Syrian Scots on the Borderlands

An Initial Outline

Written Jun 9th, 2009 by Jim Farmer /jims-email@hotmail.com

Being Eastern Mediterranean

When the Romans conquered the British Isles, they brought with them a culture and a civilization that changed the makeup of almost the entire island. Eventually, a long lineup of Roman Emperors stationed their legions across the island, occupying it from east to west and south to north leaving out only the farthest territories of Scotland and Ireland.

The Roman occupation brought in peoples from all over the known world. Most were soldiers, and many came and left. But others stayed, bringing with them their extended families and servants. Even more established local family ties to their British neighbors. Many of them that were soldiers came either as part of an auxiliary cohort formed from peoples of those other nations who had been conquered by Rome, or, if they were Roman citizens themselves, they came as members of the Roman legion, a more desirable status since legionnaires received better pay and better care then the auxiliaries.

Figure 1: A wood tondo from 199 CE, showing Septimius Severus and his family.

Source: The Staatliche Museen, Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin, Germany.

Besides coming from various European tribes or nations scattered across modern day Italy, Spain, Germany, Romania, Belgium and France, some Roman contingents came from colonies bordering the farther reaches of the Mediterranean Sea. These included the recently subdued Middle East nations and others from northern African. These people may have been few in number, but they left behind a salient trait. These were one of those that most often brought the so called “J” haploid group Y-DNA marker to the British Isles. They had acquired their unique J haploid group status from their own ancestors and soon passed it on to their sons being born in Britain.

Septimius Severus, the emperor of Rome from 193 through 211 CE, was himself of North African Punic descent, having both Berber and Phoenician ancestry.1 Not only was he of Phoenician ancestry from the Middle East, but he also had a Syrian wife named Julia Domna. Together and through the dynasty that ruled Rome after them, these two important Roman figures from history initiated a major change in the profile of Rome’s ruling families. They and their family promulgated a Punic and Syrian aristocracy, elevating many in their family to places of importance. In fact, it was their son Caracalla who extended Roman citizenship to all freemen throughout the Roman Empire, thus expanding the number of men who could join the ranks of the legions directly as opposed to having to join auxiliary forces. As a result, the Severus dynasty was a major force behind one of the most notable changes in the British Isles’ DNA makeup.

Severus himself, along with his wife, two sons, and their loyal following of legionnaires, arrived in Britain in 208 CE, campaigning across Scotland and ordering repairs to the two defensive walls that stretched across Britain. He, his family, and his legions were there until he died in York in 211 CE. Although his followers included many European soldiers, others had followed him from the Middle East. How many of his troops were of Mediterranean descent is unknown, but there would have been many.

The main defensive wall built by the Romans in Britain was first begun in 122 by Emperor Hadrian. It was built to separate Northern Britain under Roman rule from the marauding tribes of pre-historic Scotland. Reinforced in 164 CE by Emperor Marcus Aurelius, Hadrian’s Wall may have seen little else done to it until it was repaired again, this time by Severus in 208. Stone inscriptions left behind often refer to work done by the Twentieth Legion, one of Severus’ favorite cohorts. The second wall, built further north, was constructed under Emperor Antoninus Pius from 142 to 154 but it was abandoned soon after it was constructed. Not until Severus’ arrival in 208 when he initiated his campaign against the natives in Scotland was any attempt made to reincorporate the northern wall back into Britain’s defensive measures. Even here the Twentieth Legion was the main cohort working under Severus according to archaeological records.

Figure 2: Hadrian’s Wall across Britain.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 3, "Brescia" to "Bulgaria, "Britain.” p 498. 

[Project Gutenberg EBook]

The most prominent legion in Britain at this time, the Twentieth Legion or Legio XX Valeria Victorix, had come into existence about 31 BC under Julius Caesar. During the time of its activities in Britain at least two senior members were proud to be identified as Syrian. Their places of origin were carved in stone on two different alters honoring their Syrian gods. How many of the rank and file was also Syrian or Punic is not known, but even after the death of Severus, the Twentieth Legion remained in Britain, stationed most of the time at Deva, the modern town of Chester. For the next hundred years or more, when the Twentieth Legion was not campaigning against the tribes of Scotland or manning Hadrian’s Wall, they were encamped with their families in Chester.

