Quintus Lollius Urbicus - Governor of Britain

Governor of Britain

According to the Augustan History, the emperor Antoninus Pius "defeated the Britons through the agency of the legate Lollius Urbicus". It seems that, in a reversal of Hadrianic policy in Britain, he sent Lollius Urbicus to effect the reconquest of Lowland Scotland. Between 139 and 140 Urbicus refurbished the fort at Corbridge, in preparation for the move north of Hadrian's Wall, and commemorative coins were issued in 142 celebrating a victory in Britain. It is therefore likely that Urbicus led the reoccupation of southern Scotland in 141, using all three legions and a variety of auxiliary units. In 143 he oversaw the initial construction of the Antonine Wall; he is explicitly named on building inscriptions from Balmuildy.

No historical source describes the Antonine invasion, so any attempted reconstruction will be purely speculative. Urbicus may have campaigned against several British tribes (possibly including factions of the northern Brigantes), certainly against the lowland tribes of Scotland; the Votadini and the Selgovae of the Scottish Borders region, also the Damnonii of Strathclyde and the Novantae of Dumfries and Galloway. All three of the legions of Britain will have taken part (the Second Augusta based at Caerleon, the Sixth Victrix based at York and the Twentieth Valeria Victrix based at Chester), as they are all mentioned on the inscriptions recording building work undertaken along the Antonine Wall. This legionary core was, no doubt, backed up by a substantial contingent of auxiliary units, of which we have record of around nine regiments (e.g. RIB 1276, 2140, 2142, 2149, 2155, 3509).

It seems likely that Urbicus planned his campaign of attack from Corbridge in Northumberland, just to the rear of Hadrians Wall, as dedicatory inscriptions positively dated to the early 140s have been uncovered at the Antonine storage-depot there. From here he drove north-north-west into the Scottish Borders along the Agricolan military road Dere Street, leaving garrison forts at High Rochester in Northumberland and possibly also at Newstead in Borders, as he struck towards the Firth of Forth. Both of these sites, likewise similar such military installations at Risingham, Chew Green, Cappuck and Inveresk were very likely used as bases from which to police the lowland tribes, the Votadini to the east and the Selgovae to the west.

Having secured an overland supply route for military personnel and equipment along Dere Street, Urbicus very likely set up a supply port at Carriden for the supply of grain and other foodstuffs before proceeding against the Dumnonii tribe who inhabited South Strathclyde. This done, came the task of completing a new barrier of turf and timber stretching for thirty-five miles from east to west across the narrow neck of land separating the mighty Rivers Forth and Clyde, nowadays known as the Antonine Wall.