Auxiliary Fort: Five Hundred Cavalrymen beside the Legion
Listen at the stop, then read the transcript and follow the sources behind the story.
Listen
Transcript
A legion did not guard the frontier alone.
An auxiliary fort near the legionary camp housed a cavalry unit of about 500 men. The fort measured roughly 178 by 205 metres. Horse and mule remains support the interpretation of mounted troops, and the fort later served supply functions.
Think in terms of mobility: cavalry gave the frontier a faster response than infantry alone could provide.
The evidence level here is excavated fort plan; remains not a major standing monument.
The Roman army here was simultaneously a fighting force, employer, customer, construction organization and magnet for civilian settlement.
What looks like one archaeological attraction is really evidence for a city operating at several social levels at once.
Do not let the modern quietness mislead you. The ancient setting depended on traffic, labor, maintenance, noise and repeated social routines.
One of kar-NOON-toom's strengths is that archaeology can test the attractive story against material evidence—and sometimes force us to tell a better, less convenient story.
For a visitor, the value is causal rather than chronological: this stop explains why a frontier metropolis needed this particular space, system or institution.