CHAPTER I.
PREHISTORIC EDINBURGH.
The Site before the Houses-Traces of Early Inhabitants-The Caledonian Tries-Agricola?s Invasion-Subjection of the Scottish Lowlands-
The Roman Way-Edinburgh never occupied permanently-Various Roman Remains : Urns. Coins, Busts ; Swords, Spears, and other
Weapons-Ancient Coffins-The Camus, or Cath-stone-Origin of the name ? Edinburgh?-Di-Eiddyn-The Battle of Gtraeth.
ON the arrival of Agricola?s Roman army in the
Lothians, about the year A.D. 80, the Ottadeni a p
pear, according to Chalmers, to have occupied
the whole extent of coast from the Tyne to the
Firth of Forth, including, that is, a part of Northumberland
and Roxburghshire, the whole of the
Merse, and Haddingtonshire. The Gadeni, whose
temtory lay in the interior country, parallel and
contiguous to that of the Ottadeni, had all the land
from the Tyne to the south of the Forth; they
held, namely, the western parts of Northumberland,
RoxburghshLe, the whole of Falkirk, Tweeddale,
and much of the Lothians.
These were two of the twenty-one Caledonian
tribes who were connected by such slight ties as
scarcely to enjoy a social state, and who then
occupied the whole of Northern Britain.
That these Ottadeni and Gadeni were well
armed, and resisted bravely, the number of camps
and battle-stones scattered throughout the country
amply attests; and it is not improbable that the
site of Dalkeith (DuZdh, or the field of battle) may
have seen some struggle with Agricola?s Roman,
Bakvian, and Tungrian cohorts.
It was not until the year 83 that Agricola resolved
to penetrate into the districts beyond the
Forth, as he dreaded a more united resistance
from the Caledonian tribes, who had hitherto been
hostile to each other. Guided by the information
of naval officers who had surveyed the coast, his
army crossed the Forth at Inchgarvie, and landed
at the north ferry, from whence he proceeded to
fight his way towards the Grampians ; but it was
not until the year 140 that the Scottish Lowlands
were entirely subjected to Roman sway, by Lollius
Urbicus, whose legions have left so many roughhewn
votive altars and graven memorials of the
VALENS VICTRIX, with devotional dedications,
people
