Mons Graupius

 M is for Mons Graupius

What do we know about the battle between the Roman Empire and the Celtic Caledons that was named Mons Graupius?

Sadly -not nearly enough!

The aftermath of the battle of Mons Graupius was that the Roman Empire withdrew from the north east of Scotland, and never returned in huge numbers till many decades later.

(Britons and British in the following translations refer to Celtic tribes who had long been conquered by the forces of Rome: men who had been conscripted into the Roman auxiliary forces.)

"He [Agricola] sent his fleet ahead to plunder at various points and thus spread uncertainty and terror, and, with an army marching light, which he had reinforced with the bravest of the Britons and those whose loyalty had been proved during a long peace, reached the Graupian Mountain, which he found occupied by the enemy. "

Tacitus, Agricola (XXIX)

According to Tacitus there were more than 30,000 Caledons. Agricola had amassed 8,000 auxiliary infantry and 4 to 5000 auxiliary cavalry- these troops boosted by the addition of Celts (most likely from the far south of Britannia) It’s unknown how many legions there were, but the foreign auxiliaries were in front, with the Roman legions held behind in reserve.

Agricola wanted as few Roman casualties as possible.

Wikipedia - near Bennachie

“The Caledons held the high ground, with their chariots on the plain in front. The Roman auxiliaries were arrayed opposite, Agricola, himself, leading them on foot. After an exchange of missiles, the auxiliaries closed in hand-to-hand combat, their short swords more effective than the longer swords and small shields of the Caledons. At the same time, the cavalry dispersed the Caledon chariots and engaged with the men on foot. As the rest of the Caledon forces moved down the slope, Agricola threw in the reserve cavalry, which broke through the line and attacked the Caledons from the rear. The native force was completely routed and only the coming of night saved the remainder. Ten thousand Caledons died; on the Roman side, says Tacitus, only 360 fell. By dawn, says Tacitus, there was only the silence of desolation. As Calgacus had bitterly remarked of the Romans before the battle, "They make a desert and call it 'peace'" (XXX).

Tacitus also states that the 20,000 Caledons who did not die scattered into the mountains.

Who was in charge of the Caledons? Tacitus names the Celtic leader as Calgacus (one translation being Swordsman) Tacitus spends time in his writing to give a very dramatic account of Calgacus rousing his troops before the battle. Tacitus' account has spawned many representations of a warrior rallying together Celtic warriors who never normally came together in large battles, small border and tribal territorial skirmishes beiing their usual. To have 30,000 Celtic warriors ammassed together was something that must have been quite fantastic - if true. Since Tacitus' writing is somewhat biased in favour of his father-in -law, Agricola, historians are tending to treat his work 'with a pinch of salt'.


The image following is one that I love (1859 by W. Greatbach) though it seems more romantic than accurate. It depicts Calgacus rallying the Celtic warriors with the Roman standards in the background at left... and below the mountain? That is a bit confusing as the account states the Roman troops faced the mountain and the Caledons lined the slopes of Mons Graupius. The troops on the slope at right I think are meant to be Caledons.The plaids and footwear follow a fairly typical 'Victorian' imagery- the addition of a harpist a nice touch but again I wonder how practical that would have been at the site of a battle.

Wikimedia Commons

(Steel engraving of a sketch depicting the speech of Calgacus before the Caledonians at the Battle of Mons Graupius.)

However, it appears that during Gnaeus Julius Agricola’s tenure as the Governor of Britannia something momentous enough happened to earn him a very prestigious commendation when he returned to Rome in AD 84. Not being of the Imperial family he could not have an official ‘triumph’ conferred on him but he was awarded honours and a statue was created. That ‘something/event’ is thought by many experts to have been significant success in battle at Mons Graupius.

As a novelist, I prefer to believe Agricola gained his honours after significant battle with the Caledon tribes of north-east Scotland, and I also prefer to believe the site of the battle of Mons Graupius is Bennachie, which lies to the north-west of Aberdeen –close to the area I have personally lived in for 25 years. 

Durno, the largest marching camp in northern Scotland, sits opposite the highest point, Mither Tap, of Bennachie which is actually a series of hilltops. Durno is thought to be of both Agricolan and Severan occupation, the former being the smaller site.

The area near Durno seems a likely enough setting, the landscape near the camp matching Tacitus' description of the site of battle. The valley floor is wide enough to have accommodated a mile worth of extended lines of troops and the slopes of Bennachie are steep enough to provide a defensive position and give the impression of tiered troops on the Caledon side. To the west the mountains are not so far away and could have been a haven for the defeated and fleeing Caledons. The river on the valley floor is problematic but fordable in many places.

There has been much speculation over the possible site of the battle with a number of reasonable possibilities but, for me, the clincher is in the recent archaeological evidence found in north-east Scotland. The Roman marching camps at Kintore and Durno had long been thought to be Agricolan, hence Bennachie (only 9 miles away from Kintore) as the battle site being a good contender. In 2002-2004, the excavations at Kintore found evidence that surpassed what had been known before. Thought to have been used by more than one group of Romans, during different eras, the size of the camp at Kintore is now known to have housed many more soldiers during Agricolan times than had been previously estimated. An early estimate of less than a legion at around 4,000 men was revised to being more like 10,000 men.

I prefer to believe that 10,000 soldiers camping first at Kintore, and then marching on that 9 miles to Durno, near Bennachie, was a prelude to a large battle – called Mons Graupius.

Mons Graupius features in my current writing (temporarily suspended due to extensive research for this A to Z Challenge) – my work in progress being a sequel to The Beltane Choice. The Roman Camps at Durno and Kintore also feature in my time-travel novel for early teens, Dabbling With Time, that's still to be published.

