Beginnings英国起源(16)

When we think of Hadrian's Wall, we tend to think of the Romans rather like US cavalrymen deep in Indian country,

defending the flag, peering through the cracks and waiting nervously for war drums and smoke signals.

A place where paranoia sweated from every stone.

But it wasn't really like that at all.

As fantastically ambitious as this was

stretching 73 miles from coast to coast from the Solway to the Tyne

And although Hadrian probably conceived it in response to a rebellion

On the part of those people in the Romans loftily referred to as "Brittunculi"--nasty wretched little Brits.

Almost certainly, he didn't mean it as an impermeable barrier against barbarian onslaught from the north.

The wall was studded with milecastles and turrets afforts like this one at Housesteads.

But as Britain settled down in the second century AD

These places became up-country hill stations more like social centres and business centres than really grim, heavily-manned barracks.