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Scotland, Roughcastle Roman Fort, Lilia
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Lilia, which have been found at eight different locations along the 39 miles of the Antonine Wall, are part of its defensive system. The defensive line would have consisted of the ditch, the wall and these lilia, which you might call the ancient Roman equivalent of a minefield.
These deep pits, which would have had something like a sharpened stake in the centre of them, were known as lilia because they apparently reminded the Romans of lilies. They are shown on Trajan's column in Rome and were also described by Julius Caesar in his Gallic Wars.
The lilia pictured above are at the Roman fort of Roughcastle, on the Antonine Wall, a few miles west of Falkirk.
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