Slainthe!

Mons Graupius by Duncan B Campbell

Wednesday write up! 

I've just finished yet another of my non-fiction books on Roman Scotland. This one - MONS GRAUPIUS AD 83 by Duncan B Campbell - is from the Osprey Published Series on Campaigns/ Battles and I bought it mainly because I like the illustrations done by Sean O Brogain. 

This is my review on amazon and Goodreads: 

This is one of many books I’ve recently been reading on Roman Scotland. Although I learned very little new in it, it was easy to cover quickly. The graphic material is well presented and is fairly varied- using archaeology where appropriate along with evidence from manuscript copies of the writing of Tacitus. Sean O Brogain’s illustrations are a wonderful addition. 

Duncan Campbell, I believe, would be fairly convincing to a new reader of the subject but less so for those who already have some background of the northern campaigns of General Agricola. Where there is some conjecture among experts over the site of Mons Graupius (if indeed a battle did take place), Duncan Campbell is quite categorical about the site being Bennachie. He is also fairly categorical over the dates of the Agricolan campaigns acknowledging that he is following the suppositions laid down by K. St. Joseph which many now believe may not match up with recent archaeological evidence. Some amateurs, like I am, when new to the study, can easily be confused over such details from book to book. I do, however, believe that if a battle, Mons Graupius, did occur then Bennachie is a very strong contender. Until someone can give me more evidence for why the Durno marching camp has such large proportions, then it seems to me that Durno and Bennachie provide a suitable gathering place not only for the northern Celtic/ Briton tribes but also for the Roman armies, including those from fleet support. 

Until more archaeological confirmation is available, the subject of Mons Graupius will remain very conjectural. 

The most important comments for me in the book are those that mention that that all is supposition until proper investigations are done at the possible sites for Mons Graupius. Though the Durno marching camp, the largest so far found in Scotland, was identified in the 1970s I don't believe any field surveys have ever been done (none I can find so far in my researching). I would love to hear the results if that camp area, and perhaps the foothills of Bennachie, are properly surveyed using LIDAR. Could evidence be uncovered then of massed graves of the fallen -Romans to the Durno side and Caledons on the foothills - even though no metal of note is likely to be found as it would have been removed by the survivors?

N.B. Although my 4th impression is dated 2015 the Archaeolink History Park is still highlighted in the book as worth a visit, being near Bennachie. Sadly, it closed many years ago and this info is now misleading.

So what's coming next in my non-fiction reading? Rome's First Frontier The Flavian Occupation of Northern Scotland by D.J. Wooliscroft and B. Hoffmann. What I'm sure of before I even begin the book is that I won't be reading this new one so quickly as the one reviewed above. 

  

#A2ZChallenge C is for Caledonians

C is for Caledonians

Theme: Ancient Roman Scotland during the Flavian era

Who were the Caledonians? And where does the name come from?

The first question isn’t easy to answer! The Ancient Romans termed the island of Britain as Britannia, a large expanse of land which in the main was populated by many different Late Iron-Age tribes, collectively named as Britons. However, the Ancient Romans also used the name Caledonians for the tribes who lived to the north of those Britons, in the barbarian territory of northern Britannia. For the Ancient Romans, any land not settled on and acquired into the Ancient Roman Empire was essentially barbarian territory. Exactly where their Ancient Roman boundary was for those large groups of Britons versus Caledonians isn’t easy to determine, and may never have been of a really fixed nature till the building of Hadrian’s Wall c. A.D.122, and then the Antonine Wall c. A.D. 142. (Note: The term Celtic for the tribes of Britain needs a whole new blog post) 

Some archaeological finds indicate that after a short time of use, by c. 160s, the Antonine Wall forts between the rivers Forth and Clyde were largely abandoned (though there may have been some forts with a continued presence for varying amounts of time). The bulk of the troops who had been stationed along the Antonine Wall appear to have moved south again with a new empire 'boundary' set once more in the borders (i.e. current boundary line for Scotland and England), though not necessarily as far south as Hadrian’s Wall, since forts like Trimontium (Newstead at Melrose) continued to be garrisoned till the 180s, or perhaps even later.

Wikimedia Commons

Towards the end of the second century, the Romans began to use a different name for a confederation of tribes of the central belt of Scotland and perhaps those who lived as far north-east as Tayside and Angus. They appear in documentation as the ‘Maeatae'. The tribes living in the mountains to the west and north-west of the Maeatae were still referred to as the Calidones. The Maeatae seem to have made treaties with Rome but by the time Septimius Severus became emperor in c. A.D. 193 that situation had changed, or was changing.

Around A.D. 208, Emperor Severus was written to have left Eboracum (York) with approximately 50,000 soldiers  - because the Maeatae had reneged on their treaty obligations a time too many for his liking. Severus and his elder son Caracalla headed north with their legionary forces to confront the Maeatae and Caledonians, to teach them a lesson they would never forget. Some experts (historians and specialist archaeologists e.g. 'soil samplers') believe Severus was intent on genocide, but it’s recorded that the Ancient Roman forces had heavy losses on the way north and perhaps only had around 30,000 by the time they reached the north-east of Scotland. No large battles - like that of Mons Graupius during the Agricolan Campaigns - were recorded, but a few contemporary Roman writers mention that the Caledonians were good at guerilla warfare.