What best identifies many of these legionnaires, besides their archeological detritus, is the DNA still carried by descendants. Today England, Wales, and Scotland have numerous individuals in the “J” haplogroup, and thus show a connection to peoples from the Middle East and Northern Africa. This haplogroup is typically identified as being Syrian and Phoenician and there are other ways its carriers could have migrated to Great Britain, but as Rome expanded so did this haplogroup. No doubt the Roman occupation in Britain can be blamed for most of the remaining descendants carrying these markers on the Island. The high concentration found today near the town of Chester even helps single out the Twentieth Legion as a major culprit in the mystery of a point of origin.

Being Syrian

DNA testing has also been used to further identify a smaller number of people within the J haplogroup. These members are classified as “J1”.2 Being members of this subgroup makes them more interesting, for the earliest origins of this marker are even more centralized in and around modern day Syria and not to the wider Mediterranean region. It has not been found as wide spread as the entire “J” haplogroup. And where it has spread, the number of individuals has been more restricted. It is a very unique group.

Figure 3: Syrian Archers

Source: History Of Egypt Chaldea, Syria, Babylonia, And Assyrialondon, G. Maspero, The Grolier Society Publishers. [online at Gutenburg.org]

Found only rarely in Britain, ancestors carrying the J1 marker could still have gotten to the island the same way as the other “J” ancestors did. Emperor Severus’ wife Julia Domna was Syrian. She was one of Rome’s most important rulers, known to work alongside her husband, even traveling to Britain with Severus and their sons. Many of her associates if not family members could have brought the J1 marker to the island.

However, for some of the people in the J1 group, there is another possibility. A small cluster of J1 descendants found in Scotland has close ties to a very localized place and it is this location that suggests another reason for their J1 ancestry. These descendants have been associated for generations with the area just north of Hadrian’s Wall, and it is near this location that a very specialized group of Syrians are known to have lived. They were members of a Roman auxiliary cohort made up entirely of Syrian archers. This cohort of 500 men was originally mustered about 130 CE from the Syrian town of Hamath, not far from the ancient biblical town of Antioch. From Syria the archers were sent to the British Isles as an auxiliary force. According to carvings found at the Roman fort called Carvoran, they helped restore Hadrian’s Wall in 134.3 In fact, these Syrian archers were there before Severus and Julia had their chance to transform the empire.

Figure 4. Altar Stone erected by the Syrian Archers at Carvoran.

Source: See footnote 3.

The purpose behind sending this group of Syrian archers to Britain and maintaining them somewhere near the wall may have been more than just enlisting them to fight off marauding natives attacking from the north. If, as suspected, the archers were also used as wild game hunters, and therefore stationing them near the upland woods above the wall was beneficial. As hunters they would have been the ones most likely to go beyond the wall. Other carvings confirm that they did go further north when Emperor Antoine built the other wall in northern Scotland about 142 CE, but their exact place of residence for the ten years in between has not been found.

If the Hamath archers were hunters, a likely choice for their location is the Roman camp built just north of the western end of Hadrian’s Wall called Castra Exploratorum. (It is now the modern day town of Netherby in Cumbria.) As the name implies, this was a Roman encampment that included scouts or hunters. But the fort also included families of its military residents.4 Records show that the place existed for many years. It was obviously more then just a fort for defense. Being beyond the wall itself suggests that it was an important crossroads for soldiers, hunters, and local tribesmen alike.

There were other forts and encampments north of the wall and in the time of the Syrian archers from Hamath, since the northern boundary had shifted to Antoine’s Wall, the region between the walls needed continuous protection. One of the largest Roman sites in-between the walls was at Trimontium, located today near the town of Newstead. Also important to note, running between each of these fortifications were Roman built roads with additional small forts interspersed along the way to provide protection. Altogether these Roman works provided the support structure needed to maintain the Roman influence below and between the walls.

Figure 5: Trimontium, the Selgovae hillfort and Roman camp site, near Melrose, Scotland. 

Source: Wikimedia.

