Arriving in midsummer of 77, Agricola discovered that the
Ordovices of north Wales had virtually destroyed the Roman cavalry stationed in their territory. He immediately moved against them and defeated them. His campaign then moved onto
Anglesey where he
subjugated the entire island. Almost two decades earlier, Governor
Gaius Suetonius Paulinus had attempted the same but Roman forces had to withdraw in 60 CE because of the outbreak of the
Boudican rebellion. Agricola also expanded Roman rule north into
Caledonia (modern
Scotland). In the summer of 79, he pushed his armies to the estuary of the river Taus, usually interpreted as the
Firth of Tay, virtually unchallenged, and established some forts. Though their location is left unspecified, the close dating of the fort at
Elginhaugh in Midlothian makes it a possible candidate. He established himself as a good administrator by reforming the widely corrupt corn levy as well as through his military successes. He introduced Romanising measures, encouraging communities to build towns on the Roman model and gave a Roman education to sons of native nobility; albeit, as Tacitus notes, for the cynical reason of
pacifying the aggressive tribes in Britannia for the servitude of Rome.
Hibernia In 81, Agricola "crossed in the first ship" and defeated peoples unknown to the Romans until then. Tacitus, in Chapter 24 of
Agricola, does not tell us what body of water he crossed. Modern scholarship favours either the
Firth of Clyde or
Firth of Forth. Tacitus also mentions
Hibernia, so southwest Scotland is perhaps to be preferred. The text of the
Agricola has been amended here to record the Romans "crossing into trackless wastes", referring to the wilds of the Galloway peninsula. Agricola fortified the coast facing Ireland, and Tacitus recalls that his father-in-law often claimed the island could be conquered with a single
legion and
auxiliaries. He had given refuge to an exiled Irish king whom he hoped he might use as the excuse for conquest. This conquest never happened, but some historians believe the crossing referred to was in fact a small-scale exploratory or
punitive expedition to Ireland, though no Roman camps have been identified to confirm such a suggestion.
Irish legend provides a striking parallel.
Tuathal Teachtmhar, a legendary
High King, is said to have been exiled from Ireland as a boy, and to have returned from Britain at the head of an army to claim the throne. The traditional date of his return is between 76 and 80, and
archaeology has found Roman or Romano-British artefacts in several sites associated with Tuathal.
The invasion of Caledonia (Scotland) The following year, Agricola raised a fleet and encircled the tribes beyond the Forth, and the
Caledonians rose in great numbers against him. They attacked the camp of the
Legio IX Hispana at
night, but Agricola sent in his cavalry and they were put to flight. The Romans responded by pushing further north. Another son was born to Agricola this year, but died before his first birthday. In the summer of 83, Agricola faced the massed armies of the Caledonians, led by
Calgacus, at the
Battle of Mons Graupius. Tacitus estimates their numbers at more than 30,000. Agricola put his auxiliaries in the front line, keeping the legions in reserve, and relied on close-quarters fighting to make the Caledonians' unpointed slashing swords useless as they were unable to swing them properly or utilise thrusting attacks. Even though the Caledonians were put to rout and therefore lost this battle, two thirds of their army managed to escape and hide in the Highlands or the "trackless wilds" as Tacitus calls them. Battle casualties were estimated by Tacitus to be about 10,000 on the Caledonian side and 360 on the Roman side. A number of authors have reckoned the battle to have occurred in the
Grampian Mounth within sight of the
North Sea. In particular, Roy, Surenne, Watt, Hogan and others have advanced notions that the site of the battle may have been
Kempstone Hill,
Megray Hill or other knolls near the
Raedykes Roman camp; these points of high ground are proximate to the
Elsick Mounth, an ancient
trackway used by Romans and Caledonians for military manoeuvres. However, following the discovery of the
Roman camp at
Durno in 1975, most scholars now believe that the battle took place on the ground around
Bennachie in Aberdeenshire. Satisfied with his victory, Agricola extracted hostages from the Caledonian tribes. He may have marched his army to the northern coast of Britain, as evidenced by the probable discovery of a Roman fort at
Cawdor (near
Inverness). He also instructed the
prefect of the fleet to sail around the north coast, confirming (allegedly for the first time) that Britain was in fact an island.
Findings In 2019, GUARD Archaeology team led by Iraia Arabaolaza uncovered a marching camp dating to the 1st century AD in
Ayr, used by Roman legions during the invasion of Roman General Agricola. According to Arabaolaza, the fire pits were split 30 meters apart into two parallel lines. The findings also included clay-domed ovens and 26 fire pits dated to between 77- 86 AD and 90 AD loaded with burnt material and charcoal contents. Archaeologists suggested that this site had been chosen as a strategic location for the Roman conquest of
Ayrshire. ==Later years==