Scotland exhibition reveals Roman altars and military life beyond Hadrian’s Wall

A new exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland explores the Roman presence in Scotland, challenging the idea that Roman influence stopped at Hadrian’s Wall. Its centrepiece includes two fragile altars found at Inveresk, which point to a substantial military installation there and offer a glimpse of the soldiers’ religious life.

Made around 140 CE for a temple dedicated to Mithras and Sol, the sandstone altars were buried in antiquity and have taken years to conserve. Other Inveresk finds include a Rhône wine barrel, inscribed pottery, an enamel bowl, a bronze cauldron and evidence of heated floors and leather footwear. The site may have been important during Emperor Antoninus Pius’s campaign to extend Roman control to the Antonine Wall.