What did the Romans ever do for Scotland?

(I will return to the Faroes later, but bear with me... some treats are better fermented)

I live under the shadow of a great wall: the Antonine Wall: build by the Romans a mile south of my home in the Kelvin valley to keep out the ferocious Scots, (Picts/Celts/whatever) and still highly visible on the low range of hills that dominate this valley, that forms the shortest route between the North Sea and the Atlantic.
I sometimes declare with pride that I live in the ‘barbarian’ part of Scotland…haha!
”The (Roman) legions were supported by auxiliary troops, men drawn into the army from across the Roman empire, sometimes voluntarily, sometimes by force. Auxiliary soldiers were not Roman citizens, but were granted citizenship once they retired. This also extended to any children they may have had – like legionaries they were not supposed to marry while in service, but they too may have had families living in the vicus. 

At least eight different auxiliary units served on the Antonine Wall from countries as far off as Syria. Units were usually formed in one region and then almost immediately moved far across the empire, perhaps in order to reduce the chances for a local rebellion. Auxiliary units were typically composed of troops with a shared ethnic identity, commanded by Roman citizen officers. 

“Auxiliaries were equipped with long slashing swords, bows, spears and slings. They had helmets, oval shields, and chainmail or leather cuirasses to provide protection. Beneath this they wore a woollen tunic and, on their feet, leather boots which had hobnails hammered into the sole. 

Inscriptions provide a valuable way of tracking the movement of particular units and, from these, we know that many remained in their assigned provinces for centuries, with soldiers often retiring within the province where they had served rather than in their original homeland. Over time these ethnically-formed units took on new recruits from their service area, creating situations where native Britons served alongside soldiers from far-flung regions. 

Auxiliary units provide a particularly fascinating view into cultural and social integration across and beyond the Empire: they were certainly ‘Roman’ as an essential part of Rome’s military structure, but they clung on to particular ethnic identities and traditions from their homeland before its incorporation into the Roman empire.”

I often wonder how many of them managed to father children in this part of Scotland, and how much of that genetic diversity still survives?

Distance Slab, Hutcheson Hill © Hunterian Museum