Editing Maeatae

{{Short description|Confederation of tribes in Roman Britain}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
[[File:From Dumyat looking towards Grangemouth (geograph 3766267).jpg|thumb|right|[[Dumyat]] summit, with the [[River Forth]] in the distance]]
The '''Maeatae''' were a confederation of tribes that probably lived beyond the [[Antonine Wall]] in [[Roman Britain]].

The historical sources are vague as to the exact region they inhabited, but an association is thought to be indicated in the names of two hills with fortifications.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Evans|first=Nicholas|date=March 2009|title=Royal succession and kingship among the Picts|journal=The Innes Review|publisher=Edinburgh University Press {{subscription required}}|volume=59|issue=1|pages=1–48|doi=10.3366/E0020157X08000140|url=https://www.research.ed.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/royal-succession-and-kingship-among-the-picts(657d2747-c29d-4254-989d-eb23970a9684).html|hdl=20.500.11820/657d2747-c29d-4254-989d-eb23970a9684|s2cid=56008933 |hdl-access=free}}</ref> Near the summit of [[Dumyat]] hill in the [[Ochils]], overlooking [[Stirling]], there are remains of a fort<ref>{{cite web|title=Myot Hill|url=https://canmore.org.uk/site/45957/myot-hill|website=National Record of the Historical Environment|publisher=Canmore|accessdate=28 October 2017}}</ref> and the name of the hill (in Gaelic ''Dùn Mhèad'') is believed to derive from name meaning the hill of the Maeatae.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Mann|first=J C|title=The Northern Frontier After A.d. 369 |date=1974|journal=Glasgow Archaeological Journal {{Subscription required}}|volume=3|page=40|jstor=27923546}}</ref> The prominent [[hill fort]] may have marked their northern boundary. The first excavations of Dumyat were led by Dr Murray Cook, who recovered a radiocarbon date from a newly discovered external ditch dating to the 5th to 7th centuries AD. [[Myot Hill]],<ref>{{cite web|title=OS Six Inch 1888-1913|url=http://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=16&lat=56.0203&lon=-3.9542&layers=6&b=1|website=National Library of Scotland - Map|publisher=Ordnance Survey|accessdate=28 October 2017}}</ref> near [[Fankerton]], plausibly marks their southern limits. A discussion of two views of the importance of Dumyat and Myot Hill is given in Wainwright.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Wainwright|first1=F. T.|title=Archaeology And Place Names And History|date=1962|publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul|location=London|pages=72–74|url=https://archive.org/stream/archaeologyandpl012734mbp#page/n89/mode/2up|accessdate=28 October 2017}}</ref> There are three other potential Maeatae placenames in Scotland, potentially giving them a territory from Balfron to West Lothian and potentially St Andrews. ''Dunmanyn'', Dalmeny, West Lothian (James 2013, :‘P-Celtic in Southern Scotland and Cumrbria: a review of the place-name evidence for possible Pictish phonology’, ''Journal of Scottish Names Studies'' 7: 29-78.), ''Cremannan'', Balfron, Stirlingshire (Taylor, S, Clancy, T O, McNiven, P & Williamson, E 2020 ''The '''Place-Names of Clackmannanshire.''''' '''Shaun Tyas: Donnington''') and ''Rummond'' (''Rodmanand''), St Andrews, Fife (Taylor, S 2009 ''The Placenames of Fife, Vol. 3 St Andrews and the East Neuk''. Donnington: Shaun Tyas).

