Editing Scotland (section)

===Early history===
{{Main|Scotland during the Roman Empire|Roman Britain|Pictland}}
[[File:Skara Brae - geograph.org.uk - 3912232.jpg|thumb|right|[[Skara Brae]], Europe's most complete [[Neolithic]] village, occupied from roughly 3180 BC – 2500 BC]]

The first written reference to Scotland was in 320 BC by Greek sailor [[Pytheas]], who called the northern tip of Britain "Orcas", the source of the name of the Orkney islands.<ref name="Forsyth">{{Cite book |last=Forsyth |first=Katherine |author-link=Katherine Forsyth |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 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/scotland00jenn |chapter-url-access=registration}}</ref>{{Rp|10}}

Most of modern Scotland was not [[Roman conquest of Britain|incorporated]] into the [[Roman Empire]], and Roman control over parts of the area fluctuated over a rather short period. The first Roman incursion into Scotland was in 79 AD, when [[Gnaeus Julius Agricola|Agricola]] invaded Scotland; he defeated a Caledonian army at the [[Battle of Mons Graupius]] in 83 AD.<ref name="Forsyth"/>{{Rp|12}} After the Roman victory, Roman forts were briefly set along the [[Gask Ridge]] close to the [[Highland Boundary Fault|Highland line]], but by three years after the battle, the Roman armies had withdrawn to the [[Southern Uplands]].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> Remains of Roman forts established in the 1st century have been found as far north as the [[Moray Firth]].<ref name=":4">{{Citation |last1=Richmond |first1=Ian Archibald |title=Caledonia |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199545568.001.0001/acref-9780199545568-e-1258 |work=Oxford Classical Dictionary |year=2012 |editor-last=Hornblower |editor-first=Simon |access-date=16 November 2020 |edition=4th online |language=en |doi=10.1093/acref/9780199545568.001.0001 |isbn=9780199545568 |last2=Millett |first2=Martin |editor2-last=Spawforth |editor2-first=Antony |editor3-last=Eidinow |editor3-first=Esther |archive-date=8 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210508085121/https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199545568.001.0001/acref-9780199545568-e-1258 |url-status=live }}</ref> By the reign of the [[Roman emperor]] [[Trajan]] ({{Reign|98|117}}), Roman control had lapsed to Britain south of a line between the [[River Tyne]] and the [[Solway Firth]].<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 |access-date=16 November 2020 |edition=4th online |publisher=Oxford University Press |language=en |doi=10.1093/acref/9780199545568.001.0001 |isbn=978-0-19-954556-8 |editor2-last=Spawforth |editor2-first=Antony |editor3-last=Eidinow |editor3-first=Esther |archive-date=14 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210114213930/https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199545568.001.0001/acref-9780199545568-e-1178 |url-status=live }}</ref> Along this line, Trajan's successor [[Hadrian]] ({{Reign|117|138}}) erected [[Hadrian's Wall]] in northern England<ref name="Forsyth"/>{{Rp|12}} and the ''[[Limes Britannicus]]'' became the northern border of the Roman Empire.<ref>Robertson, Anne S. (1960). ''The Antonine Wall''. Glasgow Archaeological Society.</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Keys |first=David |date=27 June 2018 |title=Ancient Roman 'hand of god' discovered near Hadrian's Wall sheds light on biggest combat operation ever in UK |agency=Independent |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/hand-of-god-ancient-roman-hadrians-wall-sculpture-bronze-found-latest-a8419131.html |access-date=6 July 2018 |archive-date=7 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180707015802/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/hand-of-god-ancient-roman-hadrians-wall-sculpture-bronze-found-latest-a8419131.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The Roman influence on the southern part of the country was considerable, and they introduced [[Christianity]] to Scotland.<ref name="Forsyth"/>{{Rp|13–14}}<ref name="short" />{{Rp|38}}

The [[Antonine Wall]] was built from 142 at the order of Hadrian's successor [[Antoninus Pius]] ({{Reign|138|161}}), defending the Roman part of Scotland from the unadministered part of the island, north of a line between the [[Firth of Clyde]] and the [[Firth of Forth]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Frontiers of the Roman Empire, The Antonine Wall |url=https://www.visitscotland.com/things-to-do/unesco-trail/designations/antonine-wall |newspaper=Visitscotland |publisher=Visit Scotland |access-date=7 January 2024 |archive-date=7 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240107012121/https://www.visitscotland.com/things-to-do/unesco-trail/designations/antonine-wall |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[Roman invasion of Caledonia 208–210]] was undertaken by emperors of the imperial [[Severan dynasty]] in response to the breaking of a treaty by the Caledonians in 197,<ref name=":4" /> but permanent conquest of the whole of Great Britain was forestalled by Roman forces becoming bogged down in punishing [[guerrilla warfare]] and the death of the senior emperor [[Septimius Severus]] ({{Reign|193|211}}) at [[Eboracum]] ([[York]]) after he was taken ill while on campaign. Although forts erected by the [[Roman army]] in the Severan campaign were placed near those established by Agricola and were clustered at the mouths of the [[glens]] in the Highlands, the Caledonians were again in revolt in 210–211 and these were overrun.<ref name=":4" />

[[File:Callanish at sunset - geograph.org.uk - 820680.jpg|thumb|left|[[Callanish Stones]], erected in the late [[Neolithic]] era]]

To the Roman historians [[Tacitus]] and [[Cassius Dio]], the [[Scottish Highlands]] and the area north of the [[River Forth]] was called [[Caledonia]].<ref name=":4" /> According to Cassius Dio, the inhabitants of Caledonia were the [[Caledonians]] and the [[Maeatae]].<ref name=":4" /> Other ancient authors used the adjective "Caledonian" to mean anywhere in northern or inland Britain, often mentioning the region's people and animals, its cold climate, its pearls, and a noteworthy region of wooded hills ({{Langx|la|saltus}}) which the 2nd century AD Roman philosopher [[Ptolemy]], in his [[Geography (Ptolemy)|''Geography'']], described as being south-west of the [[Beauly Firth]].<ref name=":4" /> The name Caledonia is echoed in the place names of [[Dunkeld]], [[Rohallion]], and [[Schiehallion]].<ref name=":4" />

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]]; but 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" />