Maeatae

The Maeatae were a confederation of tribes who lived probably beyond the Antonine Wall in Roman Britain. The historical sources are vague as to the exact region they inhabited.

Near the summit of Dumyat hill in the Ochils, overlooking Stirling, there are remains of a fort and the name of the hill (in Gaelic Dùn Mhèad) is believed to derive from name meaning the hill of the Maeatae.^[1] This prominent hill fort may have marked their northern boundary, while Myot Hill near Falkirk plausibly marks their southern limits.

They appear to have come together as a result of treaties struck between the Roman Empire and the various frontier tribes in the 180s AD under the governorship of Ulpius Marcellus.

In 210 AD they began a serious revolt against the Roman Empire, and again the following year.^[2]

The Miathi, mentioned in Adomnán's Life of Columba, probably to be identified with the Southern Picts, have been posited as the same group, their identity seemingly surviving in some form as late as the 6th or 7th centuries AD.^[3]

References

1. Mann, J C (1974). "THE NORTHERN FRONTIER AFTER A.D. 369". Glasgow Archaeological Journal  – via JSTOR (subscription required) 3: 40.
2. Birley, Robin (October 1963). "The Roman Legionary Fortress at Carpow, Perthshire". Scottish Historical Review  – via JSTOR (subscription required) 42 (134): 131.
3. MacLean, Hector (1872–1906). "The Ancient Peoples of Ireland and Scotland Considered". Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland  – via JSTOR (subscription required) : 164.