There’s sufficient evidence of Severan temporary camps in the north-east of Scotland to give credence to Severus’ Caledonian campaigning having got that far north. An interesting observance I read in a technical document about land use (farming etc) in north-east Scotland mentioned that there seemed to have been a drop-off in farmed land use in north-east Scotland post A.D 210, which continued for a couple of decades - the theory based on a lack of seed deposits etc in middens and from ground excavations. A couple of reasons for lack of farming were postulated which are worthy of some thought:

copyright. Nancy Jardine

1) It took a few decades to 'naturally' replenish the local working-age population annihilated by Severus' troops.
2) The Severan troops had done such a successful job of  destroying and burning the land that it took decades for the soil to recover and be productive once more- taking into account that before the Roman invasions, the local farming output was of simple strip field crops of oats and barley and was of a subsistence-only nature.

The local tribes of ‘Scotland’ probably used natural boundaries to denote their lands from their neighbours. We have no knowledge of what those local tribes called themselves in barbarian 

Caledonian territory. No knowledge if they actually  thought of themselves as having any identity of being of a 'people' as we do now, since the indigenous population left nothing in writing to refer to.

The main Britannic tribal names currently referred to by historians, and interested amateurs like me, tend to have come from the map constructed from the information gathered by the mapmaker Claudius Ptolemaeus (see post for 2nd April of this #A2ZChallenge) and from references by writers like Cornelius Tacitus.

Ptolemy made his ‘map’ references after the Agricolan invasions of c. 84 but it’s probable that Ptolemy acquired some of his information from Agricola’s campaign diaries. The names Ptolemy used were perhaps close approximations to what the local dialect sounded like, or were translations of something indicative of a tribal trait e.g. the Selgovae of southern Scotland being the ‘hunters’,  or the Vacomagi of the Moray coast being ‘men of the low plains’.

And this brings me back to my theme for this April Blog series - Ancient Roman Scotland during the Flavian era.

Mons Graupius - Wallpaperest (Sean O'Brogain)

General Agricola may not have been the first Governor of Britannia to have marched Roman legions into what is now southern Scotland but the writer, Tacitus, states that Agricola was the first Governor and  Commander of the legions to march northwards into Caledonian territory to confront the amassed Caledonian allies at what Tacitus refers to as the Battle of Mons Graupius.
You can read more HERE about Mons Graupius in earlier articles posted on this blog.

Caledons feature in my Celtic Fervour Series. Brennus/ Bran, the main male character of Books 2 & 3, journeys north with his family seeking the one charismatic Caledon leader who will persuade the tribes of the north to amass together to confront the legions of Agricola in pitched battle. My Caledon leader is Calgach (Tacitus names the man Calgacus) and my battle ground is Beinn na Ciche. The hill range Bennachie in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, is one of the big contenders for the site of the Battle of Mons Graupius, though none has ever been positively identified.

Did you know any of the above information about Caledonia, and the Caledonians? If yes, please tell me in the comments box what might be new to you in this post, or of particular interest. 

Till tomorrow and another #A2ZChallenge blog post....

Slainthe! 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maeatae

https://www.yourstirling.com/celtic-and-roman-stirling/

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Roman.Britain.Severan.Campaigns.jpg

Some of my research books on Roman Scotland

Another of last week's reads!

Some more Monday Moments with another book I read last week. 

This time it's a non-fiction book- The Roman Conquest of Scotland The Battle of Mons Graupius AD 84 by James E. Fraser.  

The Roman Conquest of Scotland

The Battle of Mons Graupius AD 84 

by James E Fraser 

I’ve read a good number of books now about Roman Britain though my particular focus is on Roman Scotland so I eagerly reach for anything new to me. The author of this book is one of the few I’ve encountered, so far, who adds something to the personality of General Gnaeus Agricola. James E Fraser’s interpretation of the ‘Agricola’ by Tacitus is broken down into small phrases which he backs up with any other record available to him. There were aspects to this book that I’d not considered before, or read in other texts, and these are worthy of another re-read.

The author presents his conclusions in a way that reaches out to someone like me who is an interested researcher and not an official historian or archaeologist. I don’t, however, agree with his reasoning in places. Though he mentions the advance marching camps of Agricola which lie to the north of Raedykes I don’t feel he has given them sufficient consideration, yet I understand that a study of the campaigns of Agricola are conjectural at best. 

The Gask ridge definitely covers a large area that’s peppered with many identified Roman installations, and other potential ones, but for the Battle of Mons Graupius to have been sited there makes me wonder why Agricola would have continued northwards with an extremely large compliment of soldiers. The approximate head count of soldiers at Kintore temporary marching camp is estimated at about 10 thousand ( Murray and Cook excavations 2000-2004) and the potential at the next three marching camps to the north east are upwards of 20,000. If Agricola had subdued the natives on the Gask Ridge would he have needed to march so many of his men northwards afterwards? Or if his march occurred before the battle why wait till so far south to confront the natives? 

I continue to be fascinated by the campaigns of Agricola, the writings of Tacitus and the Battle of Mons Graupius! 

Slainthe! 

#A2ZChallenge G is for the #Gask Ridge and the Glen Blockers

G is for the Gask Ridge and Glen Blockers

Theme: Ancient Roman Scotland during the Flavian era
(Grab a coffee- today's post is along one!) 

What's the Gask Ridge? And what are Glen Blockers? Fabulous questions about fascinating installations. 

They each refer to a line of fortifications originally built during the Flavian military occupation of the Stirlingshire, Fife, Perthshire, Tayside and Angus areas of Scotland. When the Ancient Roman legions invaded the territorial lands north of the rivers they named the Clota (Clyde) and the Bodotria (Forth), they found flatter ground heading north-eastwards, though most of the rest to the west and north was mountainous.

Copyright -  Nancy Jardine

Campaigning in mountainous territory wasn’t something the Ancient Roman army would have shied away from since the legions had plenty of experience in continental Europe. 

