Scotland during the Roman Empire of the geography of Scotland had extended to the "Hebudes" (The Hebrides), "Dumna" (probably the Outer Hebrides), the Caledonian Forest, and the Caledonians. Ptolemy, possibly drawing on earlier sources of information as well as more contemporary accounts from the Agricolan invasion, identified 18 tribes in Scotland in his "Geography", but many of the names are obscure. His information becomes much less reliable in the north and west, suggesting early Roman knowledge of these area was confined to observations from the sea. Famously, his coördinates place most of Scotland north of Hadrian's Wall bent at a right angle, stretching due eastward
Scotland in the Early Middle Ages Creator", attributed to St Columba) (c. 597). In Old English there is "The Dream of the Rood", from which lines are found on the Ruthwell Cross, making it the only surviving fragment of Northumbrian Old English from early Medieval Scotland. Scotland in the Early Middle Ages Scotland was divided into a series of kingdoms in the early Middle Ages, i.e. between the end of Roman authority in southern and central Britain from around 400 CE and the rise of the kingdom of Alba in 900 CE. Of these, the four most important to emerge were the Picts, the Scots of