Hibernia - Evidence of Roman Influence

Evidence of Roman Influence

Four centuries of Roman presence in Roman Britain were related to ancient Hibernia with a continuous trade and commerce, even if in a very small scale. Geographer Ptolemy in the 2nd century made a map of Hibernia full of data on rivers, mountains and people demonstrating a knowledge of the island that could have been originated even from the presence in Hibernia of Roman explorers/traders living in small trading places of the Ireland's south and eastern coast.

Generally in Ireland, Roman material is rare and found in different contexts from the native La Tène style material. No roads have been identified as being Roman, and no large Roman settlements have been found. However in the southeast of Ireland, where native material is rare, Roman-style cemeteries and large quantities of Roman artifacts have been found.

A group of burials on Lambay Island, off the coast of County Dublin, contained Roman brooches and decorative metalware of a style also found in northern England from the late 1st century. However this could represent, for example, Brigantes fleeing reprisal from the crushed revolt of 74.

At Drumanagh, 25 km north of Dublin, a large (200,000 m²) site was identified in 1995 as possibly Roman. Consisting of a peninsula defended by three rows of parallel ditches on the landward side, the site appears to have been a port or bridgehead.

The Roman historian Tacitus mentions that Agricola, while governor of Roman Britain (AD 78 - 84), entertained an exiled Irish prince (may be Túathal), thinking to use him as a pretext for a possible conquest of Ireland. Neither Agricola nor his successors ever conquered Ireland, but in recent years archaeology has challenged the belief that the Romans never set foot on the island.

Indeed, in 82 Agricola "crossed in the first ship" and defeated peoples unknown to the Romans until then. Tacitus, in Chapter 24 of Agricola, does not tell us what body of water he crossed, although many scholars believe it was the Clyde or Forth; however, the rest of the chapter exclusively concerns Ireland. Agricola fortified the coast facing Ireland, and Tacitus recalls that his father-in-law often claimed the island could be conquered with a single legion and auxiliaries. This conquest never happened, but some historians believe that the crossing referred to was in fact a small-scale exploratory expedition to Ireland.

Roman and Romano-British artefacts have been found primarily in Leinster, notably a fortified site on the promontory of Drumanagh, fifteen miles north of Dublin, and burials on the nearby island of Lambay, both close to where Túathal is supposed to have landed, and other sites associated with Túathal such as Tara and Clogher. However, whether this is evidence of trade, diplomacy or military activity is a matter of controversy. It is possible that the Romans may have given support to Túathal, or someone like him, to regain his throne in the interests of having a friendly neighbour who could restrain Irish raiding. The 2nd century Roman poet Juvenal, who may have served in Britain under Agricola, wrote in Satires that "arms had been taken beyond the shores of Ireland", and the coincidence of dates is striking. Alternatively it has been suggested that Roman traders arrived for a regular "fair" or market at the site at regular dates.

Roman coins, some converted to pendants, and Romano-British brooches have been found deposited as votive offerings at Newgrange.

According to Phillip Rance some tribes of Hibernia, called Attacotti (Old Irish term: aithechthúatha), from southern Leinster were Foederati (allies, used as mercenary soldiers) of the late Roman Empire, and fought together with the Roman legions in the second half of the 4th century

Roman sources mention raids on Britain by two groups of people usually associated with Ireland, the Scoti and the Attacotti. According to later legend, the term Scotti comes from Queen Scotia daughter of an Egyptian Pharaoh who was Queen of the Milesians. In the Irish origin story, the Milesians come from the northern coast of Spain and are the original Celtic invaders. The island of Ireland was named Scotia in honor of their Queen. Perhaps as early as the 17th century, and certainly in the 18th century, some Irish scholars had suggested that the origin of the Attacotti might lie in Ireland. This was based on the perceived similarity between Latin Attacotti and the Old Irish term aithechthúatha, a generic designation for certain Irish population-groups, usually translated "rent-paying tribes", "vassal communities" or "tributary peoples". Combined with the knowledge of Irish raids on the coast of Britain in the late Roman period, it was suggested that one group of raiders had stayed to become the historically attested people mentioned by Ammianus.

The well-known history of Saint Patrick, whose autobiography records that he was seized by Irish raiders somewhere in Britain and carried off into slavery in Ireland, is other evidence; this was some time in the earlier part of the 5th century, soon after the Roman Empire abandoned Britain.