General Gnaeus Iulius Agricola, Commander of the Britannic armies and Governor of Britannia (consul), had personal experience of campaigning in the hill regions of northern Britannia (Yorkshire, Cumbria, Northumberland) before he marched further north into Caledonia, so he would not necessarily have been too concerned about mountain campaigning. 

My home-made map indicates some of the wooden forts and fortlets that were situated on the two lines of defences, ones which I have focused on during my studies, or for using during my presentations on Roman Scotland - but there were many others not on that map. The line closest to the mountains at the west, beginning with Drumquhassle and ending at Inchtuthil, is often named as the 'Glen Blocker forts', or sometimes as the 'Highland Line'. 
(I'll be writing more about the Glen Blockers and especially Inchtuthil as my 'I' letter during this #A2ZChallenge)

Click HERE for much more detailed maps. (The Roman Gask Project)

The line of forts which is to the west of the lower hills in Fife and into Tayside, including Ardoch and Bertha, are part of the line of installations known as the Gask Ridge or Gask Frontier, though the Gask Ridge more likely begins at Camelon (near Falkirk). For the last two decades, a lot of time and effort has been put into identifying and excavating a much larger number of fortlets and smaller watchtowers which follow the Gask Ridge line. Each tiny dot on the map below represents the small watchtowers that have so far been identified, and there's still hope of more to come north of Midgate fortlet.

Copyright - Nancy Jardine

As well as the substantial forts of Ardoch, Strageath and Bertha - all known for many decades to be Roman forts - Doune Fort was discovered by aerial reconnaissance in 1983. There were earlier possibilities of Roman activity in the area but they hadn't been substantiated till the post-1983 excavations. Interestingly, the Roman fort at Doune sits on what is locally named 'Castle Hill', yet the well-known medieval Doune Castle is located on lower ground to the south-east.(Roman name for a fort is castellum). The site at Doune Fort currently has school buildings and housing on it, so excavation was restricted. A coin of Vespasian was found nearby which helps to date the area as initially of Flavian occupation, though full excavation reports of Doune Fort have never been available. 

In between the major forts on the Gask Ridge are a couple of smaller forts and a series of watchtowers sited at fairly regular distances apart  in effective vantage points, which must have provided good knowledge of movements around the area, of natives and of Roman troops. Across the whole line of Gask Ridge fortifications, initially built by Flavian troops, are later uses during the Antonine and Severan eras.

copyright - Nancy Jardine

Intriguingly, little effort seems to have been made by the various Roman occupations to monitor activity in and out of the Fife area: no permanent Roman installations have ever been found to the east of the Gask Ridge. There were a few temporary camps but they do not seem to have been converted into permanent wooden forts or watchtowers. This lack of fortifications leads some experts to a viewpoint that the Venicones tribes who lived there had allied themselves to Rome and needed no monitoring - but this theory cannot yet be proved. (tribal names as per Ptolemy map data of c. A.D. 120-150)

The generally poorer weather conditions in northern barbarian territory of Britannia wouldn’t necessarily have fazed the Romans. However, mountainous regions tended to need plenty of manpower since a forward invasion into them wasn’t as logistically simple as striding forward in relatively flat countryside. The mountain range we now call the Grampians has many access points – many glen openings. This would have meant multiple opportunities for a horde of avenging locals to spill out from to attack invasion forces, as much as opportunities for penetration into the mountains by Ancient Roman forces on the offence. 

General Gnaeus Iulius Agricola’s campaign strategies are not really known but marching his full legionary and auxiliary forces, of possibly upwards of twenty thousand soldiers, into the Grampian Mountains in search of the Caledonian enemy doesn’t seem to have been what he did. Though, to date, there is no evidence to prove, or disprove, that possibility. But there is evidence of him building temporary marching camps on the flatter plains areas, northwards of Inchtuthil Legionary Fortress, all the way to the Moray Firth, some of those temporary camps having been transitioned into wooden forts and fortlets in the territory south of the current city of Aberdeen.

Copyright - Nancy Jardine

A big question which causes some controversy amongst historians of the era is  - Exactly when were the more permanent wooden defences built, those that lie to the south of Aberdeen? Were they constructed systematically during the protracted Caledonia campaigns as the legions tramped northwards, to ensure that no native attack from the mountains could surprise the Roman army, and the forts and watchtowers were for defensive reasons? 

The Ancient Roman writer Cornelius Tacitus wrote that Agricola marched his men northwards into Caledonia where the Roman troops confronted the Caledonians and their amassed allies in a pitched battle Tacitus named as Mons Graupius (Graupian Mountain). In Tacitus’ work named ‘De vita et moribus Iuilii Agricolae', usually named 'The Agricola’, he gives detailed battle plans for Mons Graupius but no conclusive geographical pointers for the location. Many sites have been postulated for this battle, but no evidence has yet been found on the ground.

Some historians have put forward the theories that Agricola built the Highland Line of defences (also named Glen Blocker forts), and the line of defences named the Gask Ridge, after Mons Graupius. That theory supports the idea that as Agricola’s armies retreated southwards, post battle, the building of the fort and fortlets was to defend and maintain control over territory already won. That theory might work, for me, if the battle site was somewhere south of the current city of Aberdeen and, if after the battle, Agricola retreated his forces southwards without venturing into more northerly uncharted territory.

 Nancy Jardine

However, the ground evidence indicates that’s not what Agricola did, since there’s a line of temporary marching camps almost all the way to the Moray Firth near Inverness - yet none of those appear to have been converted into wooden forts or fortlets (apart from a couple of possibilities around the Moray Firth area, which may have been constructed by Agricolan auxiliary seaborne invasion forces).   