[[File:Green Grow the Rushes Oh' - geograph.org.uk - 1763012.jpg|thumb|left|Myot Hill with the [[Ochils]] on the horizon]]
[[Cassius Dio]] describes them in detail in his ''Roman History'' (Book LXXVII),<ref>{{cite book|last1=Dio|first1=Cassius|last2=Cary|first2=Earnest|last3=Foster|first3=Herbert Baldwin|title=Dio's Roman history|date=1955|publisher=W. Heinemann|location=London|pages=63–73|url=https://archive.org/stream/diosromanhistory09cassuoft#page/262/mode/2up/search/Maeatae|accessdate=28 October 2017}}</ref> and is later quoted by [[Joseph Ritson]] and others.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Ritson|first1=Joseph|title=Annals of the Caledonians, Picts, and Scots; and of Strathclyde, Cumberland, Galloway, and Murray|date=1828|publisher=Printed for W. and D. Laing|location=Edinburgh|pages=11–13|url=https://archive.org/stream/annalsofcaledoni01ritsiala#page/10/mode/2up/search/maeatae|accessdate=28 October 2017}}</ref> [[John Rhys]] seems convinced that they occupied the land between the [[Firth of Forth]] and the [[Firth of Tay]] or parts of what is now [[Clackmannanshire]], [[Fife]] and [[Stirlingshire]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Rhys|first1=John|title=Celtic Britain|date=1908|publisher=E. S. Gorham|location=New York|pages=305–307|edition=4th|url=https://archive.org/stream/celticbritain01rhys#page/304/mode/2up|accessdate=28 October 2017}}</ref> He also suggests that the [[Isle of May#History|Isle of May]] might derive its name from the tribe. Dio mentions the Maeatae were between the wall and the Caledonians but there is some dispute over whether he is referring to Antonine's Wall<ref>{{cite book|title=Archaeologia aeliana, or, Miscellaneous tracts relating to antiquity|date=1896|publisher=Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne|location=Newcastle-upon-Tyne|pages=89–90|edition=Vol 18|url=https://archive.org/stream/archaeologiaaeli18sociuoft#page/88/mode/2up/search/Maeatae|accessdate=28 October 2017}}</ref> or [[Hadrian's Wall]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Rohl|first1=Darrell, Jesse|title=More than a Roman Monument: A Place-centred Approach to the Long-term History and Archaeology of the Antonine Wall|url=http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/9458/1/DarrellRohl_PhDThesis_2014.pdf?DDD6+#page=102|website=Durham Theses|publisher=Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online ref: 9458|accessdate=14 October 2017}}</ref> [[Alexander del Mar]] says no-one really knows the identity of the Maeatae but he mentions that some authorities think they may have had a Norse origin.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Del Mar|first1=Alexander|title=Ancient Britain in the light of modern archæological discoveries|date=1900|publisher=The Cambridge encyclopedia co.|location=New York|page=41|url=https://archive.org/stream/ancientbritainin01delm#page/41/mode/1up/search/maeatae|accessdate=28 October 2017}}</ref>

They appear to have come together as a result of treaties struck between the [[Roman Empire]] and the various frontier tribes in the 180s AD under the governorship of [[Ulpius Marcellus]]. [[Virius Lupus]] is recorded as being obliged to buy peace from the Maeatae at the end of the second century.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Elliott|first1=Simon|last2=Hughes|first2=Tristan|title=The Scottish Campaigns of Septimius Severus|url=http://turningpointsoftheancientworld.com/index.php/2018/03/18/scottish-campaigns-septimius-severus/|accessdate=21 May 2018|agency=Turning Points Of The Ancient World|date=18 March 2018}}</ref>

In 210 AD, they began a serious revolt against the Roman Empire, which was reportedly a very bloody affair on both sides.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Keys |first1=David |title=Ancient Roman 'hand of god' discovered near Hadrian's Wall sheds light on biggest combat operation ever in UK |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/hand-of-god-ancient-roman-hadrians-wall-sculpture-bronze-found-latest-a8419131.html |accessdate=6 July 2018 |agency=Independent |date=27 June 2018}}</ref> Another revolt took place the following year.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Birley|first=Robin|date=October 1963|title=The Roman Legionary Fortress at Carpow, Perthshire|journal=Scottish Historical Review {{Subscription required}}|volume=42|issue=134|page=131|jstor=25528524}}</ref> In 213 AD, Joseph Ritson records them receiving money from the Romans to keep the peace.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Ritson|first1=Joseph|title=Annals of the Caledonians, Picts, and Scots; and of Strathclyde, Cumberland, Galloway, and Murray|date=1828|publisher=Printed for W. and D. Laing|location=Edinburgh|pages=64–65|url=https://archive.org/stream/annalsofcaledoni01ritsiala#page/64/mode/2up/search/Maeatae|accessdate=28 October 2017}}</ref>

The Miathi, mentioned in [[Adomnán]]'s ''Life of Columba'', probably to be identified with the Southern [[Picts]], have been posited as the same group, their identity seemingly surviving in some form as late as the 6th or 7th centuries AD.<ref>{{cite journal|last=MacLean|first=Hector|date=1872–1906|title=The Ancient Peoples of Ireland and Scotland Considered|journal=Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland {{Subscription required}}|volume=20|page=164|doi=10.2307/2842234 |jstor=2842234|url=https://zenodo.org/record/1791191 }}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Historical Celtic peoples]]
[[Category:Scotland in the Roman era]]
[[Category:Picts]]
[[Category:Antonine Wall]]