2538) The Hadrian's Wall, Bailiwick of Guernsey, A British Crown Dependency (BCD): 1900th Anniversary milestone (122-2022 AD): A £2 (Two Pounds) Coin revisits the Wall now in ruins: Date of Coin issue: 06.09.2022:
This is the first time that Emperor Hadrian has featured on a coin, considering that Roman history and even Roman coins are some of the most collectable themes.
The Hadrian's Wall:
Hadrian's Wall (Latin: "Vallum Aelium"), also known as the "Roman Wall", "Picts' Wall", or "Vallum Hadriani", is a former defensive fortification of the Roman province of Britannia, begun in AD 122 in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian.
Running "from Wallsend on the River Tyne in the east to Bowness-on-Solway in the west", the wall covered the whole width of the island. In addition to the wall's defensive military role, its gates also functioned as customs posts.
A significant portion of the wall still stands and can be followed on foot along the adjoining Hadrian's Wall Path.
The largest Roman archaeological feature in Britain, in Northern England, the wall measured 80.00 Roman miles (a unit of length equivalent to about 1,620 yards or 1,480 metres), or 73 modern miles (118 kilometres). This covered the entire width of the island, from Wallsend on the River Tyne in the east to Bowness-on-Solway in the west.
Regarded as a British cultural icon, Hadrian's Wall was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.
The Antonine Wall, based on the lines of the Hadrian's wall, was declared a World Heritage site in 2008.
Hadrian's Wall marked the boundary between Roman Britannia and unconquered Caledonia to the North. The wall lies entirely within England and had never formed the Anglo-Scottish border.
Hadrian's Wall was planned before Hadrian's visit to Britain in 122 AD.
According to restored sandstone fragments found in Jarrow which date from 118 AD, it was Hadrian's wish to keep "intact the empire", which had been imposed on him via "divine instruction".
Hadrian ended his predecessor Trajan's policy of expanding the empire and instead focused on defending the current borders, namely at the time Britain.
Like Augustus, Hadrian believed in exploiting natural boundaries such as rivers for the borders of the empire, for example the Euphrates, Rhine and Danube.
Britain, however, did not have any natural boundaries that could serve this purpose – to divide the province controlled by the Romans from the Celtic tribes in the North.
With construction starting in 122 AD, the entire length of the wall was built with an alternating series of forts, each housing 600 men, and manned milecastles, operated by "between 12 and 20 men".
It took six years to build most of Hadrian's Wall with the work coming from three Roman legions – the Legio II Augusta, Legio VI Victrix, and Legio XX Valeria Victrix, involving about 15,000 soldiers, plus some members of the Roman fleet although the building of the wall was not an area of expertise for the soldiers, some of whom underwent training to be surveyors, engineers, masons, and carpenters etc.
Following the construction, when fully manned, almost 10,000 soldiers were stationed on Hadrian's Wall, made up not of the legions who built it but by regiments of auxiliary infantry and cavalry drawn from the provinces.
After Hadrian:
After Hadrian passed away in 138 AD, the new emperor, Antoninus Pius, left the wall occupied in a support role, essentially abandoning it.
He began building the Antonine Wall about 160 kilometres (100 mi) north, across the isthmus running west-south-west to east-north-east.
This turf wall ran 40.00 Roman miles, or about 60.8 km (37.8 mi), and had more forts than Hadrian's Wall.
This area later became known as the Scottish Lowlands, sometimes referred to as the Central Belt or Central Lowlands.
Antoninus was unable to conquer the northern tribes, so when Marcus Aurelius became emperor, he abandoned the Antonine Wall and reoccupied Hadrian's Wall as the main defensive barrier in 164 AD.
In 208–211 AD, the Emperor Septimius Severus again tried to conquer Caledonia and temporarily reoccupied the Antonine Wall.
The campaign ended inconclusively, and the Romans eventually withdrew to Hadrian's Wall.
Two Roman inscriptions found built into St Paul's Church in Jarrow in 1782 AD, mentioning Hadrian above and the Province of Britannia below. They are from a dedication slab or a victory monument at the very eastern end of the Wall.
In the late 4th century, barbarian invasions, economic decline and military coups loosened the Empire's hold on Britain.
By 410 AD, the estimated end of Roman rule in Britain, the Roman administration and its legions were gone, and Britain was left to look to its own defences and government.
Archaeologists have revealed that some parts of the wall remained occupied well into the 5th century AD.
It has been suggested that some forts continued to be garrisoned by local Britons under the control of a Coel Hen figure and former dux.
Hadrian's Wall fell into ruin and over the centuries the stone was reused in other local buildings.
Much of the wall has now disappeared. Long sections of it were used for roadbuilding in the 18th century AD to build a military road.
A UNESCO World Heritage Site:
Hadrian's Wall was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987, and in 2005 it became part of the transnational "Frontiers of the Roman Empire" World Heritage Site, which also includes sites in Germany.
Adds the UNESCO Book titled - "TREASURES OF THE WORLD" on UNESCO World Heritage Sites, in my personal library:
Frontiers of the Roman Empire, United Kingdom and Germany:
"The Roman Limes or frontier represents the border line of the Roman Empire at its greatest extent in the second century AD.
The two sections in Germany cover a length of 550 km from the northwest of the country to the Danube in the southeast.
The 118 km-long Hadrian's Wall in northern England was built on the orders of the Emperor Hadrian around 122 AD at what was then the northernmost limits of the Roman province of Britannia.
It is a striking example of the organisation of a military zone and illustrates the defensive techniques and geopolitical strategies of ancient Rome.
The 60-km-long Antonine Wall, across Central Scotland was started by Emperor Antoninus Pius in AD 142 as a defence against the "barbarians" of the north and represents the most northerly frontier of the Roman Empire.
The remains of the limes today consist of vestiges of built walls, ditches, forts, fortresses, watchtowers and civilian settlements. Certain elements of the line have been excavated, some reconstructed and a few destroyed."
The legacy:
The Roman occupation of Britain still provides us with fascinating treasures.
Coins, mosaics, artefacts — and their famous buildings and structures — perhaps most famously, Hadrian’s Wall.
The Coin:
Featuring the Emperor Hadrian on the Reverse of the £2 (Two Pound), this Coin is inscribed on the upper periphery - "HADRIAN'S WALL 122/2022 VALLUM HADRIANI".
On the Obverse the £2 (Two Pound) coin features a right facing effigy of Late Queen Elizabeth II.
The specifications of this Coin are:
Country: Bailiwick of Guernsey, A British Crown Dependency (BCD); Coin Theme: The "Hadrian's Wall"; Date/Year of Coin issue: 06.09.2022; Denomination of Coin: £2 (Two Pounds); Metal Composition: Bi-metallic; Diameter/Size: 28.40 mm; Weight: 12.00 grams; Coin Quality: Brilliant Uncirculated (BU); Designers: (Reverse) Adam Tooby, (Obverse) Ian Rank-Broadley.
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