If battle had been won by the Romans south of the current city of Aberdeen, would Agricola have been confident enough to march his troops northwards all the way to the Moray Firth in the belief that he would have gone unchallenged by the surviving natives (some 20,000 according to Tacitus) who could have spilled out towards Agricola’s temporary camps from more northerly glen openings ,of which there are quite a few?

From the site of the Durno camp looking over towards Bennachie   - Nancy Jardine 

Whatever the truth of the timing of the building of the fortifications, it seems, to me, that Agricola had plenty of forewarning of what the mountainous terrain was like to the west; from during his own early summer campaigning seasons c. A.D. 78-80. He may also, perhaps, have even had exploratory knowledge from when Bolanus, Cerialis and Frontinus were Governors of Britannia before his own consulship - if some of their troops (exploratores) had advanced into Caledonia.

Interested amateurs like me, and historians, can sadly only guess and make educated deductions. I, personally, favour the theory that the battlegrounds of Mons Graupius are by the hill range of Bennachie in the Garioch area of Aberdeenshire, a location that has gained much favour since c. 1976 when a huge marching camp was discovered by aerial photography at Durno, on the opposite side of the valley from Bennachie. The Durno camp is the biggest in northern Scotland at c. 58 hectares. The big question not certain yet about Durno is if it is mainly a Severan camp, or did Emperor Severus use it during his campaigns because the site had already been constructed by Agricolan forces? During Severus' Caledonia campaigns of c. A.D. 208-210, he re-used, and adapted, plenty of installations built in Agricoland and Antonine eras.

Let's head back south again to the Gask Ridge and Glen Blocker forts and to the question of manning all of the installations during Agricola's northern campaigning. I read (somewhere) that a very rough estimate for space needed for auxiliaries went something like 1 hectare (ha) per cohort of  c.500 men, though mounted units required more space per horse and rider than infantry.

• Watchtowers: they may only have been garrisoned on a daily daily basis,or is shifts,  by a single contubernium group of 8 soldiers. 
• Fortlets- manned by possibly up to a half-cohort, some 200 men
• Small Forts - somewhere between 1 and 2 cohorts, up to 1000 men as in the fort at Cargill
• Larger Forts - around 2000 men, as at Bertha
• Fortress- Inchtuthil was intended as a legionary fortress of some 5000 men

When he assumed the consulship of Britannia in c. A.D.77, Agricola had 4 legions based in Britannia at his behest. Tacitus wrote that during the battle of Mons Graupius soldiers of the Legio II Adiutrix, Legio IX  Hispana and Legio XX Valeria Victrix were present. This means the Legio II Augusta were manning the rest of Britannia during that time (though more likely what we now term England rather than southern Scotland, since the southern Scottish forts have evidence from units that probably weren't from the Legio II Augusta). Tacitus also states that Agricola was able to raise new vexillations from varying places across the empire, including southern Britannia, to aid his campaign though it's unknown exactly how many were in the additional 'specially formed' units.

I've seen varying estimates of Agricolan forces based on A) Tacitus' information of the battle of Mons Graupius and B)on knowledge of where all of the other 26 (ish) legions were stationed around the Roman Empire at this time. The estimates for Agricola's Caledonian campaigns run something like 18 - 25 thousand soldiers, comprised of legionary forces and auxiliary units - the auxiliaries much more numerous.

If that is how it was for Agricola, then looking at the need for manning installations south of Aberdeen, it seems possible that Agricola could have advanced north with the bulk of his legions, though the installations left to the south of him may well have been seriously undermanned. Tacitus specifically wrote that the Legio IX Hispana was vulnerable since Domitian had acquired men for Continental campaigns c. A.D. 82 and 83. The soldiers whose duty was to monitor the Glen Blocker installations and those on the Gask Ridge must have born a heavy responsibility, to warn the main invasion force of any imminent attack from a southerly or westerly location. 

That said, the Ancient Roman legions were such a well-drilled force that news was carried very efficiently, and very effectively via signalling systems, from watchtower to nearby fort, and thence onward to the more major installations. From there dispatch riders could easily take news north and south.

There are plenty of questions about when the Gask Ridge and the Glen Blocker/ Highland Line forts were actually built, but no definitive answers. My deduction is that although Agricola's legions lacked the numbers he ideally wanted, I think the Gask Ridge forts and associated watchtowers were built either when the main legionary forces were encamped in that area, or just after the main legions tramped northwards. That would ensure no pincer attack came from the Venicones over the low hills from an easterly direction. If the Glen Blocker/ Highland Line was being simultaneously established, then attack was less likely on the main invasion forces as they marched north. Tacitus does mention an attack which almost wiped out the Legio IX, though Agricola saved the day himself by arriving in time! Now where had he been beforehand to manage that? It's a fine question that I have no answer to but it seems he was arriving FROM the south or the west.

I'm less sure of when the Glen Blocker forts were established. I lean towards the opinion that Agricola already had their building in the pipeline during his campaigns of 82 and 83, his 5th and 6th summer campaigns, if I assume that he was in Aberdeenshire during his 7th campaign  in A.D. 84, Mons Graupius happening late in the summer/autumn of 84. Or, the planning and building of the Glen Blocker Forts was maybe even earlier, since he may have learned how formidable it would be if the tribes rallied in the Caledonian mountains for battle and descended on his troops from more than one glen openings. 

