'' Edinburgh. Edinburgh University Press.</ref> and by the end of the first century the northern limit of Roman expansion was a line drawn between the [[River Tyne|Tyne]] and [[Solway Firth]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hanson |first=W. S. |title=The Roman presence: brief interludes |date=2003 |work=Scotland After the Ice Age: Environment, Archaeology and History, 8000 BC – AD 1000 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=0-748-61736-1 |editor-last=Edwards |editor-first=Kevin J. |page=195 |ol=3770135M |editor-last2=Ralston |editor-first2=Ian B. M.}}</ref> The Romans eventually withdrew to a line in what is now northern England, building the fortification known as [[Hadrian's Wall]] from coast to coast.<ref name=Antoninewall/>

Around 141, the Romans undertook a reoccupation of southern Scotland, moving up to construct a new ''[[limes (Roman)|limes]]'' between the Firth of Forth and the [[Firth of Clyde]], which became the [[Antonine Wall]]. The largest Roman construction inside Scotland, it is a [[wikt:sward|sward]]-covered wall made of [[turf]] around {{Convert|20|ft|m|0}} high, with nineteen forts. It extended for {{Convert|37|miles|km|0}}. Having taken twelve years to build, the wall was overrun and abandoned soon after 160.<ref name="Antoninewall">[http://www.antoninewall.org/history.php "History"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140223174451/http://www.antoninewall.org/history.php |date=23 February 2014 }}, ''antoninewall.org''. Retrieved 25 July 2008.</ref><ref>{{Harvp|Breeze|2006|p=167}}.</ref> The Romans retreated to the line of Hadrian's Wall.<ref>{{Harvp|Moffat|2005|pp=297–301}}.</ref> Roman troops penetrated far into the north of modern Scotland several more times, with at least four major campaigns.<ref>{{Harvp|Robertson|1960|page=37}}.</ref> The most notable invasion was in 209 when the emperor [[Septimius Severus]] led a [[Roman invasion of Caledonia 208–210|major force]] north.<ref name="Hogan">{{Cite web |last=Hogan |first=C. Michael |date=22 November 2007 |editor-last=Burnham |editor-first=Andy |title=Elsick Mounth – Ancient Trackway in Scotland in Aberdeenshire |url=http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=18037 |access-date=24 July 2008 |website=The Megalithic Portal}}</ref> After the death of Severus in 210 they withdrew south to Hadrian's Wall, which would be Roman frontier until it collapsed in the 5th century.<ref>{{Harvp|Hanson|2003|p=198}}.</ref>

The [[Great Conspiracy]] constituted a seemingly coordinated invasion against Roman rule in Britain in the later 4th century, which included the participation of the Gaelic [[Scoti]] and the Caledonians, who were then known as [[Picts]] by the Romans. This was defeated by the [[Comes Theodosius|''comes'' Theodosius]], however, Roman military government was withdrawn from the island altogether by the early 5th century, resulting in the [[Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain]] and the immigration of the [[Saxons]] to southeastern Scotland and the rest of eastern Great Britain.<ref name=":8">{{Citation |last=Millett |first=Martin J. |title=Britain, Roman |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199545568.001.0001/acref-9780199545568-e-1178 |work=The Oxford Classical Dictionary |year=2012 |editor-last=Hornblower |editor-first=Simon |edition=4th online |publisher=Oxford University Press |language=en |doi=10.1093/acref/9780199545568.001.0001 |isbn=978-0-19-954556-8 |access-date=16 November 2020 |editor2-last=Spawforth |editor2-first=Antony |editor3-last=Eidinow |editor3-first=Esther}}</ref>

By the close of the Roman occupation of southern and central Britain in the 5th century, the [[Picts]] had emerged as the dominant force in northern Scotland, with the various [[Britons (historical)|Brythonic]] tribes the Romans had first encountered there occupying the southern half of the country. Roman influence on Scottish culture and history was not enduring.<ref>{{Harvp|Moffat|2005|p=226}}.</ref>