Roman auxiliaries in Britain The overall size of the Roman forces in Roman Britain grew from about 40 , 000 in the mid 1st century AD to a maximum of about 55 , 000 in the mid 2nd century . the proportion of auxiliaries in Britain grew from about 50 % before 69 AD to over 70 % in c . 150 AD . By the mid - 2nd century , there were about 70 auxiliary regiment s in Britain , for a total of over 40 , 000 men . These outnumbered the 16 , 500 legionaries in Britain ( three Roman legion s ) by 2 . 5 to 1 . This was the greatest concentration of auxilia in any single province of the Roman Empire . It implies major continuing security problems ; this is supported by the ( thin ) historical evidence . After Agricola , the following Emperors conducted major military operations in Britain : Hadrian , Antoninus Pius and Septimius Severus . The deployment of Roman military forces in Britain in the early 2nd century may be summarised as follows : Of the auxilia units stationed in Britain , none was originally native British - it was the custom not to deploy units in their home country or region . However , the majority came from the geographically and culturally close areas of northern Gaul and lower Rhineland e . g . Batavi , Tungri . Although local recruitment resulted in a growing British element in these regiments , the Batavi at least continued to recruit heavily in their native area and inscription evidence supports the view that many regiments had an international membership . An important deployment of auxilia regiments in Britain was to garrison the forts and milecastle s on Hadrian ' s Wall , outpost forts and supply routes . This focus switched to the Antonine Wall in Scotland for the period it was held ; however , a number of forts in the Lowland area of Scotland were garrisoned throughout the 2nd century . Vindolanda Tablets . The discovery in the 1970s , and continuing unveiling of , the Vindolanda Tablets offer a unique glimpse into the everyday lives of auxiliary soldiers stationed in northern England in the period 85 - 122 , just before the construction of Hadrian ' s Wall . These documents ( 573 of which have been published to date ) , consist of letters and memoranda written on wooden tablets to and from the auxiliary soldiers garrisoning the fort of Vindolanda ( Chesterholm ) . The documents mainly relate to the " Cohors I Tungrorum " , a regiment originating among the Tungri tribe of the Ardennes region ( Belgium / France / Luxembourg ) . The tablets have survived decomposition due to being deposited in anaerobic conditions . The Tablets range from official unit reports and memoranda to the unit commander to personal correspondence . Of special interest are unit status reports ( " renuntiae " ) . One such shows the milliary " I Tungrorum " as under - strength , with only 752 instead of the official 800 men on its rolls . This document also shows the flexibility of unit deployments : a detachment of 337 men is reported as stationed at another fort and 46 men on escort duty ( " singulares " ) with the provincial governor ' s staff . Further smaller detachments were at six other locations . In general , the Tablets show the Roman Empire was far more bureaucratised than previously thought , with likely millions of written documents generated every year by the army alone . The Tablets are also of a more personal nature , with social letters between soldiers and their families and friends . They also established beyond reasonable doubt that Roman soldiers ( at least auxiliaries ) wore underpants ( " subligaria " ) and used a disparaging nickname for their British hosts : " Brittunculi " . In Latin , the suffix " - unculus " is both diminutive and pejorative : the term translates as " pathetic little Brits " . The author was probably not referring to the provincial population as a whole , but specifically to young trainee recruits to the regiment . Even so , the remark implies that indigenisation of the regiment was far from complete at that time . The seemingly common use of the Tablets implies that they may have been the normal writing material in the northwestern Empire , instead of the papyrus normally used in the Mediterranean . Regiments deployed in Britain . NOTE : Double - strength ( milliary ) regiments in bold type . See also . Roman auxiliaries