When all is said and done, as the Governor of Britannia Agricola was responsible for the peace and productivity of all lands to the south of wherever he was campaigning in the long island stretch that was Britannia. That must have been an immense task to oversee.  In Agricola's Bane, Book 4 of my Celtic Fervour Series (an Iron-Age tribal clan saga), Agricola is highly frustrated during his post-battle tramp to the Moray Firth because his legions are spread far too thin...and worse than that... Emperor Domitian is constantly clawing back more and more of the Britannic units to aid those fighting the Chatii in Lower Germania! 

What theory would you put forward for why and when the Gask Ridge was first constructed? 

Slainthe! 

I've found this an excellent source for my Roman Scotland studies. (Though I have many others to dip into as well. )
Rome's First Frontier
The Flavian Occupation of Northern Scotland
by D.J. Woolliscroft and B. Hoffmann

G is for Graupius ...as in Mons

What was Mons Graupius?

We have very little written evidence left by Roman historians about the conquest of northern Britannia. Tacitus, writing in his annals of Agricola, is the main source of information regarding the campaigns of Agricola in northern Britannia, when he marched his legions north into what is now Scotland.

Tacitus makes few references to any battles or skirmishes with the Celtic natives during Agricola’s time as Governor and commander of the armies. However, he does record an instance which now is open to conjecture regarding a battle between Celtic tribes and the armies of Rome. The location of the battle is not specifically noted and now some historians think Tacitus’ account may be highly fictionalised since he was giving accolades to Agricola, his father- in- law, at a posthumous time.

If a battle of some sort did take place, it happened somewhere in Scotland and over the centuries there have been a few main contender sites identified, according to the descriptions given by Tacitus. The earlier possibilities claimed that the battle site was somewhere north of the central belt of Scotland, in Stirlingshire, Fife or Tayside.

Bennachie taken from Durno

If that is the case, I personally can’t see why Agricola chose to still march possibly two legions worth of men all the way north into Aberdeenshire. He certainly wanted to set foot on all parts of Britannia’s soil and wanted to lay claim to all of the territory for his Emperor Vespasian in the first instance. His relationships with Vespasian’s successors, Titus and Domitian, may have been different but Agricola’s campaigns in northern Britannia continued and it is now known that he left evidence of this all the way up to the Moray Coast.

The sites at Kintore and Durno in Aberdeenshire harboured some ten thousand and possibly thirty thousand soldiers respectively. If Agricola had ‘subdued’ the native tribes of the Caledons, whose leader was named Calgacus by Tacitus, somewhere south of the river Tay why would he need to continue north with such a huge force. Some degree of presence would have been wanted for him to go as far north as Agricola could for the ‘kudos’ of having been there but some ten to thirty thousand troops- some from the classis vessels- seems excessive for tribes already under some oath or treaty.

Bennachie

I am most definitely in favour then of the battle site for Mons Graupius being in Aberdeenshire. The site of Bennachie is some 9 miles from Kintore Marching camp which is known to have had some ten thousand men encamped. The site of Bennachie is also directly opposite in the valley from Durno which housed something like thirty thousand troops.

Beyond and further north towards Morayshire the sites which have so far been identified as Roman Marching Camps are much smaller. The numbers stationed at these camps are more realistic for a fighting force which was merely playing a monitoring role.

In my novel After Whorl: Donning Double Cloaks, my Celtic characters engage in battle with the Roman Empire’s armies at a site in Taexali territory. The site I have chosen is Bennachie, Aberdeenshire – though my battle has not been named and the site has its Gaelic name of Beinn Na Ciche.

My site fits many of the requirements named by Tacitus for mustering armies in battle.

My ‘Mons Graupius’ therefore is at Bennachie, Aberdeenshire.

Enjoy the photos of which I have plenty since it just so happens that I live at Kintore, my house a stone’s throw from the roman Marching Camp and only 9 miles from Durno and Bennachie. Am I biased? Yes, I rather think I am!

Slainthe!

Anniversary freebies!

One whole year! I find it hard to believe that my novel - THE BELTANE CHOICE - had its e-book launch one year ago. My historical romantic adventure is a story which is very dear to me, so I was ecstatic that it was eventually going to be read. Since its launch it has garnered reviews on Amazon and Goodreads - mostly of 5* stars. I would appreciate many more, but for me getting that story published was so exciting.

If you haven’t yet read it, then read on and find out how you could have a celebration SIGNED print copy, or one of two ecopies of The Beltane Choice!

I blogged about the story behind the writing of the book last year, but if you missed those posts this is a recap. 

The Agricolan or Severan era? England or Scotland as the location?  Those were decisions I had to make when writing The Beltane Choice.

What was so appealing about the subject?
I really love reading and learning about Celtic Britain, especially at the time of Roman Invasion of the island. As a Scot, I'm naturally more inclined to want to write about what the Roman Army did in my neck of the woods- though I do also love to read about all archaeological developments.

What in particular sparked the idea of me writing The Beltane Choice, my first historical novel for a more mature audience?
It’s a convoluted story, but it was the notion that some 10,000 Roman soldiers were encamped a few hundred yards away from my house and garden in Kintore, Aberdeenshire. Since I live so close to where those earthen boundaries were, I imagined that some of those soldiers must have tramped over my own garden to reach the fresh water of the River Don, my soil lying in between the temporary camp site and the water supply.

my photo of around 2002

During my studies of Roman British history, I discovered that choosing the site for a Roman Marching Camp depended on a few particular things. To provide fresh water for around two legions - some 10,000 soldiers - took a good-flowing, local water supply. The men of a contubernium unit of around eight to ten men also needed a fuel supply to light a cooking fire. The site required to be easily defensible and able to be encamped within about an hour or so of turf removal- the ditches dug to a particular extent set out by the agrimensor (land engineer) and dependent on how many soldiers and/or mounts had to be enclosed in it.

