Eboracum - Military

Military

From its foundation the Roman fort of Eboracum covered an area of 50 acres (200,000 m2) the standard size for a legionary fortress. The layout of the fortress also followed the standard for a legionary fortress with wooden buildings inside a square defensive boundary. These defences originally consisting of turf ramparts on a green wood foundation, were built by the Ninth Legion between 71 and 74 AD. Later these were replaced by a clay mound with a turf front on a new oak foundation, and eventually, wooden battlements were added which were then replaced by limestone walls and towers. The original wooden camp was refurbished by Agricola in 81, before being completely rebuilt in stone between 107 and 108. There is evidence that the Emperor Hadrian visited in 122 on his way north to plan his great walled frontier. He certainly brought with him the Sixth Legion to replace the existing garrison. Emperor Septimius Severus visited Eboracum in 211 and made it his base for campaigning in Scotland. The fortress wall was probably reconstructed during his stay and at the east angle it is possible to see this work standing almost to full height. In that same year, Severus became the first of the two Roman Emperors to die in Eboracum and was succeeded by his sons, Caracalla and Geta.

In the later 3rd century, the western Empire experienced political and economic turmoil and Britain was for some time ruled by usurpers independent of Rome. It was after crushing the last of these that Emperor Constantius I came to Eboracum and, in 306, became the second Emperor to die there. His son Constantine was instantly proclaimed as successor by the troops based in the fortress. Although it took Constantine eighteen years to become sole ruler of the Empire, he may have retained an interest in Eboracum and the reconstruction of the south-west front of the fortress with polygonally-fronted interval towers and the two great corner towers, one of which, the 'Multangular Tower', still survives, is probably his work. In the colonia, Constantine's reign was a time of prosperity and a number of extensive stone town houses of the period have been excavated.