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Know more about Africans in the Roman North.  

‘There were Africans in Britain before the English came here.’[1]

 

This is the opening of the first chapter in the seminal Staying Power by Peter Fryer. It goes on to talk about, as we will here, Africans on Hadrian’s Wall. However, what is noteworthy here is that this is not new information. Staying Power was first published in 1984. Mention of Africans being in Britain before there was English is challenging to many in the present day. how bold must it have been to say this in the early 1980’s? It should be noted that Fryer referenced work by Roman scholars, not concentrating on Black history, showing that this information was out there. And those historians referenced were from 1970’s, 1960’s, 1930’s, 1910’s and even back to a German historian in the 1860’s. 

 

That Africans were on British shores as far back as the 200’s CE is nothing new. In such, we should allow our students to learn about them and Roman Britain as though we are teaching them established fact, not something that can be accused of being new, or even a fashion.

 

After reading this go and grab a copy of Staying Power. We will look at the presence of Africans in the north and in doing so hopefully allow them more agency. It is not enough to simply place Black people in British history. Through them we can learn about the times they lived, as much as Elizabeth I or Pepys can tell us about theirs. And through those times we can learn about them too.

 

So, there were Black people on Hadrian’s wall in Roman times. Here we will offer the evidence and show how they are an insight into the wall, its inhabitants and what it was used for.

 

Epigraphy and archaeological evidence is abundant as well as Dr Caitlin Green states, ‘at York around 11-12% % of the individuals buried in two of the large Roman-era cemeteries there are considered to be very likely of ‘African descent’ on the basis of anthroposophy/craniometric analysis, whilst yet more are thought to have potential, ‘mixed’ or ‘black’ ancestry, up to a possible maximum of 51% of the population in the higher status Railway Cemetery’.[2]

 

The fact that the Roman empire was made up of armies and others who were not directly from Rome should come as no surprise (but it does, for adults at least. I have found young people are not in the least surprised). Modern empires including the British empires have all used soldiers made up from colonised lands to make up their armies.[3] It must also be remembered that Rome was a city state, not a country. To claim an empire as large as it did, it would be a mathematical necessity to use people from colonised places to colonise others.

 

David Olusoga’s documentary Black and British: A Forgotten History (BBC 2016) opens in the best way - In the North. More than that, in the first three minutes you will have learned about the presence of Africans in Burgh on Sands, (the name of the Roman regiment refers to Marcus Aurelius, which is a good way to date the regiment - Numerus Maurorum Aurelianorum). However, school children proudly showing off their paintings of their Roman past show a Black soldier in Roman uniform, along with pictures of Roman forts, animals etc. They show, as we want to, that these people were part of the historic environment and that in turn their environment tells us more about them.[4]

 

So, let’s get into it. What can the African presence tell us about the Roman presence and vice versa?

 

Peter Fryer goes on to talk about a cheeky encounter between an African soldier and a Roman emperor. This took place near Carlisle! The emperor, Septimius Severus, a Libyan born emperor, was at the furthest reach of his empire, inspecting Hadrian's Wall. Severus, Fryer tells us, had just finished battling with Caledonians and upon seeing the Black soldier took fright as he was holding a garland of cypress boughs - a symbol of death.[5] This in itself could lead to a number of enquiries.

  • Who was Septimius Severus?

  • Were all Roman emperors Roman?

  • Why would a Roman emperor travel thousands of miles to battle with Caledonians?

 

For us, we may want to know more about the soldier himself.

 

  • What evidence is there of Roman take over in Northern Africa?

  • What did a soldier do on Hadrian’s Wall?

 

Let’s briefly tackle: why would a Roman emperor travel thousands of miles to battle with Caledonians?

 

The Soldier, upon being told to get out of the emperor's sight, boldly tells Severus, ‘you have conquered all things, now, O conqueror, be a God!’[6] In telling Severus to stop being soft, the soldier has handed down to us more information about the times. Severus had been battling with people north of The Wall - and he had won.

 

Information from the fabulous Trimontium Museum website says that in 208CE Severus had launched an attack past Hadrian’s Wall into Caledonia, using Trimontium, near Melrose as a forward base. He even reached into the Highlands before moving back to more sure ground. This was the last time the Romans would ever push so far into Scotland.[7] This shows us that Hadrian’s Wall was not always a frontier wall as we would think of it today, (the Antonine Wall far to the North of Hadrian’s Wall is testament to this.)

 

 

Life on Hadrian’s Wall

 

African soldiers were not alone on the wall. They were not on a remote outpost, rather a line of communication, fortress, and home to a diverse society.

