Before the name “Picts”
The Picts did not exist under that name when Rome first met the north. The Romans knew the peoples of Scotland as Caledonians and as other tribes, and the name Picti appears only at the end of the third century CE. The first part of this story is therefore about Rome and the peoples who later became part of the Pictish world, and the second part is about the Picts themselves. The later political history of the Pictish kingdoms lies beyond this account, which stays with the relationship to Rome.
Most of what we know comes from Roman writers such as Tacitus, Cassius Dio and Ammianus Marcellinus, along with inscriptions and the archaeology of forts and camps. These sources are Roman and often hostile, and they say little about how the northern peoples saw themselves.
Agricola and Mons Graupius
Rome conquered much of southern Britain after 43 CE. In the late 70s CE the governor Agricola pushed north, and Tacitus, his son-in-law, describes his campaigns. A decisive battle at Mons Graupius, probably in 83 or 84 CE, saw a Caledonian force under a leader Tacitus calls Calgacus defeated by the Roman legions and their auxiliaries. The speech Tacitus gives Calgacus was almost certainly composed by the author. The battlefield has never been securely identified, and Tacitus’s casualty figures cannot be checked.
Despite the victory, Rome did not hold the far north for long. Forts in Scotland were abandoned in the following years, and the army pulled back. Reasons commonly suggested include demands elsewhere in the empire, though this is an inference.
Hadrian’s Wall and the Antonine Wall
Work on Hadrian’s Wall began in the 120s CE and marked a long frontier running across the narrow neck of northern England. Some years later, under Antoninus Pius, the Romans advanced again and built the Antonine Wall in about the 140s CE, a turf rampart between the Forth and the Clyde. The Antonine frontier was held for only a limited period, perhaps a couple of decades, before the army returned to Hadrian’s line. The reasons are not fully certain, though trouble in the north and resources elsewhere are often cited.
These frontiers were not simple barriers. They controlled movement, collected customs and allowed the army to patrol. Roman forts and “outpost” sites north of Hadrian’s Wall suggest continuing contact with the peoples beyond it, including diplomacy and payments, which are mentioned in some sources.
Severus in Scotland
In the early third century, the emperor Septimius Severus came to Britain with his sons and led a large campaign into Scotland, around 208 to 211 CE. The effort included large Roman marching camps, some of which can still be traced from the air, and Severus died at York in 211. His campaign is thought to have forced agreements but produced no lasting occupation. After this, the Roman frontier remained at Hadrian’s Wall, with an interest in northern allies and scouts.
The Picti appear
In 297 CE a Latin speech praising the emperor Constantius mentions Picts and Irish as enemies of the Britons. This is the earliest known use of the name. It is often read as a label for the peoples north of the frontier, maybe including the old Caledonian groups, now grouped more tightly in the Roman mind. Whether it also reflects real political change among the northern peoples is debated.
Raids and the “barbarian conspiracy”
By the fourth century, Roman sources show repeated trouble on the northern frontier. Ammianus describes raids by the Picts, divided by him into two groups he calls Dicalydones and Verturiones, and attacks by Scots from Ireland and Attacotti. The best-known episode is the so-called barbarian conspiracy of 367 CE, when several groups attacked Roman Britain at about the same time, and parts of the frontier defences were overrun. The emperor Valentinian sent Count Theodosius, who restored order the following year.
Some scholars think Rome also relied on friendly groups north of the wall to give warning of trouble, but how formal these arrangements were is debated.
The end of Roman Britain
Roman military authority in Britain faded early in the fifth century. The Roman army left in stages, and in 410 the emperor Honorius is traditionally said to have told British communities to look to their own defence. The later sixth-century writer Gildas blames Pictish and Irish raids for the troubles that followed, but he wrote long after the events and with a moral purpose, so his account is used with caution.
What happened to the old frontier zone is also debated. Some historians think local British leaders took over in the north of England and southern Scotland, while others see more continuity from the Roman system. The Picts, meanwhile, appear in later records as an organised group with their own kings.
How much was conflict?
The story is often told as a long war between civilization and barbarians. That is a Roman reading. The evidence suggests more mixed relations: periods of campaigning, but also trade, diplomacy and long spells of quiet. Roman goods turn up beyond the frontier, which indicates contact, though they may arrive by gift, payment or trade. The fact that Rome never conquered Scotland says less about the strength of any one people than about the cost of holding rough country at the edge of the empire, a problem familiar from the Roman expansion elsewhere.