Re: Written records of pre-Roman European culture | Forum

Littlestone Jul 15, 2006 08:46:55

Replying to Nick Tasker

Iraqi troops defend Britain.

Going off at a bit of a tangent I'm afraid but it's been revealed that a "...unit of Iraqis, probably from the Basra region, formed part of the Roman troops defending the empire from incursions at its northernmost border, Hadrian's Wall. A Roman document from about AD400 called the Notitia Dignitatum... refers to an irregular unit... from the Tigris, based at Arbeia, the fort nearest modern South Shields. The name Arbeia itself could be derived from the Latin for Arab."*

I wonder what religion those troops practiced...

* Extract from an article in today's Guardian, page 10.

akas555 Jul 17, 2006 12:57:27

Replying to Littlestone

In South Shields a persistent rumour has been going round for quite a while; the gist being that boatmen from mesopotamia were brought over by the romans to man the boats/ act as stevedores for the supply ships harbouring in Shields. According to some, a contingent stayed on and became britains first arabic community (possibly confused with the early yemeni immigrants) but there is no direct evidence of this that I've heard of.

The Roman harbour in Shields is yet to be found, although occasionally artefacts are washed up onto the beach.

rocknicker Jul 17, 2006 15:17:35

Replying to Littlestone

so it's just possible that Pontious Pilate is buried in Perthshire?