Neath
About
Founded around 74 CE on a plateau above the River Neath, this fort originally enclosed over eight acres before being reduced to about six soon after construction. Roughly 500 auxiliary troops garrisoned the earth-and-timber defenses through Trajan's reign, guarding the coastal route into South Wales. The army pulled out around 125 CE, only to return and rebuild the fort in stone about 140 CE. That second phase ended around 170 CE, and the site sat empty for a century before one final period of occupation from 275 to 320 CE.
What happened here
Five hundred men, sometimes a thousand, recruited from a province rather than from citizens, and often stationed a long way from where they were raised. Cavalry units get a bigger fort and far more stabling; the smell tells you which kind you are in before the plan does. The layout copies a legionary fortress at a quarter of the size — headquarters, commander's house, granaries, barracks, a bath house usually built outside the walls because of the fire risk. Duties are patrolling, escorting, customs, and policing rather than pitched battle. After twenty-five years a man is discharged with citizenship for himself and his children, recorded on a bronze diploma he keeps for life. A village grows outside the gate within a decade.
Sources
Nearby
Roman Maps shows the empire frozen at 11 August 117 CE, the day Trajan died — its moment of greatest territorial extent. Explore the full map →