Deva Victrix

Deva Victrix, or simply Deva, was a legionary fortress and town in the Roman province of Britannia on the site of the modern city of Chester. The fortress was built by the Legio II ''Adiutrix'' in the 70s AD as the Roman army advanced north against the Brigantes, and rebuilt completely over the next few decades by the Legio XX ''Valeria Victrix''. In the early 3rd century the fortress was again rebuilt. The legion probably remained at the fortress until the late 4th or early 5th century, upon which it fell into disuse.

A civilian settlement, or '' canabae'', grew around the fortress. Chester's Roman Amphitheatre, south-east of the fortress, is the largest-known military amphitheatre in Britain. The civilian settlement remained after the Romans departed, eventually becoming the present-day city of Chester. There were peripheral settlements around Roman Deva, including Boughton, the source of the garrison's water supply, and Handbridge, the site of a sandstone quarry and Minerva's Shrine. The shrine is the only in situ, rock-cut Roman shrine in Great Britain.

The fortress contained barracks, granaries, headquarters, military baths, and an unusual elliptical building which had it been finished may have been intended to act as the governor of Britain's headquarters.

In fiction, Deva features in "The Antonine Romans and Deva: Roman Chester Awaits!" (2021) Novella by Andrew Boyce.

History

Foundation

According to the 1st- and 2nd-century geographer Ptolemy, Deva was in the lands of the Cornovii. Their land bordered that of the Brigantes in the north and the Ordovices in the west and included parts of what is now Cheshire, Shropshire, and north Wales. When the Romans' treaty with the Brigantes—who occupied most of what is now Northern England—failed the Romans embarked on military conquest of the area. The campaigns were initially led by Sextus Julius Frontinus and later Gnaeus Julius Agricola. Their expansion into the north of Britannia during the reign of Vespasian meant that the Romans needed a new military base. Chester was a strategic site for a fortress, commanding access to the sea via the River Dee and dividing the Brigantes from the Ordovices.Mason (2001), p. 42. Legio II ''Adiutrix'' was sent to Chester and began the construction of a legionary fortress in the mid-70s AD.

The fortress was built on a sandstone bluff, overlooking the bridge crossing the river and close to the natural harbour which is today occupied by the Chester Racecourse. The bend in the River Dee provided protection from the south and the west. The river was navigable up to the sandstone ridge, so positioning the fortress beyond it would have made access to the harbour difficult. The fortress may have required up to of water a day,Mason (2001), pp. 83, 85–86. supplied by fresh water piped in from natural springs in the suburb of Boughton to the east.

Lead ingots discovered in Chester indicate that construction was probably under way by 74 AD. There may already have been military buildings on the site, but if so they were demolished to allow the construction of the fortress.Mason (2001), p. 46. The first buildings were constructed from wood, probably for convenience. They were gradually replaced by more permanent structures built from locally quarried sandstone.Mason (2001), p. 107. Defence was provided by a rampart and a ditch wide and deep. The rampart was made from turf laid over sand, clay, rubble, and layers of logs.

The fortress was laid out in the traditional "playing card" shape—rectangular with rounded corners—and had four gates: north, east, south and west. It covered , making it the largest constructed in Britain during the 70s. An estimated of timber was used in the first phase of the fortress's construction; buildings outside but associated with the fortress, such as the harbour and the amphitheatre, would have required an additional . The fortress contained barracks, granaries ('' horrea''), headquarters ('' principia'') and baths (''thermae''). The barrack blocks each measured and were built using wattle and daub.Mason (2001), p. 59.

Etymology

The name Deva Victrix derives from "goddess", and the Roman fortress was named after the goddess of the River Dee; the Latin for "goddess" is ''dea''

or

''diva''.

There is an alternative source for the naming of the settlement which suggests that the Roman name for the fortress was adopted directly from the British name of the river. It is thought that the title "victrix" in the name of the fortress was taken from the title of the Legio XX ''Valeria Victrix'' who were based at Deva;Mason (2001), p. 128. ''victrix'' is Latin for victorious. The name for the city of Chester derives from the Latin word ''castrum'' (plural: '' castra''), meaning "fort" or "army camp"; "-chester" and "-caster" are common suffixes in the names of other English cities that began as Roman camps.

Under Legio XX ''Valeria Victrix''

In 88 AD, the Emperor Domitian ordered the Legio II ''Adiutrix'' to the lower Danube. The Legio XX ''Valeria Victrix'' was deployed to garrison Deva Victrix, abandoning the fort they had been building in Scotland, at Inchtuthil. On their arrival they began to rebuild Deva, first in timber and from the end of the 1st century in stone. The new stone fortress walls were thick at the base and thick at the top. Located at regular intervals, approximately apart, along the walls were 22 towers about square.Mason (2001), p. 130. The defensive ditch was re-dug and was wide and deep. An estimated of stone were used to build the new fortress defences. The timber barracks were replaced with stone buildings of a similar size.

During the 2nd century, at least part of the Legio XX ''Valeria Victrix'' took part in the construction of Hadrian's Wall,Mason (2001), p. 155. leading to some sections of the fortress being abandoned and others being allowed to fall into disrepair. The Legio XX ''Valeria Victrix'' probably went on campaign in 196 under Decimus Clodius Albinus into Gaul, leaving Deva under-garrisoned. They would have suffered heavy losses in Gaul before returning to Britain.

Following attacks against barbarians in the early 3rd century under Septimius Severus, the fortress at Deva was again rebuilt, this time using an estimated of stone. During the 4th century the size of the legion, and therefore of the garrison, may have diminished in line with the rest of the empire's forces.

Decline and abandonment

Most of the fortress's major buildings were still being maintained in the second half of the 4th century and the barracks were still inhabited. Before 383 AD, soldiers at Chester were being paid by coins from the imperial mints; after this the soldiers may have been removed by Magnus Maximus when he invaded Gaul in 383.Lewis & Thacker (2003b), pp. 9–15. The '' Noti