The Battle of Mons Graupius

Julius Agricola arrived in Britannia in the year 77 and took up the office of governor. He had a decorated résumé, as he previously served as governor of Aquitania from 74-76 and held the office of suffect consul of Rome in 76 before being sent to govern Britannia. Agricola also had plenty of prior military experience in Britain; he had served with Governor Suetonius Paulinus during the devastating revolt of Boudicca in 60 or 61, and Emperor Vespasian appointed Agricola to command the Twentieth Legion in Britannia from 69 to 73. With such administrative experience, as well as his knowledge of Britain’s geography and people, he was an ideal pick for the job of running Roman operations in Britannia.

Agricola’s two predecessors as governor of Britannia had been considered successful military leaders. Governor Petulius Cerialis (r. 71-73) led significant campaigns against the powerful Brigantes, while Julius Frontinus (r. 73-77) conquered the Silures of southern Wales. When Julius Agricola took the reins of government in Britannia around year 77, he quickly set to work showing that he was equal, nay superior, to his lauded predecessors. In his very first year in office, Agricola spread Roman influence into northern Wales, and even conquered the troublesome island of Mona (now Anglesey). Over the next several years, Agricola turned his attention to the north. By the year 79, he was campaigning by the Forth-Clyde Isthmus and the River Tay. Agricola started pushing toward the Highlands around 82, invading what the Romans called Caledonia, by land and sea. The highlight of the campaign—and the most famous moment of Agricola’s career—was the Battle of Mons Graupius, fought between the Romans and the Caledonians (or more likely a coalition of Pict tribes) in the year 83.

According to the historian Tacitus (Agricola’s son-in-law), the Roman fleet in Britannia was sent out to pillage and cause confusion during the days leading up to the confrontation at Mons Graupius. While the ships were causing terror and worry, Agricola marched his army to Mons Graupius, where a large number of hostile warriors were gathering under a leader whom the Romans called Calgacus. The location of the battle unfortunately remains disputed, but from the name Mons Graupius (‘Graupian Mountain’), the terrain was obviously mountainous or hilly. There were also thick patches of woods within running distance of the site, which would eventually play a part in the battle.

When the Roman army arrived at Mons Graupius, Agricola’s scouts reported that more than 30,000 enemy warriors were present. The Roman legionnaires, although reportedly assisted by 8,000 auxiliary infantry and 3,000 cavalry, were said to have been significantly outnumbered by the Caledonians. Agricola’s arrival at Mons Graupius apparently did not immediately cause a battle to erupt—the Romans had time to build a walled camp at the foot of the hill or mountain. The tense peace, however, would not last, as, according to Tacitus, the Caledonian war-leader, Calgacus, soon sent a portion of his army down the slope to challenge the Roman camp.

Agricola chose to meet the incoming warriors in the field instead of behind his camp walls. He put his auxiliary troops and cavalry on the front line, and positioned his legions in reserve, backed against the walls of the camp. When the two armies came into range of each other, the battle opened up with back-and-forth volleys of missiles. Yet, what was most frightening to the Romans were the numerous chariots rolling out in front of the Caledonian forces. Agricola sent a large portion of his cavalry against the chariots, doing so presumably around the same time as the projectile exchange, for the deadly vehicles were apparently lured away from the front lines and were detained during the opening stages of the battle.

When the first wave of Caledonians had marched down to level ground, Agricola sent forward six Germanic auxiliary cohorts to meet the incoming warriors with swords and shields. These six cohorts were reportedly not chosen arbitrarily, but picked because their fighting style gave them a significant advantage against the Caledonians. The auxiliary forces reached their opponents without any harassment from the chariots, and began battling with the opposing infantry line. Agricola’s choice of the Germanic cohorts apparently paid off, as the warriors from Germania began pushing the first wave of Caledonians back toward the slope of Mons Graupius. When the frontline of the battle began to slowly creep up to higher ground, giving an increasing advantage to the Caledonians, Agricola sent more infantry from his reserves to reinforce the auxiliary cohorts. Around this time, the chariots were also completely defeated by the Roman cavalry, so the horsemen could refocus their efforts on other sections of the battle. Agricola kept some of the horsemen in reserve, but others were sent to crash into the flanks of the Caledonian infantry.

Calgacus and the rest of the uncommitted warriors on Mons Graupius, noticing that Agricola had sent more infantry and cavalry into the fray, finally made the decision to advance with the rest of the Caledonian forces into battle. These fresh warriors charged down the slope and began to envelop the Roman forces who were fighting on the frontline. Agricola countered this move by sending in the rest of the Roman cavalry, which had been held in reserve. Now it was the Caledonian side that was enveloped.

