Battle of Mons Graupius (AD 83): Agricola in Caledonia

The Battle of Mons Graupius was fought in AD 83 or 84 between a Roman army led by Gnaeus Julius Agricola, governor of Britain, and a confederacy of Caledonian tribes in what is now north-east Scotland. Tacitus, Agricola’s son-in-law, describes it as a crushing Roman victory, the high point of Rome’s advance into the far north of Britain. Yet the exact battlefield has never been found, and Rome soon withdrew from the territory it had won.

Background: Agricola’s campaigns

Rome had invaded Britain in AD 43 (see Roman Conquest of Britain) and by the 70s controlled most of what is now England and Wales. Agricola, appointed governor in about AD 77 or 78, pushed north. He campaigned in northern England and southern Scotland, built forts and roads, and by his sixth season was operating north of the Firth of Forth.

The peoples north of the Forth were known to the Romans as Caledonians. Faced with the Roman advance, they united under several leaders. Tacitus names one of them, Calgacus, as the most outstanding in courage and birth.

The battle

In late summer, after a season of marching, the Roman army found the Caledonians drawn up on the slopes of a hill Tacitus calls Mons Graupius. He says the Britons numbered more than 30,000, with more arriving, and that their war chariots manoeuvred on the plain in front of them.

Agricola placed about 8,000 auxiliary infantry in the centre, with 3,000 cavalry on the wings. The legions, the heavy Roman citizen infantry, were held in reserve in front of the camp. Tacitus comments that a victory won without shedding Roman citizens’ blood would be all the more glorious.

The fighting began with an exchange of missiles. Agricola then ordered four cohorts of Batavians and two of Tungrians, auxiliaries from the lower Rhine region, to close in. Their short swords and shields suited close fighting, and they pushed up the slope. The Caledonian chariots were driven off, and cavalry held back in reserve attacked the Britons from behind when they tried to outflank the Roman line.

The Caledonian army broke. Tacitus describes a pursuit that lasted until nightfall and reports some 10,000 British dead against 360 Romans. Survivors scattered into the hills, and the next day the Romans found the land silent and empty.

The speech of Calgacus

Before the battle Tacitus gives each commander a speech, as ancient historians traditionally did. The words of Calgacus are among the most quoted passages in Latin literature. He accuses the Romans of robbery and slaughter falsely called empire, ending with the line usually translated as “they make a desert and call it peace”.

The speech is Tacitus’s own invention. It reflects a Roman writer’s ability to imagine, and perhaps to share, criticism of Roman conquest, written in about AD 98 under a new regime after the reign of Domitian.

Where was Mons Graupius?

The battlefield has never been identified with certainty. Many sites in north-east Scotland have been proposed. In the 1970s the aerial archaeologist J. K. St Joseph argued for Bennachie in Aberdeenshire, close to a very large Roman marching camp at Durno that could have held Agricola’s whole army. Other candidates include Raedykes near Stonehaven, Duncrub in Perthshire and hills in Moray.

No battlefield archaeology, such as large numbers of weapons or burials, has yet confirmed any site. The modern name of the Grampian Mountains comes from a misreading of “Graupius” as “Grampius” in an early printed edition of Tacitus, later applied to the Scottish Highlands.

Consequences

After the battle Agricola sent his fleet around the north of Britain, and Tacitus says it reached Orkney. Soon afterwards, probably in AD 84 or 85, the emperor Domitian recalled Agricola. Tacitus claims that Domitian was jealous of his success, but long governorships commonly ended this way.

Rome did not hold the far north. Troops were moved to the Danube frontier, and the legionary fortress at Inchtuthil on the River Tay was abandoned unfinished around AD 86–87. In his Histories, Tacitus wrote bitterly that Britain had been completely conquered and at once let go. The frontier later settled further south, eventually along Hadrian’s Wall.

Timeline

• c. AD 77 or 78: Agricola becomes governor of Britain.
• c. AD 79–81: campaigns in northern England and southern Scotland.
• AD 83 or 84, late summer: Battle of Mons Graupius; afterwards the Roman fleet sails around northern Britain.
• AD 84 or 85: Agricola is recalled to Rome.
• c. AD 86–87: the fortress at Inchtuthil is abandoned.
• AD 98: Tacitus publishes the Agricola.
• AD 122: work begins on Hadrian’s Wall.

Why it matters

Mons Graupius marks the furthest point of Roman military success in Britain. Its account in Tacitus gave Scotland one of its earliest named leaders and one of history’s sharpest critiques of empire. The battle also shows how much of ancient history depends on a single source, one written by a loyal family member.