CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
IRELAND
A world without the Romans
--.... --
Barry Raftery
INTRODUCTION
T
he Roman general Agricola, advancing to western Scotland in AD 82, may well
have glimpsed the coast of Antrim shimmering on a distant horizon to the
west. He would certainly have been acquainted with Ireland which, according to his
biographer Tacitus, was much like Britain 'in soil, in climate and in the character and
civilization of its people' (Agricola 24). Agricola appears to have had no doubt that
the country could be taken with a single legion and a small force of auxiliaries. This
rash assertion was, however, never put to the test. As most of Britain succumbed to
the iron embrace of Roman civilization, Ireland continued in its ancient ways, an
Atlantic outpost of Celtic independence.
Ireland was not, however, aloof from Rome (Warner 1976, 1991) and there is
ample evidence that extensive trade took place between the island and the Roman
world. This is clear from the classical references, and many of the scattered items of
Roman manufacture found in the country could have come in this way (Bateson,
1973). Undoubtedly, too, occasional travellers from provincial Rome set foot on Irish
shores. Some were to die in Ireland as is shown by the classic Roman cremation
burial in a glass urn found at Stonyford, Co. Kilkenny (Raftery 1981: 194, fig. 41,
nos. 1-2; Bourke 1989) and by a series of coin-associated inhumations at Bray Head,
Co. Wicklow (Bateson 1973: 45). Burials at Lambay, Co. Dublin, have been seen
as those of refugees from Roman Brigantia (Rynne, 1976) while major hoards of
silver and of coins, variously found in Limerick (6Riordain 1947: 43-53), Antrim
and Derry (Bateson 1973: 25), could represent payment made to Irish auxiliaries for
service rendered to Imperial Rome. Alternatively, such hoards might be regarded as
Roman booty brought home by Irish raiders.
Roman influences gradually percolated into the country and these are detectable
in many aspects of material culture, in changing burial customs and, ultimately, in
bringing about fundamental changes in religious beliefs. Ireland, however, remained
Celtic and retained a prehistoric iron age society long after it had disappeared
elsewhere.
The nature of this society and the processes by which 'celticization' took place
continue to be a matter for intense debate among specialists. In recent years even the