Being Selgovae

In the days of the Roman occupation, according to a map drawn by Ptolemy, Northern Britain was populated with a people called the Selgovae.5 On the map he includedTrimontium as one of the Selgovae towns in the area. Today their hill fort sits above the site of the Roman encampment of that name. Ptolemy also lists another Selgovae place called Uxellum. Today this site corresponds to a hill fort at Castle O’er, near Eskdalemuir, in the neck of land between the Black Esk and White Esk Rivers where they join to form the main Esk River. From this promontory today the ruins of the Selgovae hill fort still overlook the valleys and its upland moors. Uxellum also overlooks a nearby Roman fort (now called Raeburnfoot) where the Roman road from Castra Exploratorum forded the White Esk as it headed in a straight line towards Trimontium.6 It was here in Selgovae territory that Syrian archers must have become associated with the people of the Selgovae tribe, living near or among them enough to pass on their unique DNA marker. For it is here that the cluster of J1 descendants developed its Scottish roots in Scotland. When the Selgovae history is put together with the known history of the Syrian archers, there is enough data to visualize the eventual outcome of a Scottish people with Syrian ancestry.

Besides just living close to each other, the Selgovae and the Syrian archers had another connection. Both presumably held the same occupation as hunter and both did so in the same uplands. The root word of the Selgovae tribe’ name means “hunters” in the early British language.7 So Syrians and Selgovae would have had to share the lands north of Hadrian’s Wall. Archeological exploration confirms the integration between the Selgovae and their Roman overlords. Roman artifacts have been found at Uxellum for this time period as well as at many other nearby Selgovae sites.8 While this was the borderland between Roman dominated Britian and the warring tribes of northern Scotland, this was not a wasteland. Clearly, the Selgovae associated with the Romans and their auxiliary troupes such as the Syrian archers from Hamath, no doubt prospering from the trade and support roll they performed.

Figure 6: Ptolemy’s Map of showing the Selgovae Tribe along with Uxellum and Trimontium. 

Source: http://www.romanscotland.org.uk/pages/narratives/tribes.asp.

Being Cumbric and then Gaelic

Sometime after 410 CE and the time Roman rule ended in Britain, the people living north of Hadrian's Wall were in an ideal position to foster and preserve descendants holding the J1 marker. This was the Dark Ages, an era seeing numerous foreign nations invading Britain hoping to fill the vacuum left behind by the retreating Romans. The invaders included both Norsemen and Anglo-Saxons. Like the Romans, they came and changed the cultural and genetic make-up throughout much of the British Isles.

Fortunately, these intruders did not make it very deep into the old Selgovae territory. Possibly because of the rugged hills above the Esk River, this terrain had enough natural protection to give the local population some safe harbor from the invaders. Over time there were some changes. The inhabitants first became subordinate to the neighboring kingdoms of Galloway to the west and, in the long run, to Strathclyde in the north.

Because of the later arrival of Norsemen coming via the Irish Sea, even the language of the entire region changed from Cumbric to a new Gaelic dialect. This became the common language found throughout the Irish Sea nations.9 But again, since few outsiders or foreigners themselves intruded into the old Selgovae lands along the borderlands, the local population’s genetic make-up remained stable. In addition, ancient names remained to describe the landscape supporting the idea of limited access to the area. This would eventually change after William the Conqueror defeated the English at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 CE, but even that change took time. For most of the Dark Ages, the descendants of the Selgovae and any Syrian who had intermarried with them remained secure within their old territory.

Being a Clan

Even after the consequences of the Norman Conquest reached Scotland in the 1100’s, most of the self-styled lords coming up from the now Norman England initially left the local population in place, thereby continuing to preserve the J1 haplogroup characteristic within the borderlands.

This laissez- faire style of feudal control may not have happen everywhere but it seems to have been the case within some of the ancient Selgovae river valleys. This proved critical, for it gave time for the earlier Selgovae family groups to manifest into Scottish families or clans. And since clan association is determined by connection through the male line, this further helped to maintain each clan’s characteristic Y-DNA markers. For those clans associated with Selgovae valleys, this feature is what connects them back in time to the Syrian archers and to the Selgovae people. This connection through time has been found in at least three specific clans so far. These later-day clans with unique J1 haplogroups associated with them are the Halliday, Graham, and Liddel (or Little) families.10

Even more noteworthy, since any association between Syrian and Selgovae happened so long ago, or about 140 CE, time and stability allowed individual families within the Selgovae valleys to develop and then maintain some differentiation within their own DNA patterns. That is, the different family groups living within the various valleys acquired different DNA patterns but still showed the J1 marker because of their Syrian ancestry. It is this differentiation among what was already a unique DNA pattern that is important in telling the later story of the borderland people. As the families of the valleys became associated to clan names, their unique DNA patterns within the J1 haplogroup became a hidden characteristic and eventually a unique identifier.

