Vallum (Hadrian's Wall) Scotland and the temporary abandonment of Hadrian's Wall. It is worth noticing at this point that the Antonine Wall was a less formidable barrier than Hadrian's Wall, for two main reasons: firstly, because it was built out of turf rather than stone; and secondly, because it had no equivalent ditch system like the Vallum behind the Wall. It may have been for these reasons that the Antonine Wall was not garrisoned for very long. Vallum (Hadrian's Wall) The Vallum is a huge earthwork associated with Hadrian's Wall in England. Unique on any Roman frontier, it runs practically from coast to
History of the Great Wall of China feature prominently. The French philosopher Voltaire (16941774), for example, frequently wrote about the Great Wall, although his feelings towards it oscillate between unreserved admiration and condemnation of it as a "monument to fear". The Macartney Embassy of 1793 passed through the Great Wall at Gubeikou on the way to see the Qianlong Emperor in Chengde, who was there for the annual imperial hunt. One of the embassy's members, John Barrow, later founder of the Royal Geographical Society, spuriously calculated that the amount of stone in the Wall was equivalent to "all the dwelling houses of England and Scotland" and would