Iraqi Peacekeepers In Britain
A crack unit of Iraqis has been deployed to Britain to ensure the safety and security of the British people in these troubled times. The government feels it is necessary to overawe those who would do us harm. A proper show of force is required and the Iraqi unit will assist in that effort.
Announcement from Tony Blair? Nope.
The Roman Emperor Flavius Honorius (most likely). It seems that there was a unit, likely from the region around the mouth of the Tigris river, once stationed at Hadrian's wall in Northern England. Funny world isn't it?
While British soldiers battle it out in Iraq, spare a thought for this: troops from Iraq once occupied Britain.
A unit of Iraqis, probably from the Basra region, formed part of the Roman troops defending the empire from incursions at its northernmost border, Hadrian's Wall.
A Roman document from about AD400 called the Notitia Dignitatum - a list of all the military and civil posts of the empire - refers to an irregular unit of "bargemen from the Tigris", based at Arbeia, the fort nearest modern South Shields.
Thorsten Opper, a curator in the Greek and Roman department at the British Museum, clearly relishes the piquancy of this example of history's circularity. "Call it an exchange of peacekeepers," he said.
The "bargemen from the Tigris" had probably been a marine force patrolling the mouth of the Tyne, Mr Opper said. Arbeia was a supply base for the 17 forts along Hadrian's Wall, with supplies transported to the fort by boat.
Mr Opper thinks it probable that the bargemen came from the southern portion of the Tigris towards the Gulf - perhaps from modern Basra.
"The Tigris delta is where the marshes were: that the bargemen came from there is the likelihood." The name Arbeia itself could be derived from the Latin for Arab, he added. "It is not certain, but it is considered a likelihood."
Interesting history lesson, isn't it? One thing that troubles me a great deal in reading this is the very end of the article.
Mr Opper is to curate an exhibition about Hadrian for the British Museum in 2008. He believes that there are pungent historical resonances between then and now. Hadrian, for instance, inherited an empire that was overextended and plagued by incursions and guerrilla warfare on its fringes. His response? To withdraw troops from hotspots.
"It was a successful policy," Mr Opper said. "It is interesting we are experiencing a very similar situation now - and dealing with it in a very different way."
It was a success only if you agree that the continued contraction of the Roman Empire until it collapsed was a good policy - for the Romans. That collapse brought on the Dark Ages. Not sure I'd agree with Mr. Opper that that was a success.
