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The British Frontier in the Age of Severus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 September 2012

Extract

Now that Septimius Severus can no longer be credited with the original construction of any one of the lines which at various times marked the British frontier, it is necessary to ask what meaning, if any, can be attached to the statements of ancient writers who ascribe to him the building of the British Wall. It may therefore be worth while to collect the available evidence as to the state of the frontier in the time of Severus, and the structural work which he may have carried out upon it.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © R. G. Collingwood 1923. Exclusive Licence to Publish: The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

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References

page 69 note 1 These statements have so often been collected and discussed, that I need not repeat them here. I will only refer to J.R.S. xi, 41–45, where I have discussed them at length and pointed out what others (e.g. Mr. Platnauer, Life of Severus, p. 138) had pointed out before, that they have no cumulative value, but are simply repetitions of a single original, namely Spartian, Severus, 18; ‘Britanniam, quod maximum eius imperii decus erat, muro per transversam insulam ducto utrimque ad finem oceani munivit.’

page 71 note 1 See also below, pp. 96 ff.

page 74 note 1 C.I.L. vii, 924, which records the erection of a building at Carlisle after a victory in the reign of Commodus, is dealt with at length by Professor Rostovtseff elsewhere in this volume. See p. 97.

page 76 note 1 The reading CLEMENTE is only a restoration of a few half-legible letters. Since writing this paper I have examined the stone, and I do not think that the traces of lettering in the last line justify the restoration.