Why do we celebrate Viking + Roman history in Scotland but not the tribes who fought them?
We celebrate historic invaders with statues, plaques and ceremonies - but is it time to celebrate Scotland's indigenous heroes of the past?
This feature first appeared in The Sunday Post on 23 June, 2024.
If you climb Croy Hill in North Lanarkshire, you will eventually bump into Silvanus.
He's the strong, silent type, with a handsome face and a beautiful bronze complexion. And he's tall too - around 22ft in fact.
Alas, Silvanus is not a real man, but a large sculpture built in 2021 to commemorate the nearby remnants of the Antonine Wall and the Roman soldiers who were stationed along it roughly 1,800 years ago.
About 44 miles away in the coastal town of Largs, you will find another towering Adonis. Magnus the Viking is a huge metal sculpture that has stood proudly on the shoreline since 2013. He was placed there to pay homage to the Battle of Largs on its 750th anniversary.
The choice to remember these invaders of Scotland, and not the indigenous people that fought off their incursions is an interesting one. Yet what we choose to remember and celebrate from our history can tell us more about ourselves in the present than it does our past.
One reason we remember the Romans and Vikings over the indigenous Scots is because they are instantly recognisable in the public imagination. Think of a Roman and you immediately picture gleaming breastplates and Russell Crowe in Gladiator. Think of a Viking and you are met with the visage of wildeyed berserkers and historically inaccurate horned helmets.
The people who lived in what is now Scotland when the Romans arrived almost 2,000 years ago did not leave behind such memorable iconography. Almost all contemporary sources were written by Romans, who were not interested in native culture and looked down on the local population as barbarians.
The many tribes that lived in Scotland put aside their differences and banded together to fight off the Roman incursion. Despite their efforts, Rome occupied Britain for around 360 years and its cultural imprint was inescapable.
The longevity of the Largs' Vikings is different. In the mid-13th Century, parts of Scotland were ruled from Norway by King Hakon, but King Alexander II of Scotland and his son King Alexander III sought to expand their kingdom.
The Battle of Largs in 1263 was more of a skirmish, but it marked the last Viking raid on the Scottish mainland. It then passed into myth as a glorious victory for Scotland, who sent home the mighty Vikings "tae think again". The modern celebration of their being powerful Viking warriors does not diminish the Scottish fighters but instead lionises them, showing their dominance over a force that is still famous today for their ferocity.
Still, it is almost impossible to imagine a large statue of an English soldier who fought in the Wars of Independence being unveiled at Bannockburn or Stirling.
Professor Murray Leith, at the University of the West of Scotland, an expert in Scottish politics and national identity, said: "The Romans and Vikings are so far in the past that there is very little emotion attached to it, but national identity invokes a very emotional sense of belonging.
"When we look back at history, we look at it through the lens of where we are sitting today. Since before the 2014 Independence Referendum, Scotland has been actively talking about what it means to be Scottish, and what that means for our relationship with England and the Union."
Professor Ewen Cameron, Head of the School of History, Classics and Archaeology at the University of Edinburgh, agreed. He said: "It's true of smaller countries that have big neighbours, like Ireland or Canada, that they think of their national identity in contrast to their neighbour. The emotion is very strong where they feel that they are under military or cultural threat."
The Romans and Vikings may have slipped away with the sands of time, but England is ever present in the minds of modern Scots. Professor Leith said: "The shifts in how Scotland sees itself in the UK are small yet seem to hit us with force all at once. The differences in how the Scottish and English voted began in the late 60s, but it wouldn't bear political fruit for some time after that."
The SNP is projected to lose seats to Labour at the upcoming general election, yet the percentage of support for independence remains in the high 40s. For or against, Scotland's view of itself within the union has irrevocably changed. And while the mythical figures of Scotland's history remain the same, how we interpret their stories change with time. The National Wallace Monument in Stirling was completed in 1869 and was intended as a symbol of Scotland's distinct national identity within what was then a relatively happy union.
Professor Cameron said: "Wallace fitted the 19th Century view of the world, as a sort of self-made man who reached prominence through his own efforts and courage. Robert the Bruce can't be described as a self-made man. It's very speculative, but Bruce's growing popularity as a Scottish figure may have something to do with the development of Scottish nationalism. Bruce as king of an independent Scotland fits that moment almost better than 'selfmade man' Wallace."
SIDEBAR
Nothing seems to bring together a nation better than an outside threat.
David J. Breeze, an esteemed archaeologist, teacher and scholar of the Antonine Wall and the Roman Army, argues their Caledonian invasion sowed a seed that would eventually bloom into the flower of Scotland.
He said: “Before the Romans arrived, there were around 14 different tribes. After they left, there was only two–the Picts and the Scots. The only way they could hope to defeat the Romans was by coming together and creating a stronger state themselves.
“We shouldn’t think of them as savages or barbarians. If you look at Mousa Broch in Shetland which was built at that time, it’s 13 metres high.
“If you go back 2,500 years before the Romans arrived, you have Midhowe on Orkney, which is a great burial cairn. They were quite capable of creating tremendous buildings before the Romans and had a social sophistication to be able to work together.”
Great read and very informative