The archaeological digs of 2002-2004 at Deer's Den, Kintore, uncovered evidence of some 250 bread ovens/ fire pits which were used by Roman soldiers to prepare their unleavened bread and ubiquitous porridge which were staple fare for the ordinary soldier on campaign.

When I first looked at the preliminary digging as in the photo above I found it hard to see how the archaeologists could tell anything at all, but over the duration of the dig I was allowed to visit the site with my primary school class. The Roman Marching Camp site at Kintore was on what had been our former village primary school grounds. It was being investigated since the school was being relocated to that very site. During those structured 'walk abouts' with the archaeologist, the processes were explained and up to date information given to us. The thinking at that time was that the number of soldiers occupying the site had to be more like 10, 000 rather than the much earlier figure of 4,000 men, and that the evidence leaned more to the Agricolan times. Deer’s Den was good site for a temporary camp and it was definitely used by the Roman Army more than once.
 (Some inforamtion on the 2002 - 2004 dig is here: http://www.kintore.org.uk/history/history.html#.UiHHaT-2EpI)

It was an exciting time at school, some of our studies based on the Roman cccupation of Kintore. My class of 11-12 year olds wrote fabulous work so I had to write about it, too! The question was which era should I write about.
 

Agricola - wikimedia

That the writing of the Roman historian, Tacitus, is somewhat biased is not in dispute. Tacitus writes of a battle in northern Scotland in which his father-in-law, Gnaeus Julius Agricola, defeated the Caledonian tribes under the leadership of a man named - Calgacus 'The Swordsman'. Tacitus makes vague reference to topographical information but the actual battle site is not known.

The distinctive hill top of 'Mither Tap', on the Bennachie range of hills in Aberdeenshire, is one of the possibilities for that battle, later named Mons Graupius -  though no actual evidence has been found around Bennachie, or any other contender site, for such a battle.

Mither Tap is only about nine miles from my house at Kintore. Compelling evidence, in my opinion, to back up the idea that the battle of Mons Graupius took place on the foothills of Bennachie is that there is an even more extensive marching camp at a site called Durno which directly faces Mither Tap.

Taken from the Durno site

Recent aerial and ground investigations have put the Durno site as being a very significant one- some 30,000 soldiers possibly camped there. Though, like the Deer’s Den site at Kintore, the one at Durno has had more than one period of habitation. The encampment numbering to 30,000 is more realistically during the Severan times, but there likely was an occupation of a smaller number in Agricolan times at Durno, as well.

Tacitus cites a number at the battle of 'Mons Graupius' much more in keeping with that number which was encamped at Kintore. Moving the Roman army the nine miles from Deer's Den, Kintore, to Durno, would have been an easy day's march  for them. Why they only moved nine miles, in late summer or early autumn, according to Tacitus, has to be significant, otherwise I feel they would have moved on further north. The Roman Army certainly did have marching camps further north, but I'm of the opinion that the Agricolan ones might have been after the followers of Calgacus fled from the battle fields having been routed by the Roman Batavian and Tungrian contingents. Establishing marching camps further north after a large battle, ensuring the locals around were subdued, seems a realistic tactic that Agricola would have used.

I loved the idea of both sites, Kintore and Durno, having had Roman occupation and wanted to write my own fictional version of what happened. My first novel - Dabbling With Time - was not intended for adults, but was for the best readers of my current Primary Seven Class at Kintore School. That time-travel novel is set in Severan times, in AD 210, in Kintore and its surroundings in Aberdeenshire. In Dabbling With time the site at Durno, opposite Mither Tap of Bennachie, is a place of confrontation in the novel between the Roman Empire and the Maetae confederation of northern Celtic tribes. Fiction, definitely, but my idea of why Lucius Septimius Severus had so many soldiers encamped there around AD 210, during what was to prove the very last invasion of the Roman Empire in north-east Scotland.

Since I wanted no confusion about my romantic adventure for a more mature audience, I set The Beltane Choice in a different location and different era. AD 71 was decided on, since it was a period of systematic subjugation of the Celtic tribes of Northern Britain  - the location being the north of what is now England rather than northern Scotland. To introduce a ‘Scottish’ element to The Beltane Choice I chose my main characters as coming from warring Celtic clans which straddled the area now termed the borders between Scotland and England. (roughly that at the bottom third of the image below)

wikimedia

The Brigante Federation of Celts occupied a very large area which stretched from the border hills down well down what is currently northern England. The Selgovae Celtic tribe occupied an area in southern Scotland.

The timing of The Beltane Choice adventure in AD 71 was prior to the battle of Mons Graupius AD 84, as written by Tacitus, but it has been perfect for leading into the follow on novels recently completed and which are now submitted to my publisher, Crooked Cat Books, for consideration.

During the period AD71 to AD 84 the Roman Army made advances north of the border hills mentioned in The Beltane Choice, Agricola marching his troops all the way up to Kintore. (Deer's Den would be the number 9 white square if counted from the top left)

My follow-on novels to The Beltane Choice begin in AD 71 in northern ‘England’ and culminate in AD 84 at my Battle of Mons Graupius, my battle site on the foothills of Mither Tap of the Bennachie range. In the first follow-on novel much of the action happens in Brigantian lands. The second novel includes many of those 'white' forts you see in the image of the Agricolan Campaign in North Britain.

                              ****Celebration time****

If you would like a signed print copy of THE BELTANE CHOICE , or an ecopy of The Beltane Choice, leave me a comment about this post in the box below to enter the draw. The first name drawn on Monday 1st September 2013 at noon (UK time) will receive the print copy, the second and third names the e-copies. 
(unless the preference is for an e-copy)

Please add a contact FB or email address in case you are my winners!

