Mons Graupius Identified
The Agricola Chapter 33 - 34
Key aspects;
Chapters 33 and 34 have some interesting text before Agricola in turn addresses his men.
As an addendum to Calgacus speech in the preceding chapters Tacitus has the bravest of the excited native army rush to form their battleline, while meantime the Romans are still in their camp. This is of some interest as it clearly confirms the Caledonians were on the field first and had been in a position to choose the precise field of battle.
(See later section in this article for a discussion of the ground on each of the contending proposed battlefields).
What is also of interest here is that the bravest – probably the tribal elite and their retainers formed the front battleline while it is likely that it was the tribal levies and Caledonii septs that crowded in distinct clumps up the slope of the hill behind in what Tacitus clumsily tries to describe using the phrase; “in close packed tiers”.
The tribal front rank would have been composed of men used to fighting in the Celtic heroic style as individuals. They would therefore be in relative open order and poorly positioned to deal with the tightly packed close order Roman fighting tactic.
For the tribes the phrase “shield wall” is one that would not be heard for another 800 years and we should not imagine them so arrayed.
The speech Tacitus has Agricola giving is fairly standard stuff from antiquity. What we can comment on is the worry expressed about retreat in the event of defeat. Few English infantry for example in such circumstances managed to make their way back over the border after the battles of Stirling Bridge and Bannockburn in the 13th / 14th C AD and by association we do not have to take this concern as prime evidence of a Roman penetration far into the north beyond the Forth – Clyde line.
Also a hint at what exactly was contained within Domitian’s otherwise unrecorded chilling rebuke to Agricola comes through when Tacitus has Agricola exhorting the troops to prove that Rome’s soldiers were;
“…….never to blame if wars have been allowed to drag on or the seeds of fresh rebellion sown”.
… an indication at the very least of Imperial displeasure over and the lack of mandate for the actions of the previous year.
NEXT PAGE: The Agricola Chapter 35
©2009 Roman Scotland. All Rights Reserved
First Published February 2009
