Ôîðóìû ó Ëèðèêà

[Martellus]

Ñòàòüÿ èç "The Scotsman" îò 19 îêòÿáðÿ 2004ã.

Forest excuse 'pure Roman spin'

When the all-conquering armies of ancient Rome failed to subdue the northern end of Britain, there had to be a good reason.

So the Romans decided it was not the primitive barbarians known as the Caledonii who had defeated them, but the vast impenetrable forest covering the country now known as Scotland...

Prof Smout, of St Andrews University, said: "The great Caledonian forest? I don’t think it ever existed. I think it was a story the Romans put about to explain why they didn’t conquer Scotland.

"There had been a time when Scotland was covered with what might be called the Caledonian forest, but that was many hundreds of years before the Romans arrived.

"I don’t believe for a minute it was still there. It was a story got up by a bunch of Italians. They used the forest once before with the Germans."


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