Figure 7: 17th century map showing the rivers and dales along the Scottish-English border where Halliday, Graham, and Liddle families originated.

What is most salient about these Scottish clans is that they all have a written history that places their historical origins in and among the borderlands and in the Selgovae river valleys. In fact, for the three so far identified, their places of origin correspond to three contiguous valleys along the border: The Hallidays are first associated with Annandale, the valley of the Annan River; the Grahams with Eskdale, the valley of the Esk River; and the Liddels with Liddesdale, the valley of the Liddel River. These valleys and their upland hills include the same area where the Syrian archers would have hunted and include the same location as shown on Ptolemy’s map as being part of the territory of the Selgovae Tribe. To have three related but different sets of J1 markers in three attached valleys shows how long the descendants must have been there undisturbed before the Normans arrived.

The fact that these people were already there ahead of the Normans is also shown by looking at their clan names or surnames. They chose surnames, like others in Scotland, about 1300 CE, but they did not choose ones related to the Norman lords who held dominion over them. Other names were selected instead, and, as would be expected, often to show their primacy within the valleys, in opposition to their Norman overlord. Robert de Bruc was Lord of the Barony of Annandale where the Hallidays originated. Ranulf de Soules was Lord of Liddesdale where the Liddels originated.11

The surnames of these two early Border families reflect localized origins: Liddel after the river, Halliday for a Latin word describing local farm ownership.12 These families looked to their location to give them their clan association and name and, presumably they did it to reflect their ancient claim above and beyond those of the recent Norman arrivals. The Graham surname does have Norman roots, but Robert Avenel was the first Lord of the Barony of Esk. The Norman family of Grahams inherited the Avenel lands only after the great-granddaughter of Robert Avenel married a Graham.13 The people of the Esk Valley chose to take the name Graham later on, instead of being called Avenels. All of this shows that the people living in these valleys knew that their origins in the valleys predate their Norman lords. And this acknowledgement helps reinforce the idea that, at least up until the end of the 13th century, the original borderland people must have still been in place.

With time, however, and especially because of Scotland's ongoing wars for independence with England and the developing implementation of the feudal land system, many of the local populations were displaced, eventually scattered across Scotland, and especially across Gaelic speaking regions. Fortunately, as they went most of the people maintained their actual family association and continued to recognize their pre-historic clan ties by using their locally derived clan name as their surname. This custom has helped maintain the one-to-one correspondence of the unique J1 DNA pattern formed with the individual borderland clans before 1400 CE and has allowed the borderland families to be traced into other areas of Scotland and beyond.14

Being Scottish

Figure 8: Victorian portrayal of the Graham Clan Tartan

In a matrilineal society, multiple male DNA patterns become mixed into a clan. No single DNA pattern can be used to identify an association between the members. In the Gaelic society, where family identity is maintained through paternal connections, over time a single male DNA attribute develops into a strong identifier for the clan. This has greatly benefited the ability to trace these families after the arrival of the Normans, but there are other salient factors. Many families consciously looked for ways to maintain their cultural distinction. Their Gaelic heritage was a cornerstone to their existence. Being Scottish was another. Within the Grahams, some members of the clan, still carrying the J1 marker, used MacIlvernoch for their clan association.  It means “Son of the Servant of Bhernoc,” a literal translation of Graham into Gaelic. This reveals their strong desire to be both Gaelic and Scottish. For the Armstrongs, another Border family, some have been found to use the name MacGhillielaidir (Son of the Servant of the Strong). Even today, by reading the different clan histories which were, for the most part, written years after the Normans first arrived, the importance of being Scottish in heritage can be discerned.15 Their Norman heritage still had some importance since it defined their association to the modern world. But when it conflicted with their Scottish heritage, the clans from the borderlands often resorted to traditions to help it all make sense.

Being Haplogroup J1

The J1 marker in a family does not need to be prominent through out an entire family to help characterize a family’s origins. Looking at other surnames for other families among the J1 haplogroup, many seem to have the same heritage as the Grahams or Liddles. The Armstrongs are thought to have been named for the Laider River of Lauderdale and then loosely translated into the name Armstrong. For two other families, Scott and Wallace, their names could be considered generalizations, but as clan names they reveal strong ethnic ties and their origins place them first close to the borderlands. The same can be said for Montgomery and Stewart, even though their surnames, like the Grahams have more ancient Norman origins. However, both of these families have histories that connect the family roots back into Cumbric speaking Wales.

