According to
TacitusPublius Cornelius Tacitus was a senator and a historian of the Roman Empire. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals and the Histories—examine the reigns of the Roman Emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero and those who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors...
, the
Battle of Mons Graupius took place in
83Year 83 was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar.-Roman Empire:* Possible date of the Battle of Mons Graupius . According to Tacitus, 10,000 Britons and 360 Romans are killed.* Roman emperor Domitian fights the Chatti, a Germanic tribe...
or
84Year 84 was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar.-Roman Empire:* Possible date of the Battle of Mons Graupius , in which Gnaeus Julius Agricola defeats the Caledonians....
AD.
Gnaeus Julius AgricolaGnaeus Julius Agricola was a Roman general responsible for much of the Roman conquest of Britain. His biography, the De vita et moribus Iulii Agricolae, was the first published work of his son-in-law, the historian Tacitus, and is the source for most of what is known about him.- Early life...
, the Roman governor and Tacitus' father-in-law, had sent his fleet ahead to panic the
CaledoniaCaledonia is the Latin name given by the Romans to the land in today's Scotland north of their province of Britannia, beyond the frontier of their empire...
ns, and, with
light infantryTraditionally light infantry were soldiers whose job was to provide a skirmishing screen ahead of the main body of infantry, harassing and delaying the enemy advance. Light infantry was distinct from medium, heavy or line infantry. Heavy infantry were dedicated primarily to fighting in tight...
reinforced with British auxiliaries, reached the site, which he found occupied by the enemy.
Even though the Romans were outnumbered in their campaign against the tribes of
BritainRoman Britain was those parts of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire between AD 43 and about 410. The Romans referred to their province as Britannia...
, they often had difficulties in getting their foes to face them in open battle.
According to
TacitusPublius Cornelius Tacitus was a senator and a historian of the Roman Empire. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals and the Histories—examine the reigns of the Roman Emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero and those who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors...
, the
Battle of Mons Graupius took place in
83Year 83 was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar.-Roman Empire:* Possible date of the Battle of Mons Graupius . According to Tacitus, 10,000 Britons and 360 Romans are killed.* Roman emperor Domitian fights the Chatti, a Germanic tribe...
or
84Year 84 was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar.-Roman Empire:* Possible date of the Battle of Mons Graupius , in which Gnaeus Julius Agricola defeats the Caledonians....
AD.
Gnaeus Julius AgricolaGnaeus Julius Agricola was a Roman general responsible for much of the Roman conquest of Britain. His biography, the De vita et moribus Iulii Agricolae, was the first published work of his son-in-law, the historian Tacitus, and is the source for most of what is known about him.- Early life...
, the Roman governor and Tacitus' father-in-law, had sent his fleet ahead to panic the
CaledoniaCaledonia is the Latin name given by the Romans to the land in today's Scotland north of their province of Britannia, beyond the frontier of their empire...
ns, and, with
light infantryTraditionally light infantry were soldiers whose job was to provide a skirmishing screen ahead of the main body of infantry, harassing and delaying the enemy advance. Light infantry was distinct from medium, heavy or line infantry. Heavy infantry were dedicated primarily to fighting in tight...
reinforced with British auxiliaries, reached the site, which he found occupied by the enemy.
Even though the Romans were outnumbered in their campaign against the tribes of
BritainRoman Britain was those parts of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire between AD 43 and about 410. The Romans referred to their province as Britannia...
, they often had difficulties in getting their foes to face them in open battle. The Caledonians were the last to be subdued. After many years of avoiding the fight, the Caledonians were forced to join battle when the Romans marched on the main
granariesA granary is a storehouse for threshed grain or animal feed. In ancient or primitive granaries, pottery is the most common use of storage in these buildings. Granaries are often built above the ground to keep the stored food from mice and other animals....
of the Caledonians, just as they had been filled from the harvest. The Caledonians had no choice but to fight, or starve over the next winter.
Battle details
According to Tacitus, allied auxiliary
infantryInfantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of the Combat Arms they are the backbone of armies...
