Mons Graupius Identified
The Agricola Chapter 38
Key aspects;
The start of chapter 38 is literary and its theme of post battle misery merely serves to paint a picture.
The latter part of the chapter is where useful information again is made available to us.
Scouts were sent out in “all directions” the next day to ensure the Caledonians were not regrouping.
Tacitus now tells us that the battle took place in late summer (August or September?) and too late in the season for land operations to be “extended over a wider area”.
This clearly signifies Mons Graupius was not in the far north of Scotland.
Agricola marches the army to the land of the Boresti where he links up with the fleet, gives the admiral a detachment of soldiers - clearly to continue harrying operations - and dispatches him with instructions to circumnavigate the north of Scotland, finally proving that Britain was indeed an island.
If Agricola was already in the far north of Scotland there would have been no need for him to do this. The imposition of Roman Imperium in the far north of Scotland therefore was carried out by the navy in 83 AD, not by Agricola with the army.
The Boresti, the fleets harbour at Trucculensis Portus and where Agricola met up with the fleet are all matters we shall discuss in later sections more thoroughly.
Summary
Tacitus work “The Agricola”, as we can see from the above analysis, contains an incredible amount of information. With some careful sifting and thoughtful interpretation sufficient material exists to enable us to understand fairly well the likely course of events in 83 AD as well as assisting our understanding of where events may have, or at the very least where they did not take place.
To assist better our knowledge of where Roman forces in the Flavian period campaigned we turn now to the archaeological record.
NEXT PAGE: Factor 2. The Archaeological Source; Marching Camps
©2009 Roman Scotland. All Rights Reserved
First Published February 2009
