Confederation of tribes that lived beyond the Antonine Wall in Roman Britain, between the wall and Caledonian territory to the north — Cassius Dio explicitly distinguishes them from the Caledonians. Likely centered on the Stirling/Clackmannanshire/Fife area of Scotland (hillfort place-names at Dumyat and Myot Hill are linked to their name).
Formed via treaties with Rome in the 180s under governor Ulpius Marcellus; Virius Lupus was obliged to buy peace from them around AD 197. Revolted against Rome in 210 and again in 211 (a bloody affair on both sides); in 213 they again received Roman payment to keep the peace. A much later group, the 'Miathi' in Adomnán's Life of Columba, has been speculatively (and disputedly) linked to the same name, possibly surviving as identity into the 6th-7th centuries as part of the Southern Picts.
Covers the Roman Britain frontier era in which the Maeatae first appear.
Covers the wall and the tribes beyond it, including the Maeatae, whom Cassius Dio places just north of it.