Future Research

There are still quite a few unanswered questions to fill in about these people. For example, for the J1 descendants was it only a single Hamath archer who initiated the marker, or was there more than one ancestor establishing the unique DNA patterns for this cluster? How could unique J1 markers become differentiated in separate valleys and clans? There is even the possibility that more research will reveal the DNA pattern of the ancient Selgovae, themselves. Having the J1 haplogroup in their midst as a point of reference, there should be similar changes and isolation related to other associated haplogroups found with the same clan members.16 Given enough answers, additional research could change what we know of the early Scottish people of the borderlands.

So far DNA results have reinforced the history and traditions that may Scots from the borderlands have maintained over the centuries. Being Gaelic and being descended from ancient Scottish lineages have been important badges of honor. Proving this connection by tracing a miniscule drop of Syrian ancestry is the exciting part that DNA testing allowed to happen. DNA has reinforced a history of a people back over 2000 years. And at present, because of the J1 haplogroup distinction, the associated link to the Selgovae tribe binds together hundreds of thousands of descendants. DNA, like heritage and history, can reveal a lot about both families and nations.

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End Notes 

jims-email@hotmail.com

1 See Wikipedia entries for discussions on the ancestry of Severus and his wife.

2 See www.ysearch.com for a list of reviewed members of the J and J1 Haplogroups.

3 Roman monuments uncovered at Carvoran, Northumberland, along the Hadrian Wall memorialize the

Cohortus Hamii Sagitariorum dated 163-166 CE. See www.roman- britain.org/places/magnis_carvetiorum.htm:

4 www.roman-britain.org/places/castra_exploratorum.htm: Mentioned only in the Antonine Itinerary, the identification of Netherby with the Castra Exploratorum of Iter II is nontheless fairly certain.

5 “Potolemy, Tacitus and the tribes of Northern Britain,” Proceedings of the Society of the Antiquities of

Scotland, Vol 117, 1987, p 85-91.

6 “A New Roman Mountain Road,” Proceedings of the Society of the Antiquities of Scotland, 1945-1946, p 104-117.

7 Herbert Maxwell, A History of Dumfries and Galloway, p 4, [Google Books]

8 Dennis William Harding, The Iron Age in Northern Britain, page 183. [Google Books.]

9 See Wikipedia entry “Scottish Gaelic” for the history of the language and its spread to Galloway.

10 See Ysearch data for J1 members with these names..

11 Hermitage Castle was founded in 1244 or a little earlier by Walter Comyn, fourth Earl of Menteith,

Liddesdale having been held by the Soulis family from the first half of the preceding century. On the Soulises' forfeiture in 1320, Liddesdale was granted by Robert the Bruce to Sir John Graham of Abercorn, whose heiress, Mary Graham, conveyed it to her husband, Sir William Dougla. From: Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland: a survey of Scottish topography..., Volume 4; edited by Francis Hindes Groome [Google Books]

12 See the Halliday family web site: www.magma.ca/~leprecha/john_halliday_chapter_02.html.

13 This was also the time when John Graham became a hero to the Scottish people, having died at Falkirk fighting with William Wallace.

14 Not all of the borderland people left the area. Some descendants became even more embedded in the area and eventually resurfaced as Border Reivers. These were local families who tried to control the borderlands with little or no deference to the laws of either England or Scotland. Even up until the 1600's, these families held on to the so called Debatable Lands, an area locked between the rivers of Annan, Esk, and Liddel just above the old Roman wall. Among these people were the Grahams. Besides Wikipedia, numerous web sites reveal the history of the Reivers. One well documented site iswww.nwlink.com/~scotlass/border.htm.

15 Instead of the expected Norman origins of Graham, the origins of the family name have also been tied to

Fergus II, who fought against the Normans: “When Fergus the Second recovered the kingdom from the Romans and Britons, Graemus, his father-in-law, who was appointed guardian and viceroy to his children during their minority, divided, by the consent of the estates or nobles, the conquered lands among new colonies, and gave estates to foreigners and others, who had followed him in the wars. “ An historical account of the ancient rights and power of the Parliament of Scotland, Andrew FletcherD. Chalmers & Co., Printers, Aberdeen, 1823. p 113.

16 Some Liddell R1b1 is similar within 6 mutations to some R1b1 Armstrong and Graham, for example. What can that signify?