Claudian Poems Reveal Forgotten Roman Wars in Scotland

The poems of Claudian, written around AD 400, provide evidence for two previously overlooked Roman military campaigns into Scotland (Caledonia) in the late 4th century AD. The first campaign was led by Emperor Theodosius the Great between AD 388 and 392, during which he reportedly camped in the snows of Caledonia and fought the Picts and Scots. The second campaign was conducted by the general Stilicho from late AD 398 to early AD 399, who established forts and secured Britain against Pictish and Scottish raids. These campaigns occurred shortly before the fall of Roman Britain and suggest that Rome considered southern Scotland part of its territory worth defending, possibly as the province Valentia, which may have been established after the Great Conspiracy of AD 367 by Theodosius the Elder.