Deva Victrix
About
Deva was first built by Legio II Adiutrix c. 70 CE, but II Adiutrix left Britain in the mid-80s and Legio XX Valeria Victrix took over the fortress c. 88 CE, rebuilding it in stone. XX Valeria Victrix remained Deva's garrison through 117 CE and for the following two centuries.
What happened here
A legionary fortress holds five thousand men and is laid out to the same plan everywhere, so a transferred soldier knows his way around on the first day. Two main streets cross at the headquarters building, where the standards and the pay chest are kept in a sunken strongroom under guard. Around it: the commander's house with a courtyard garden, granaries raised on stone piers, a hospital, workshops, and long barrack blocks divided into rooms for eight men who cook and mess together. Training is daily, and building work is constant — soldiers make their own bricks, tiles and boots. A civilian town grows against the walls, with bars, traders and the unofficial families of men who are not legally allowed to marry.
In ancient writing
- Ptolemy, Geography 2.3
Ptolemy's Geography lists Deva among the towns of the Cornovii and explicitly identifies it as the camp of Legio XX Victrix.
Sources
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 →