Good luck and have a happy weekend.


Slainthe!

‘Ancient Romans Raikin’ Aroon The ‘Shire’ REBLOGGED

Hello #Friday Friends!

I'm out blogging at my friend Tim Taylor's blog.

 You can find out my news and forthcoming events HERE where I'm talking about 'talking' on Sunday 7th February!


You'll probably have guessed that my subject might be something dear to my heart like my books...and you'd be absolutely correct. My little obsession over Roman Scotland is the hot topic!



Updates on the visit to come later but meanwhile here's a REBLOGGED version of my visit to Tim.

‘Ancient Romans Raikin’ Aroon The ‘Shire’

Something is happening this coming Sunday that I’ve not done before. Yes, you might imagine all sorts of scenarios for that, however…you probably know that authors get into all sorts of ploys to promote their books? Well, what’s happening on Sunday is that I’m doing an ‘author talk’ at a special lunch venue.

I’ve done plenty of author talks and power point presentations during the last couple of years but so far I’ve only been invited to imbibe a cup of tea or coffee, and eat some delicious sandwiches or homemade cake. By way of a change, on Sunday, I’m invited to eat lunch at an award ceremony in the city of Aberdeen before I do my short talk and this just might set a precedent that I’ll have to surpass in the future. Except I’m a slow eater and might be too nervous to either eat at all, or present my talk properly afterwards!

How did I come to be invited?

View outside my tent at The Aboyne Highland Games

In 2015, I sold a lot of my paperback novels at various craft fairs around my home area of Aberdeenshire. At The Aboyne Highland Games, a very nice chap (let’s call him AL) and his wife stopped at my table to talk for a while. The man asked a number of questions about my books, in particular my Celtic Fervour Series of historical romantic adventures covering AD 71-84. He was very enthusiastic about my choice of subject matter and the time period and wondered what made me choose to write about northern Britannia during the late first century. I think I just may have indicated that I’m quite enthralled, even obsessed, with the ancient Roman expansion into northern Britain and in particular the Agricolan and Severan campaigns in Scotland. Contrarily, I’m almost as fascinated by what the Roman Empire didn’t do in Scotland, since their presence was fleeting compared to other areas of the Empire.

We chatted about the fact that the ancient Romans left no stone buildings of note in northern Scotland. And that in central and southern Scotland there’s nothing like the villas and public buildings to be found in southern England…but there are stone remains of bath houses and some other fort buildings. 

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4578939

I may also have made it clear that I find it very exciting that there’s still a whole gamut of possible remains, in wood traces especially, to be uncovered across Scotland. Many sites earmarked as that of Roman temporary occupation have never yet been properly excavated, so who knows what may still be uncovered there. I’m currently writing Book 4 of my Celtic Fervour Series and the bug to learn even more about Roman Scotland still grips me!

The Taexali Game, my teen time travel historical adventure had been recently published and that also caught AL’s eye. For a local, it’s easy to recognise the distinctive hilltop, Mither Tap of the Bennachie range, that’s visible on the cover. When I explained to AL that The Taexali Game is set in AD 210 during the northern campaign of the Emperor Severus, again pertinent questions came my way.

Whilst selling my books at craft fairs around the region, I’ve found it’s fairly common that many people have no idea that the ancient Roman army marched its way more than once to the Moray Coast of Aberdeenshire. There have been some who know that Roman armies came with General Agricola in AD 84 and had a battle in northern Scotland, later called The Battle of Mons Graupius, at an unnamed place that just might be at Bennachie. However, almost no-body knows that in AD 210 the Roman Emperor Severus and his son Caracalla marched northwards in Aberdeenshire with around 30,000 soldiers. I’m aware that some historians doubt that Severus came north since he was not a well man, being plagued with severe gout or painful arthritis and already in his sixties. However, there are sufficient other experts who don’t believe that Severus would have allowed his somewhat wayward son Caracalla to venture all the way north on his own. I also just might have mentioned to AL that I had a lot of fun including Severus and Caracalla as minor characters in The Taexali Game.

Though Books 1 and 2 of the Celtic Fervour Series are set mainly in Brigantia (present day Cumbria, Yorkshire and Northumberland), I emphasised to AL that Book 3 After Whorl: Donning Double Cloaks follows the travels of my Brigante warrior, Brennus, as he makes a long and circuitous journey into present day Scotland. Brennus wends his way all the way to the Garioch (pronounced Gee-ri)  , the part of Aberdeenshire where I live. By then it’s AD 84 in the novel and my battle at Beinn Na Ciche is looming. I don’t name the battle in my Book 3 as the famed Battle of Mons Graupius but for me the location at present day Bennachie is a very possible battle site. The Roman marching camp at Durno, on the opposite side of the valley from Mither Tap of Bennachie, is thought to date to Agricola, and maybe also Severus. At 58 hectares it’s sizable enough to have held upwards of 30, 000 troops. According to the Roman historian Tacitus, Agricola probably had at least 23,000 men available at what was later named the Battle of Mons Graupius and Severus set out to march north with some 50,000 troops but probably lost around 20.000 of those in guerrilla warfare before reaching the Bennachie area.  

I have a notice at my selling table pointing out that I am available for author talks and presentations on Roman Scotland and it was this which caught AL’s eye, hence the invitation to speak at the Award Luncheon.

My main problem with my talk entitled ‘Ancient Romans Raikin’ Aroon The ‘Shire’ (raking around Aberdeenshire) is knowing when to shut up after some 20-30 minutes. How can I possibly tell all the assembled company all about my obsession?

If you’ve any hints…please tell! Leave a comment for me! 

Slainthe!