Aulus Platorius Nepos

Aulus Platorius Nepos was the governor of Britain under whom Hadrian's Wall was begun. He came from a senatorial family, probably from Spain, and had a conventional and successful career — tribune of a legion, praetor, governor of Thrace and then of Lower Germany, and consul in 119. He was a friend of Hadrian, who is recorded as having travelled with him, and the friendship later broke down for reasons the sources do not give. He was appointed governor of Britain in 122, the year Hadrian visited the province, and held the post until about 124. The wall runs 117 kilometres from the Tyne to the Solway. As begun under Nepos it was to be a stone curtain about three metres wide in the eastern sector and turf in the west, with a ditch in front, a milecastle every Roman mile providing a gateway and accommodation, two turrets between each pair, and later a series of full forts added along the line, and the Vallum — a flat-bottomed ditch with mounds — behind it. His name appears on building inscriptions from the wall and from forts along it, which is how the dating is fixed. What it was for is still argued: a defended frontier, a customs and control barrier regulating movement and trade, or a statement of the limit of empire. It is not on the narrowest crossing, and it was garrisoned by auxiliaries rather than legions. He was recalled and disappears from public life, and Hadrian is said to have treated him as an enemy.

• Lived: 80 CE – 145 CE
• Nationality: Roman
• Roles: general, ruler