Undergraduate Course: Rome and the Caledonians (SCHI10054)
Course Outline
| School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Course type | Standard |
Availability | Available to all students |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Credits | 20 |
| Home subject area | Scottish History |
Other subject area | Archaeology |
| Course website |
http://www.shc.ed.ac.uk/scothistory/undergraduate/ |
Taught in Gaelic? | No |
| Course description | For many observers, past and present, Hadrian's Wall stands as enduring testimony to Free Caledonia, one of the rocks that (collectively across northern Europe) turned back the great tide of Classical civilisation. For as long as Scottish history has been written, it has been taken for granted that the Caledonians were the first Scottish patriots -- consistently, bitterly and energetically hostile towards Rome; and passionately committed to preserving their independence and their native ways from Rome's influences. Stirring stuff: but is it based on anything other than nationalist or anti-imperial prejudice among modern commentators?
This course explores Roman military, economic and diplomatic activity in northern Britain - and native responses to it - in the epoch of Roman government in Britain. The Flavian conquest and occupation and the Severan war are studied, as well as the building of the Hadrianic and Antonine Walls; but there is an emphasis in the course on considering the period from a 'native' perspective, including the political, religious and ethnic transformation of Scotland in late Antiquity. |
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | A pass or passes in 40 credits of first level historical courses or equivalent and a pass or passes in 40 credits of second level historical courses or equivalent.
Before enrolling students on this course, Directors are asked to contact the History Honours Admission Secretary to ensure that a place is available (Tel: 503783). |
| Additional Costs | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students should usually have at least 3 History courses at grade B or above (or be predicted to obtain this) for entry to this course. We will only consider University/College level courses. |
| Displayed in Visiting Students Prospectus? | Yes |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
1. Successful students will demonstrate (by way of essay and examination) a sophisticated understanding of key themes and aspects of the history of Roman Iron Age Scotland, including its native societies and cultures.
2. Successful students will demonstrate (by way of essay and examination) recognition of the potential and limitations of different categories of written and material evidence in pursuing the study of the Roman Iron Age in Scotland.
3. Successful students will produce a sound and competent essay which explores an approved research question. |
Assessment Information
Students will submit an individual essay of 3000 words and sit a two-hour Degree Examination. The final mark will be composed of the essay mark, weighted at 33% of the final mark, and the exam mark, weighted at 67% of the final mark.
Visiting Student Variant Assessment
Students will submit an individual essay, weighted as one-third of the final mark; and a take-home examination assignment, weighted as two-thirds of the final mark. |
Special Arrangements
| None |
Additional Information
| Academic description |
Not entered |
| Syllabus |
1. Introduction: 'Roman Scotland'?
2. Scotland at the dawn of the Roman Iron Age
3. The Romans in Britain: issues and problems for northern Britain
4. Agricola: fact or fiction?
5. Roman Scotland: the Flavian occupation and abandonment of northern Britain
6. Another brick in the wall: limites, barbaricum and frontier policy from Trajan to Albinus
7. The Severan war: causes, courses and consequences
8. Caledonians and other Picts: society, identity and the new fourth-century order
9. Kings, Christians and the collapse of the frontier
10. The frontier zone and the myth of 'Anglo-Saxon England'
11. Concluding discussion: Rome and the Caledonians |
| Transferable skills |
- independent gathering of relevant evidence pertaining to a posed problem
- critical consideration of evidence in order to arrive at sound conclusions
- evaluating the work of others, including peers
- presenting evaluations and conclusions clearly in both written and oral form
- independent management of personal timetable, workload and other priorities in order to meet established deadlines |
| Reading list |
Armit, I. Celtic Scotland (London, 1997)
Armit, I. $ùThe abandonment of souterrains: evolution, catastrophe or dislocation?&©, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 129 (1999), 577-96.
Breeze, D. J. The Northern Frontiers of Roman Britain (London, 1982).
Breeze, D. J. Roman Scotland: frontier country (London, 1996).
Breeze, D. J. and B. Dobson. Hadrian&©s Wall (4th edn: London, 2000).
Campbell, E. Continental and Mediterranean Imports to Atlantic Britain and Ireland, AD 400-800, CBA Research Report 157 (York, 2007).
Dumville, D. N. Saint Patrick, Studies in Celtic History 13 (Woodbridge, 1993).
Esmonde Cleary, A. S. The Ending of Roman Britain (London and New York, 1989).
Forsyth, K. Language in Pictland: the case against $ùnon-Indo-European Pictish&© (Utrecht, 1997).
Fraser, J. E. From Caledonia to Pictland: Scotland to 795 The New Edinburgh History of Scotland 1 (Edinburgh, 2009).
Hanson, W. S. and G. S. Maxwell. Rome&©s North West Frontier: the Antonine Wall (2nd edn: Edinburgh, 1986).
Hanson, W. S. Agricola and the Conquest of the North (London, 1987).
Harding, D. W. The Iron Age in Northern Britain: Celts and Romans, natives and invaders (London and New York, 2004).
Henderson, I. The Picts (London, 1967).
Henig, M. Religion in Roman Britain (London, 1984).
Hingley, R. $ùSociety in Scotland from 700 BC to AD 200&©, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 122 (1992), 7-53.
Hunter, F. Beyond the Edge of the Empire: Caledonians, Picts and Romans, Groam House Lecture (Rosemarkie, 2007).
MacGregor, M. Early Celtic Art in North Britain (Leicester, 1976).
Maxwell, G. S. The Romans in Scotland (Edinburgh, 1989).
Millett, M. The Romanization of Britain: an essay in archaeological interpretation (Cambridge, 1990).
Richmond, I. A. (ed.), Roman and Native in North Britain (Edinburgh, 1958).
Rivet, A. L. F. and C. Smith, The Place-Names of Roman Britain (London, 1979).
Robertson, A. S. The Antonine Wall (2nd edn (Keppie): Glasgow, 1990).
Salway, P. Roman Britain (Oxford History of England 1A: Oxford, 1981).
Smyth, A. P. Warlords and Holy Men: Scotland AD 80-1000 (London, 1984).
Todd, M. Roman Britain 55 BC-AD 400: the province beyond Ocean (London, 1981).
Thomas, C. Christianity in Roman Britain to AD 500 (London, 1981).
Wainwright, F. T. (ed.), The Problem of the Picts (Edinburgh, 1955).
Watson, W. J. The History of the Celtic Place-Names of Scotland (Edinburgh and London, 1926).
Whittaker, C. R. Frontiers of the Roman Empire: a social and economic study (Cambridge, 1994).
Woolliscroft, D. J. and B. Hoffman, Rome&©s First Frontier: the Flavian occupation of northern Scotland (Stroud, 2006). |
| Study Abroad |
Not entered |
| Study Pattern |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr James Fraser
Tel: (0131 6)50 3624
Email: |
Course secretary | Miss Clare Guymer
Tel: (0131 6)50 4030
Email: |
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