On 14/04/2012 2:03 AM, Becraft, Robert wrote:
> Actually, the walls in Britannia were used to keep the "barbarians" from the
> north out of the Roman occupied south.

There is history and there is history. The Romans, who were barbarians 
to the Greeks, actually built the walls to limit trade and smuggling 
between the free people of the north and those of the empire down south. 
As you know, taxation was applied at borders not at the point of 
manufacture. So a costly enterprise such as keeping the legions in 
Britain was funded partly by local taxation. This was very unpopular, 
hence the walls. (The Brits learned from this and applied the lesson in 
India with the Great Hedge of India.) Numerous local legends live on. 
Possibly the best known is the band of smugglers lead by McNamara.

> The walls were continuously manned in a
> very specific fashion.  The man-power required for this effort is actually quite
> impressive.  Along with the wall, there are forts every so often along the
> entire length of the wall.

Yes I used to live a few miles from the Antonine Wall.

> Men manning the wall were housed in these forts
> along with units that could move out to intercept any invading forces spotted
> along the length of the wall.

It worked wonders in the dark. ;-)

-- 
Regards
     Stephen

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