 

Bill Griffiths, Head of Programmes & Collections and Alex Croom, Keeper of Archaeology, at Tyne and Wear Museums wrote in a blog on Hadrian’s Wall, ‘Considering there were estimated to be some 15,000 troops serving on the Wall at any one time, with let’s assume a similar number of civilians, servants and slaves, we could have a population of say 30,000 people for a period of 300 years.’[8]

 

When not putting down local rebellion or advancing into Caledonia, life on the wall may have been rather routine. A post on the website The Antonine Wall website states:

 

Every morning, centurions reported on the numbers available for work, and the day’s tasks were distributed by the prefect in charge. In addition to guard duty, gathering water or fuel, or administrative tasks, men were involved in constructing and maintaining the fort. A letter surviving from Hadrian’s Wall records numbers and tasks: ‘24 April. In the workshops 343 men including shoemakers 12, builders to the bath-house 18, lead working, saw-makers, builders to the hospital, workers to the kilns, plasterers’.[9]

 

To look at life in more detail we are spoiled in the many museums along the wall itself and the teams of archaeologists who routinely find a treasure trove of new discoveries. So much so that you can research one aspect of daily life: work, play, families, religion, money etc quite easily. A great place to begin are the blog entries in the Vindolanda Museum website (and then go to the museum!)

 

https://www.vindolanda.com/Blogs/blog/Category/blog

 

Enough archaeological evidence remains to tell a detailed narrative of life on Hadrian’s Wall. At times archaeology can point to diversity in ancient times as seen above. Time can wipe away some specifics, so we lose information about diversity. In researching any element, you want about Hadrian’s Wall you can now be sure, as we have been for a very long time, that the element you want to know about involved a diverse group of people from many parts of the world and quite possibly Africans too!

 

On the Cypress Boughs


Remember the soldier who was told to go away by Septimius Severus? He was carrying cypress boughs - which the emperor thought to be a bad omen.

 

Cypress boughs were a sign of death. They were used to mask the smell of decay. Bodies of respected people were placed on boughs of cypress and branches were hung outside a house to warn others that inside was a dead person.[10]

 

Is this an insight to after the battles against the Caledonians? Or the death of another respected person at Hadrian’s Wall.

 

 

 

 

[1] Fryer, P. (2018) Staying power: The history of Black people in Britain. London: Pluto Press. Pg. 1

[2] Green, C. (1970) A note on the evidence for African migrants in Britain from the bronze age to the mediaeval period, Caitlin Green. Available at: https://www.caitlingreen.org/2016/05/a-note-on-evidence-for-african-migrants.html?m=1 (Accessed: 26 September 2023).

[3] When I teach this to my new Year 7’s, which explains the concept well to them. I am ‘The Romans.’ I look sternly at one of them and tell them I have conquered their table. I then look wistfully to another desk and take my first students with me as we ‘conquer’ with stern looks and voices only another country, taking them as we continue. The standing students are all giggling as their new teacher may well be having a moment, but they can see how colonisation is dependent on using the colonised to further colonise. So, when we then look at Black people on Hadrian’s Wall, it comes as no surprise at all.

[4] Black and British: A Forgotten History. Episode One. First Transmitted 9th November 2016. Available on BBC iPlayer - https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b082w9p9/black-and-british-a-forgotten-history-1-first-encounters

[5] Fryer, P. (2018) Staying power: The history of Black people in Britain. London: Pluto Press. Pg. 1

[6] Fryer, P. (2018) Staying power: The history of Black people in Britain. London: Pluto Press. Pg. 1

[7] Septimius Severus (2024) Trimontium Museum. Available at: https://www.trimontium.co.uk/learning/heritage/septimius-severus/#:~:text=The%20Emperor%20Septimius%20Severus%20launched,and%20pushing%20into%20the%20Highlands. (Accessed: 30 May 2024).

 

[8] Africans on Hadrian’s wall world heritage site: Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums Blog (2020) blog. Available at: https://blog.twmuseums.org.uk/africans-on-hadrians-wall-world-heritage-site/ (Accessed: 30 May 2024).

 

[9] Soldier (no date) Antonine Wall: Frontiers of the Roman Empire. Available at: https://www.antoninewall.org/about-wall/living-wall/soldier (Accessed: 30 May 2024).

 

[10] Art of Mourning (2023) Know your trees: Symbolism, the Cypress, Art of Mourning. Available at: https://artofmourning.com/know-your-trees-symbolism-the-cypress/ (Accessed: 30 May 2024).

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