Q is for Quandary… and life is
full of them!
Theme: Ancient Roman Scotland during the Flavian era
The Q letter in an A2Z blogging
challenge is always a tricky one. I could have used Quinquatria as my Q but since it fitted better with the post
on the goddess Minerva it’s already a done deal!
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| my Agricola www.123rf.com |
As I ponder the dilemma of making
a decision on Q, I’ll stick to being in a quandary,
just like my character General Gnaeus Iulius Agricola in Agricola’s Bane, #4 of my Celtic
Fervour Series Clan Saga.
I’ve thought long and hard about
why the Ancient Roman Legions, commanded by General Agricola, came to
north-east Scotland and then left fairly soon after. I’ve read up as much as I
can both of the account left to us by Cornelius Tacitus, Agricola’s son-in-law,
and the archaeological record in Aberdeenshire that’s still being uncovered as
I write. I’ve read, and re-read, my non-fiction reference books on Roman
Scotland which now occupy a generous amount of my historical shelving.
‘The jury is still out’ as they
say since actually nobody really knows why the retreat from northern Caledonia happened the way it did.
It’s wonderful to have the
account that Cornelius Tacitus wrote in his ‘De Vita
et Moribus Iulii Agricolae’ because if we did not have that then we’d know
almost absolutely nothing of Britannia from c. AD 78-85. We may not be able to
accept it all with supreme confidence of its total veracity, but it gives us
useful pointers to match with any archaeological record that’s uncovered.
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| Gnaeus Iulius Agricola Wikimedia Commons |
Agricola had choices to make and
some of them had to have been difficult ones. We know that he commanded the
Britannic forces as legatus Augusti pro praetore– chosen by the Emperor Vespasian
as Governor of Britannia and General of the Britannic Legions from c. AD 77-84.
Unlike some Ancient Romans who held a consulship or pro-consulship, Agricola
actually had a good deal of military experience in the island of Britannia
Agricola had served in a military
capacity under a string of emperors beginning with Nero>(Galba>Otho>Vitellius)>Vespasian>Titus>
and Domitian – the bulk of Agricola’s career spent in Britannia. At first his
role was of tribune, then legionary commander and eventually as governor commander
of the Britannic armies. Having knowledge on the ground had to have been more
useful than second-hand knowledge, though it’s true that bias has to be
accounted for, since it’s human nature to ‘see what you want to see’.
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| Wikimedia Commons |
A commander and consul had
supreme authority in their area of command, but still had the constraints of
being subject to the supreme authority of the emperor. I think there must have
been many situations where Agricola could see what the needs were in Britannia,
perhaps regarding troop deployment, and under the authority of Vespasian and Titus
things appear to have gone more smoothly. From the beginning of his
governorship c. A.D.77, Agricola must have had sufficient troops in Britannia
to enable him to quell the tribes of the geographical area now named Wales before he
then moved on northwards into Brigantia to ensure that huge territorial mass
was stabilised.
Being able to then cross into what is now southern Scotland
c. 78/79 indicates that Agricola’s ambitions of subduing the whole island were
going reasonably well, still with the blessing of Emperor Vespasian.
After Vespasian’s death in A.D.
79 Agricola was still progressing with his Caledonia
campaigns. Perhaps during the short reign of Titus, who had personal military command
experience in Germania , Agricola was unimpeded
by demands from his emperor.
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| Emperor Domitian Wikimedia Commons |
There’s some evidence that when Domitian
became emperor in A.D. 81, after the sudden death of his brother Titus, his
style of management was different from Vespasian and Titus. I read that
Domitian was inclined to micro-manage affairs from Rome, so it may well have been
difficult for Agricola from immediately after Domitian took up the emperor’s crown. Frustration
must have sat on Agricola’s shoulder.
Domitian may have had good
intentions, or many faults, but no matter how astute or well-informed an
emperor he might have been, he too had quandaries to ponder over. Domitian
ruled over the whole vast Roman Empire and if an unstable situation was closer
to Rome then,
geographically speaking, it was probably a sensible decision to quell that
unrest before more expansion on the western periphery of the empire.
Tacitus wrote that Emperor
Domitian had problems quelling the Chatii tribes in Lower
Germania , and that the legions available to Domitian to stabilise
the situation were undermanned. Domitian’s solution was to claw back some of
the legions and vexillations which had been used to surge forward into new
barbarian territory in Caledonia during Agricola’s northern campaigns. The
emperor had to be obeyed so Agricola had no choice and little leeway.
Agricola’s ultimate desire to
conquer and control the whole island
of Britannia
An invasion can only be
successful in the long term if there are sufficient soldiers to totally control
the day-to-day suppression and it was clear that Agricola’s legions were
undermanned and stretched far too thin in the northern part of the island of Britannia Rome
in early A.D. 85 that must have been a HUGE quandary for Agricola!
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| Wikimedia Commons |
By then Agricola had been in
office as governor for longer than most other governors but he still had not
subdued and controlled the whole of Caledonia .
I believe it must have been devastatingly exasperating for Agricola to return
to Rome , and
yet perhaps he was also very weary of his whole situation in Britannia. We don’t
know if Vespasian granted Agricola a second tenure as governor because Agricola
wanted it, or because it suited Vespasian to keep someone in office who appeared
to be doing a great job in the province on the western periphery of the empire.
While still on campaign in north-east
Caledonia, my character Agricola learns of his recall to Rome– this is towards the end of Agricola’s Bane, #4 of my historical saga. I’m currently writing #5 (Beathan the
Brigante) and in this book Agricola makes his way south before crossing over to
Gaul . Reflections of his life and current
feelings are part and parcel of his state of mind as he journeys.
Till tomorrow and another #A2ZChallenge post...have a great Friday!
Interesting and it proves to me I should stick to current mystery writing. All that research! Makes my head spin...but I will be checking out your books because I love reading historical fiction and time travel. [visiting from A-Z]
ReplyDeleteDB McNicol, author
A to Z Microfiction: Quill
Hello Donna. As you can probably see I love to research and I have written some contemporary mysteries as well. They were to be a break from historical research but in fact 2 out of the 3 have an ancestry base which was great fun to add into the plot. My second mystery - Topaz Eyes - I set mainly in European cities which I'd visited and didn't need to research very much but I did need to research about precious emerald jewellery. There's always something to learn!
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