Burnswark Hill

Yesterday, I walked up Burnswark Hill in Dumfriesshire, southern Scotland. Good views reward anyone who troubles himself to climb a hill, and Burnwark or Birrenswark is no exception. Yet it was not the views from the hill that were my primary reason for climbing, but its own top and slopes. This is where, in around the year AD140, Quintus Lollius Urbicus, Governor of Britannia, besieged members of  the Selgovae tribe. The new emperor, Antoninus Pious, had ordered him to expand the imperial borders beyond his predecessor, Hadrian’s, wall, and to subjugate Caledonia to Rome’s rule.

Earthworks from the two Roman Camps (temporary forts), above and below, can still be seen, and thousands of lead balls from artillery fire and slingshots have been recovered from the hillsides. As the Selgovae defended themselves and their land from Rome, Daniel’s prophetic vision of a world empire which would trample, devour and break (chapter 7) continued to be fulfilled. Quintus Lollius Urbicus had been a legate in the Second Jewish War or Bar Kokhba revolt, which saw Rome depopulate Judaea and expel the Jews from their ancestral homeland.

Today, the hill is peaceful and pastoral, with views of mountains, coast and country; 1,885 years ago, it was fertilised by Celtic blood and Roman fire. The Selgovae lost their stronghold and their independence, at least for a time, while the Romans would eventually leave Britannia, sailing off to try and defend Rome itself from overwhelming barbarian invaders. All those players who participated in the siege are still alive, in one sense, awaiting the Creator’s righteous judgement, in the Other World. They fought for what they could not keep; they lost or gained what they could not retain. Now that hill is the haunt of kestrels, walkers and farmers, with only a trace of those old warriors and disciplined legionaries. It was not the Pax Romana which would bless the world, but the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ, for whose second coming we still wait.

He shall judge between the nations, and rebuke many people; They shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. Isaiah 2:4