, 8,000 in number, were in the centre, while 3,000
cavalryCavalry were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback in combat. Cavalry were historically the second oldest and most mobile of the combat arms...
were at the flanks, with the Roman
legionariesThe Roman legionary was a professional soldier of the Roman army after the Marian reforms of 107 BC. Legionaries had to be Roman citizens under the age of 45. They enlisted in a legion for twenty-five years of service, a change from the early practice of enlisting only for a campaign...
in front of their camp wall, being kept in reserve. Estimates for the size of the Roman army range from 17,000 to 30,000. The Caledonian army under
CalgacusAccording to Tacitus, Calgacus was a chieftain of the Caledonian Confederacy who fought the Roman army of Gnaeus Julius Agricola at the Battle of Mons Graupius in northern Scotland in AD 83 or 84...
, said by Tactitus to be over 30,000, was stationed on higher ground; its vanguard was on the level ground, but the other ranks rose in tiers, up the slope of the hill in a horseshoe formation.
After a brief exchange of missiles, Agricola ordered auxiliaries to close with the enemy. These consisted of four cohorts of
BataviansThe Batavians were a Germanic tribe, originally part of the Chatti, reported by Tacitus to have lived around the Rhine delta, in the area that is currently the Netherlands, "an uninhabited district on the extremity of the coast of Gaul, and also of a neighbouring island, surrounded by the ocean...
and two cohorts of
TungriThe Tungri were a tribe of Gaul and Germania. In a casual aside in Germania Tacitus remarks that Germani was the original tribal name of the Tungri with whom the Gauls were in contact; among the Gauls the term Germani came to be widely applied...
an swordsmen. The Caledonians were pushed back up the hill. Those at the top attempted an outflanking movement, but were themselves outflanked by Roman cavalry. The Caledonians were then comprehensively routed and fled for the shelter of nearby woodland, but were relentlessly pursued by well-organised Roman units.
It is said that the Roman Legions took no part in the battle, being held in reserve throughout. According to Tacitus, 10,000 Caledonian lives were lost at a cost of only 360 auxiliary troops. 20,000 Caledonians escaped and Roman scouts were unable to locate them the next morning.
Aftermath
Following this final battle, it was proclaimed that Agricola had finally subdued all the tribes of Britain. Soon after he was recalled to Rome, and his post passed to
Sallustius LucullusSallustius Lucullus was a governor of Roman Britain during the late 1st century, holding office after Gnaeus Julius Agricola although it is unclear whether he directly inherited the post or if there was another unknown governor in between...
. It is likely that Rome intended to complete the conquest but that military requirements elsewhere in the empire necessitated a troop withdrawal and the initiative was lost. That Agricola won the battle but failed to neutralise the threat to Roman security in the north of Britain had serious consequences for the remainder of the period of occupation.
Tacitus' proud statement on the battle
Perdomita Britannia et statim missa (Britain was completely conquered and immediately let go) has led to much discussion. Its implication that Agricola had defeated the last of British resistance is untrue as the uneasy peace of the next few decades proves. The suggestion that it was passed intact and peaceful to his successor is undermined by the construction and occupation of the
Glenblocker fortThe term, Glenblocker fort, sometimes also called the Highland line fort is used to describe members of a line of Roman forts along the Highland Line in Scotland...
s and
InchtuthilInchtuthil is the name of a large, well-preserved Roman castrum on the banks of the River Tay near Dunkeld, Perth and Kinross, Scotland.It was built in 83 AD as the advance headquarters for the forces of general Gnaeus Julius Agricola who had been steadily fighting his way north from Chester...
in succeeding years which indicate an attempt to fence in rather than defeat the Caledonians completely.
It has also been suggested that in the absence of any archaeological evidence and the very low estimate of Roman casualties that the decisive victory reported by
TacitusPublius Cornelius Tacitus was a senator and a historian of the Roman Empire. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals and the Histories—examine the reigns of the Roman Emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero and those who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors...
may be an exaggeration or even an invention, either by Tacitus himself, or by Agricola, for political reasons. Soon after his announcement of victory, Agricola was recalled to Rome by
DomitianTitus Flavius Domitianus , known as Domitian, was a Roman Emperor who reigned from 14 September 81 until his death...
and his post passed to
Sallustius LucullusSallustius Lucullus was a governor of Roman Britain during the late 1st century, holding office after Gnaeus Julius Agricola although it is unclear whether he directly inherited the post or if there was another unknown governor in between...