The hammer-and-anvil strikes of the Roman cavalry reportedly won the day. Unable to withstand the flanking attacks of Agricola’s horsemen, Calgacus’ warriors began retreating to the nearby forests. The Caledonians were evidently still organized when they withdrew into the woods, for they set up an ambush against the pursuing Romans. Yet, Agricola thwarted the ambush by ringing his infantry carefully around the woods like hunters, and sent his cavalry charging into the least brushy regions of the forest. These maneuvers reportedly ended any hope for a Caledonian ambush, and Calgacus’ formerly focused troops now began truly fleeing from the battlefield. According to Tacitus, Agricola’s army pursued the Caledonians until nightfall, and by the end of the day, around 10,000 of Calgacus’ warriors were slain.

Written by C. Keith Hansley.

Picture Attribution: (Calgacus at Mons Graupius, in Pictorial History of Scotland A.D. 79-1646, 2 vols, vol. I, (London, 1859), [Public Domain] via Creative Commons).

Sources:

• Agricola and Germania by Tacitus and translated by Harold Mattingly and revised by J. B. Rives. New York: Penguin Classics, 2009.
• https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gnaeus-Julius-Agricola 
• https://www.ancient.eu/article/776/tacitus-account-of-the-battle-of-mons-graupius/ 
• https://www.britannica.com/place/Caledonia-ancient-region-Britain 
• https://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/britannia/monsgraupius/monsgraupius.html  
• http://www.battlefieldsofbritain.co.uk/battle_mons_graupius_ad83.html  

Did Ancient Greeks And Romans Explore Iceland?

Iceland did not become a permanent place of settlement until the 9th century. The first inhabitants that built a long-term community on Iceland predominantly came from Norway, and later descendants of the original settlers were convinced that their ancestors’ exodus from the old homeland was a form of protest against the growing authority of King Harald Finehair (ruled approximately 860-940). It is clear that the Norsemen were the first settlers to turn Iceland into a long-term home. Yet, the question of if they were the first people to discover the island is another story. In fact, it is possible that Iceland may have been located by a Greek explorer as early as the 4th century BCE and that Romans had this information at their disposal during the time of the Roman occupation of Britain.

The debate revolves around Pytheas, a 4th-century BCE citizen of the Greek settlement at Massilia (Marseilles) in ancient France, then known as Gaul. During the last decades of the 4th century, Pytheas set sail from Massilia and sneaked his way through the Carthaginian strait of Gibraltar to enter the Atlantic Ocean and began thoroughly exploring the lands far to the north of the Mediterranean Sea. During his travels, Pytheas kept detailed notes on the geography he encountered and the people that he met. When he returned from his expedition, he published a text that was reportedly titled, On the Ocean.  Unfortunately, his original version of the book has been lost. Nevertheless, numerous Greek and Roman historians attested to the existence of the Pytheas and his book. Through these later scholars, pieces of the lost text were preserved through quotation, critique and summary. By piecing together the commentary of historians such as Pliny the Elder, Strabo, Polybius, Diodorus Siculus, Timaeus and Eratosthenes, we know most of the regions where Pytheas was said to have traveled.

According to the fragments and summaries of Pytheas’ journey, he began by leaving the Mediterranean Sea through the Strait of Gibraltar. He then traveled up the Iberian Peninsula and continued along the French coast, eventually rounding Brittany. Pytheas then crossed the English Channel and traveled along the west coast of England, Wales and Scotland. On that stretch of the journey, he also reportedly explored the smaller islands of Britain, such as the Hebrides and Orkney.

It is around this time that Pytheas may have discovered Iceland. From somewhere on the north tip of Britain, the Greek explorer set sail and traveled toward Arctic waters for six days. His exact trajectory is not known, but after the six days, Pytheas sighted land near a “congealed” or “sluggish” sea, terms that possibly suggest icy water or the North Atlantic Current. Based on this evidence, scholars believe that Pytheas either reached Iceland or Norway at the end of his six-day trek from Britain. Whatever he found, Pytheas labeled it “Thule” and eventually departed the mysterious landmass for the British Isles. If he had not already seen Norway by this point, then he possibly saw Norwegian land on the next phase of his journey. Pytheas allegedly sailed into the Baltic through the North Sea and perhaps explored the coast of what is now Poland. At this point, however, Pytheas decided to start his return-trip home to Massilia and did not venture farther into the sea.

When the Romans began their conquest of Britannia under Emperor Claudius in the year 43, their maps were still influenced by Pytheas’ discoveries. Leading up to and during the time that Julius Agricola was governor of Britannia (r. 77-84), Roman influence had spread over England and Wales, as well as into significant portions of Scotland. In the year 83, Agricola sent a Roman fleet to explore the north of Britain. In their travels, the Roman sailors explored Orkney (which they called the Orcades) and found another island that they believed was Pytheas’ Thule. Yet, most scholars do not believe that the Roman expedition of 83 ever reached Iceland or Norway. Instead, it is thought that the Romans found Shetland and misidentified it as Thule.

Written by C. Keith Hansley.

Picture Attribution: (detail of a cup interior showing a frieze of five boats in contest. Attic black-figured cup, ca. 520 BC. From Cerveteri. [Public Domain] via Creative Commons).

