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Historic Scotland |
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Historic Scotland was first written about in "Tacitus - The Annals of Imperial
Rome" in the first century AD. In AD81, Julius Agricola (Tacitus father in law), the
then Roman Govener of Britain led his forces north through Scotland to do
battle with "The Caledonians".
Throughout the drive north, Agricola’s men were
continually being harassed and attacked by surprise, usually under the cover of
darkness. Agricola’s men were led from the "central belt" of Historic Scotland
north by their retreating enemy. This was not done out of cowardice on the part of
"The Caledonians" but as part of their strategy which was to utilise the natural
landscape and fight small pitch battles and one on one.
One could aliken them to the
Native American Indian as Tacitus describes them as "innocent savages".
The battle
was named "Mons Graupius" (which led to the name of Grampian) and was the only major
battle of the Roman campaign. It did not give Agricola complete domination of Britain
as Tacitus conceded that two thirds of the Caledonian warriors escaped to fight
another day.
Historic Scotland has therefore never been completely dominated
by the Romans with the Caledonians leader, "Calgacus" and his men finding safe refuge
in the highland massif. The actual battle site has never been located although there
is much written about "Mons Graupius" - some say the site is near Bennachie or
Stonehaven. Recently, a Canadian historian has claimed to have conclusive
evidence that points to a site west of Nairn and probably very close to Inverness.
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