Among the antiquities of Scotland, those of the Romans hold the most distinguished place. The principal of these are the celebrated wall built between the Firth of Forth and the Firth of Clyde, in the reign of Antoninus Pius, and in the remains of many interesting inscriptions have been found.* The tem ple, called Arthur's Oon, a building of the same pe riod, stood near the river Carron, about 11 mile from Falkirk.t Roman camps and pillars are very nume rous in different parts of Scotland. Some of them are remarkably entire, and they have all been described in our description of the counties of Scotland.f Gene ral Roy has followed the common opinion of antiqua ries in ascribing those camps, &c. to Agricola, while Mr. Pinkerton is of opinion that they may be more justly assigned to Lollius Urbicus, A. D. 140, but es pecially to the Emperor Severus, A. D. 207. who con ducted two campaigns in Scotland. Constantine Chlo pus, who is said to have made a long progress into Scotland in A. D. 306, had probably some share in the construction of the camps; and Statics informs us, that Bolanus erected several works in Britain. The most northerly of the Roman camps is near the source of the river Ythan in Aberdeenshire, and is about two English miles in circumference. A Roman station on a smaller scale has been discovered at Old Meldrum, a few miles to the south-east of the other.
Roman roads have been traced to a considerable distance in the cast of Scotland as far as Forfarshire. A hypocaust was discovered near Perth and another near Musselburgh.
The Pictish monuments of Scotland had their origin in the 5th century; they are generally circular build ings, and whether they are found in the Highlands, the lowlands, or the Orkney Isles, they have been uni versally ascribed by tradition to the Picts. Dr. Jamie son divides them into two classes, viz. those above and those below ground. The first class includes their circular spires and castles, such as the cylindri cal tower of Brechin and Abernethyll and the castle of Glenbeg in Inverness-shire. The class of subtcr raneous buildings, and those nearly under ground, are generally of the tumular kind. Several of them are described by Pennant, and the greater part of them in the Statistical Account of Scotland. They are most numerous in Sutherland, Ross-shire, Orkney, and Shetland,* where the Scandinavians are known to have had a permanent residence. These buildings are de
nominated Picts houses, duns and burghs.
The antiquities that seem to be of Danish origin may have originated in the ninth century. Accord ing to Pinkerton, they seem to have consisted of a vast hall, open to the sky in the centre, while the cavities in the wall formed recesses for beds. These build ings he considers as displaying the first elements of the Gothic castle. The engraved obelisks found at Torres, &c. have been ascribed to the Danish invad ers; but Pinkerton regards them as more probably monuments of signal events erected by the kings or chiefs, so late as the fifteenth century.
The abbeys and castles erected since the time of Malcolm VI. arc very numerous. The most splendid of the abbeys were founded by David I. in the twelfth century, such as Melrose, Jedburgh, Kelso, &c. an enumeration and description of which will be found under our article Cum ARCHITECTURE.
The most interesting remains of our Scottish anti quities are, perhaps, the vitrified forts, which Pinker ton considers to belong to the thirteenth century. We have already described them very fully in our article FonTs, Vitrified, and we may probably resume the subject under the word VITRIFIED Forts.
Among the antiquities of Scotland may be enume rated the parallel roads of Glenroy, because they have been supposed to be a work of art, and to have been formed by the Scottish kings. If we view them, on the contrary, as we do, as a natural phenomenon, and as the result of a great geological convulsion, they will possess a still higher interest, and be ranked among the most interesting phenomena in the history of our globe. See our article PARALLEL ROADS, where they are fully described, and the question of their ori gin minutely discussed.
For further information respecting the antiquities of Scotland, the reader may consult Pennant's Tour in Scotland; General Roy's Military .3ntiquities of the Romans in Britain; King's Monumenta Ihniqua; Pin kerton's Inquiry into the History of Scotland, 1789; the introduction to Dr. Jamieson's Dictionary of the Scot tish Language; and Chalmer's Caledonia. Various minute descriptions of individual antiquities will be found in the different topographical articles in this work relative to Scotland.