Sources:

• Agricola and Germania by Tacitus and translated by Harold Mattingly and revised by J. B. Rives. New York: Penguin Classics, 2009.
• https://www.britannica.com/biography/Pytheas 
• https://www.ancient.eu/article/1078/on-the-ocean-the-famous-voyage-of-pytheas/ 
• https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/history/ancient-history-greece-biographies/pytheas 
• https://www.britannica.com/place/Iceland/Government-and-society#ref10088  

Julius Agricola's First Year As Governor In Britannia And The Submerged Invasion Of Mona

Roman Britannia was ruled by a succession of three great governors in the 70s and early 80s. The first was Petulius Cerialis (r. 71-73), who had some success in curtailing the power of the Brigantes, one of the most powerful peoples in Britain. Although he could not force the Brigantes to fully submit, Cerialis’ governorship was considered a great success. Next, came Julius Frontinus, who governed Britannia between the years 73 and 77. He was something of a polymath and wrote various texts on subjects such as engineering and warfare. He was known to have campaigned in England and Wales during his tenure as governor and his most notable feat was the conquest of the Silures of southern Wales. With such leaders setting the stage, the next governor of Roman Britannia would have a tough act to follow.

In the year 77, Julius Agricola arrived in Britannia to take up the office of governor. Agricola had a decorated résumé—he was the governor of Aquitania from 74-76 and had held the office of suffect consul of Rome in 76 before being sent to govern Britannia. Agricola also had plenty of military experience in Britain. He had served with Governor Suetonius Paulinus during the devastating revolt of Boudicca in 60 or 61. Later, Emperor Vespasian sent Agricola back to Britannia to take up the command of the Twentieth Legion, a post he held from 69 to 73. With such administrative experience, as well as his knowledge of Britain’s geography and people, he was an ideal pick for the job of running Roman operations in Britannia.

For his inaugural year as governor of Britannia, Agricola was eager to prove that he was just as able a warrior as his predecessors. Therefore, he immediately picked up where Governor Frontinus had left off and launched an invasion into Wales soon after taking up his governorship in the year 77. Whereas Frontinus had conquered land in the south of Wales, Agricola targeted un-subdued peoples in central and northern Wales, most notably the Ordovices. Spurned on by reports that the latter group in Wales had annihilated a Roman cavalry squadron, Agricola marched his forces into the territory of the Ordovices and, according to the historian Tacitus, “slaughtered almost the entire nation” (Agricola, section 18).

Despite the subjugation or destruction of the Ordovices in 77, Agricola was not yet done with his inaugural campaign. Instead of marching back to the more secure regions of Roman Britannia, he moved his forces to the northwest. When his army reached the shoreline, only the narrow Menai Strait separated Agricola from his goal—the troublesome island of Mona, now known as Angelsey. Yet, there was a problem. Agricola had begun his campaign as purely a land invasion of Wales and his decision to attack the island came as an impromptu afterthought. Consequently, he had no ships with him when he reached the shores of the Menai Strait. Although Agricola was determined to subdue the rebellious island of Mona, he had no way to transport his troops over the strait.

Unfortunately for the islanders, Agricola found a solution to his dilemma. As the legionnaires and auxiliaries serving in Roman Britannia were drawn from various regions of the empire, Agricola had at his command warriors with all sorts of diverse backgrounds and specializations. One such community that was represented in Agricola’s auxiliary forces was the Batavi, a Germanic people from the Netherlands region who were known to excel at swimming and aquatic warfare.

While the bulk of Roman forces loitered on the shoreline, distracting the nervous inhabitant of Mona, Agricola gathered the Batavi warriors, as well as any other strong swimmers in the army, and gave them a special task to accomplish. While the Roman camp drew the gaze of Mona’s spies and defenders, the elite swimmers of Agricola’s army stealthily plunged into the Menai Strait and swam across to the island. They successfully made landfall without being discovered and crept toward their oblivious opponents. As the warriors of Mona had not taken their eyes off of Agricola’s camp, the islanders were irrecoverably shocked when a force of drenched Roman auxiliaries launched a surprise attack on the unsuspecting defenders. The sudden auxiliary charge caused such chaos that the islanders were said to have immediately surrendered to Agricola.

With the conquest of the Ordovices and the surrender of Mona, Agricola completed his first campaign as governor of Britannia. It was the start of a long and successful tenure that would last until 84, when he was recalled to Rome by Emperor Domitian. During his governorship, Agricola pushed Roman Britannia to the height of its power and he is often remembered as the greatest governor of the province.

Written by C. Keith Hansley.

Picture Attribution: (A statue of Julius Agricola cropped in front of a Roman Legion from Trajan's Column), c. 16th century, [Public Domain] via Creative Commons).

Sources:

• Agricola and Germania by Tacitus and translated by Harold Mattingly and revised by J. B. Rives. New York: Penguin Classics, 2009.
• http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/66*.html 
• https://www.britannica.com/topic/Batavi 
• https://www.britannica.com/topic/Brigantes 
• https://www.britannica.com/topic/Silures 
• https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/ordovices