Dan Snow explores the physical remains of Hadrian’s vast project of 122AD – over 80 Roman miles of wall, turrets and forts, stretching from coast to coast across northern England. Mile after mile of stone marching over the horizon.
But why did the Romans go to all this effort? We dig into the key questions: was the wall a barrier or a porous border; a hubristic vanity project or a vital line of defence; who lived on and around the wall; and why has it endured in popular culture for nearly two thousand years, right up to Game of Thrones?
Dan meets leading experts along the Wall and visits some of the key sites – from Arbeia in the east (where tombstones reveal people here from as far away as Syria) to Birdoswald in the west (where a blatant carving of a phallic symbol shows the Wall was more than just a barrier).
A Roman historian wrote that when the Emperor Hadrian came to Britain in AD 122 he ‘put many things to right and was the first to build a wall 80 miles long from sea to sea to separate the Romans from the Barbarians’.
In this film we discover what that massive engineering and construction project really meant – and the impact it had on Roman Britain and beyond.
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Rome was something else
An incredible piece of history you can actually see and wander about on.
Refreshing to see a historian NOT complaining about an insufficient number of ditches.
Nothing worse than listening to a yank talking about Britain
Obviously they had some valuable resources to protect , to go to all that trouble! , it seems to me the only difference between the romans and the nazis is victory
I love how they say the dick carvings was a symbol of power. Nah mate…that’s just good young lads having a laugh. Some things never change
Oh I don't know. You tell us, Dan Snow. Well try to read it, I know it's difficult.
I loved your documentary. Many years ago, on a tour if the UK, I visited one section of the wall and vowed to one day, return to see more of it,. Maybe I will someday hike the entire length of the wall. Hiking is probably one of the best ways to see the wall and the beautiful countryside.
Looks like I'm not the only one binge watching somme of Paul's older videos!
#RIP_Paul!
I found Roman Empire history to be just fascinating, so much that one of my little dog's name is Dacia and the other one is Galia.
Dan entirely squandered the opportunity to say 'Biggus, Dickus'.
Question I've always had ….. The wall was higher than it is today. So! What happened to all those bricks? The amount missing must be enough to build a town…..
I was born Wallsend. Our terrace house was built on the remaining of the wall they we're pulled down in 1976 they now have the segedunum fort
Thanks for this video, back in the day this wall would be akin to modern day seperation like Gaza. With no TV or cameras to document the shixtass way my people were treated and divided. Oh how different everything for my people would be now if not for the Romoron war criminals. Never forgive Alesia or other atrocities comitted by Roman criminals.
Hadrian clearly wasn't concerned about allegations of racism😅
Arbeia is not actually part of the wall. It was the supply depot for the wall located in modern day South Shields on the south side of the river mouth. The most easterly fort was Segadunum found in Wallsend. On the North bank of the Tyne.
Arbeia is well worth a visit – it not only has a reconstruction of the western gatehouse but it has reconstructions of a barrack block and the commandant’s house. I have been many times.
"Rob, why is there a huge pen*s on the wall?!"
Last night I watched History Underground tour the wall.
The best part about this is the apstrophe😂
The Romans were awesome. Conquerors and master builders.
I am English but my parents took us off to the antipodes, after 60 years my (Australian) wife and I went back to see what my family had left all those years ago. One of my main objectives was to visit Hadrian's wall. We were not disappointed, just like the video, we were amazed at the sheer scale of the forts, something I knew nothing about when I was a kid. The one we went to housed 800 men, and the all the forts were quite close together.. The main road sort of follows the wall from coast to coast, and it took us quite a while to travel it by car. Just imagine having to 'build' your way across? My mate here in NZ is from Scotland, and we have endless fun discussing what we, and they, did all that time ago. The bottom line is at least after the Romans left we had viniculture, could walk the streets at night in safety, and indeed had decent streets to walk on at last. . Sewerage systems, baths, Latin, and of course the right of men to have a baby.
Cool 😎
Just a note, it's "Romans" not "Roman's" – which means "of the Roman"
Please fix the title
How on earth, and context, can you discuss the life of the wall and those who lived about it – without mentioning Vindolanda and the tablets found there, or the Roman Army Museum at Magma. Big Fail.
Truly amazing
Dan snow is cool
another quite exceptional documentary. the problem with these, oddly enough, is they cannot be listened to passively while e.g. gaming or writing an essay; the quality is so superior i find i have to actively watch the documentary and keep my other tasks on standby for the duration (of course, a not unsavoury problem to have!)
I've been up there on exercise with the army in January it was brutal and that was with cold weather kit.
That man trying to say that dick has magic meaning, lol. As a former soldier I'll tell you its just a dick. Soldiers are all the same, no matter the era. We will draw a dick everywhere we go.