. Despite his apparent successes Agricola fell out of favour and it is possible that Domitian may have been informed of the fraudulence of his claims to have won a significant victory.
Battle location
Considerable debate and analysis has been conducted regarding the battle location, with the locus of most of these sites spanning
PerthshirePerthshire, officially the County of Perth , is a registration county in central Scotland. It extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, Rannoch Moor and Ben Lui in the west, and Aberfoyle in the south...
to north of the
River DeeRiver Dee may refer to:*River Dee, Aberdeenshire , Scotland, which flows from the Cairngorms to Aberdeen*River Dee, Wales , mostly in North Wales, flowing from Snowdonia to Chester...
, all in the northeast of Scotland. A number of authors have reckoned the battle to have occurred in the Grampian
MounthThe Mounth is the range of hills on the southern edge of Strathdee in northeast Scotland. It was usually referred to with the article, i.e. "the Mounth". The name is a corruption of the Scottish Gaelic monadh which in turn is akin to the Welsh mynydd, and may be of Pictish origin...
within sight of the
North SeaThe North Sea is a marginal, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf. The Dover Strait and the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Sea in the north connect it to the Atlantic Ocean. It is more than long and wide, with an area of around...
. In particular, Roy, Surenne, Watt, Hogan and others have advanced notions that the high ground of the battle may have been
Kempstone HillKempstone Hill is a landform in Aberdeenshire, Scotland within the Mounth Range of the Grampian Mountains. The peak elevation of this mountain is 132 metres above mean sea level. This hill has been posited by Gabriel Jacques Surenne, Archibald Watt and C.Michael Hogan as the location for the...
,
Megray HillMegray Hill is a low lying coastal mountainous landform in Aberdeenshire, Scotland within the Mounth Range of the Grampian Mountains. The peak elevation of this mountain is 120 metres above mean sea level. This hill has been posited as a likely location for the noted Battle of Mons Graupius...
or other knolls near the
Raedykes.Raedykes is the site of a Roman marching camp located just over 3 miles NW of Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. National Grid Reference NO 842902...
Roman Camp. These sites in
KincardineshireThe County of Kincardine, also known as Kincardineshire or The Mearns was a local government county on the coast of northeast Scotland...
fit the historical descriptions of Tacitus and have also yielded archaeological finds related to Roman presence. In addition these points of high ground are proximate to the
Elsick MounthThe Elsick Mounth is an ancient trackway crossing the Grampian Mountains in the vicinity of Netherley, Scotland. This trackway was one of the few means of traversing the Grampian Mounth area in prehistoric and medieval times. The highest pass of the route is attained within the Durris Forest...
, an ancient
trackwayA trackway is an ancient route of travel for people and/or animals. In biology, a trackway can be a set of impressions in the soft earth, usually a set of footprints, left by an animal. A fossil trackway is the fossilized imprint of a trackway. Trackways have been found all over the world...
used by Romans and Caledonians for military maneuvers.
BennachieBennachie is a range of hills in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It has several tops, the highest of which, Oxen Craig, has a height of 528 m . The most prominent peak, Mither Tap provides good views of the county to the north and east...
in Aberdeenshire, the
Gask RidgeThe Gask Ridge is the modern name given to an early series of fortifications, built by the Romans in Scotland, close to the Highland Line.-History:The Gask Ridge was constructed sometime between 70 and 80 CE...
not far from
PerthPerth is a former royal burgh in central Scotland. Sitting on the banks of the River Tay, it is the administrative headquarters of Perth and Kinross council area. According to the 2001 census, its population is 43,450...
and
SutherlandSutherland is a registration county, lieutenancy area and historic administrative county of Scotland. It is now within the Highland local government area. In Gaelic the area is referred to according to its traditional areas: Dùthaich 'Ic Aoidh , Asainte , and Cataibh...
have also been suggested.
Further reading
- James E. Fraser
James Earle Fraser is a Canadian historian and Picticist. He is a graduate of the University of Toronto, and did masters work at the University of Guelph...
, The Roman Conquest Of Scotland: The Battle Of Mons Graupius AD 84
External links