Scotland Vs The Romans - The Battle of Mons Graupius

In AD 122 the Emperor Hadrian commissioned the building of a wall across the north of the Roman province of Britannia as part of his larger plans for cementing and defending the borders of the Roman Empire. Similar such constructions also took place in other areas of the Empire along key strategic and defensive areas.

Hadrian's Wall

You would be forgiven for thinking that was that. Hadrian built his wall in north Britannia and the area was settled. However, history rears it's head to tell us of what must of been the most northerly battle ever fought by a Roman army, long before Hadrian built his wall. The history in this case being Tacitus' Agricola and the battle that of Mons Graupius, somewhere in the highlands of Scotland.

The great eponymous hero of the adventure is Gnaeus Julius Agricola, provincial governor of Roman Britain from AD 77 to AD 85. Which in itself is remarkable for two reasons; firstly the great length of time he held the governorship and secondly the fact that it took place under Emperor Domitian, an Emperor deemed to be so wicked and evil that upon his assassination, the damnatio memoriae was passed and his name and image removed from public record.

 The reason for this great record of his tenure as a provincial governor was that, Tacitus the Great historian of the early Roman Empire was also his son-in-law. After being assigned to the Roman governorship of Britainnia in AD 77, Agricola completed the conquering of Wales and the North of England, to the point that Tacitus writes,

"they who lately disdained the tongue of Rome now converted it's eloquence. Hence, too, a liking sprang up for our style of dress, and the "toga" became fashionable"

Tacitus Agricola Chapter 21

Route of Agricola's Campaign

As well as successfully quieting the rebellious Britons and causing the toga to be seen everywhere, in chapter 24 of the Agricola, Tacitus tells us that Agricola crossed a river and "subdued in a series of victories tribes hitherto unknown". Working his way north through Scotland in either AD 83 / AD 84, the Battle of Mons Graupius took place on a site that has still to be determined.

With the estimates of the Roman army being around 30,000 comprising of around 8,000 auxiliary infantry and 3,000 cavalry and the rest of legionaries, against Caledonian forces that Tacitus tells us were over 30,000 strong.

It is from the leader of the Caledonian forces that we have one of the most famous quotes on Roman military policy. Calgacus, in a speech he gives to his men before the battle says

"To robbery, slaughter, plunder, they give the lying name of empire;

they make a solitude and call it peace".

Tacitus Agricola Chapter 30

As a criticism of the Roman Empire policy of provincial government it is both accurate and unfair. The Roman Empire conquered and crushed, but it also amalgamated and absorbed. The influence of Hellenistic Greece on Roman culture, the building of a temple of Isis in the capital or the blending of local gods in the case of the British Sulis Minerva are all examples of Rome absorbing its provincial culture. Rhetoric aside it seems unlikely that Tacitus agreed with what he was writing, what he was creating was a suitable villain, for the hero Agricola to defeat.

Sulis Minerva at the Roman Baths in Bath

Which is what he did. Sending his auxiliary units against the Calendonians, the Roman cavalry outflanked the opposition forces and then routed them. Tacitus writes that the Legions never even took place in the battle and that 10,000 Caledonians were killed at the loss of 360 auxiliary troops. A gross exaggeration no doubt. However for his victory Agricola was said to have defeated all the tribes of Britain and was rewarded a triumph, before being recalled to Rome, to which Tacitus writes that,

"Britain subdued and immediately let go"

Tacitus Histories Book 1 Chapter 2

The Roman Empire saw its armies fighting in the west of Spain, down the Nile to the South of Egypt and far, far to the East into Mesopotamia, but never had the Roman army been so far north and as the rebellious Caledonians fought and other internal reasons saw some Roman troops withdraw, eventually in AD 122, the Emperor Hadrian commissioned the building of his famous wall to regulate and control the region. In later years Septimus Severus would move Roman forces north again, but never as far nor as successfully as Agricola. 

Thanks for Reading

James