Calgach

I take your points, but you're all forgetting the timing issue. I know that nowadays communication is almost instantaneous, but back then it wasn't. Immediately after "winning" Mons Graupius, Agricola withdrew his legions below the "Bodotria" - which is normally considered to be the Forth Estuary. Now, let's be nasty and think this was actually the Tay. That would put his main fortress somewhere around Carpow. If it was the Forth, the depot at Cramond just isn't big enough to supply two full legions and their auxiliary units, so we are then looking somewhere around Melrose. Getting back for a moment to the timing issue, Domitian could not have recalled Agricola before the news of his "victory" reached Rome, nor could the recall have arrived before the Dacian adventures......

My first actual post (other than the intro) and I'm committing heresy...... Here's a challenge for all you Romanophiles: explain the atypical behaviour of the Romans after winning Mons Graupius (and if you can prove this battle actually took place you get 5 points). To refresh memories, according to Tacitus, the Romans fought and defeated a Caledonian army of 30,000, killing 10,000 of them and driving the rest from the field (which has never been identified). They managed this feat with the loss of no more than 360 auxiliaries and one single solitary Roman citizen, an Aulus Atticus (while the Legions present sat back and twiddled their thumbs). This is where the story begins to fall apart. The normal procedure of a Roman army after such a victory was to settle in and consolidate, bribe a few of the local bigwigs, kill some of the others, erect a commemoration stone or two, and build a base for further operations. In this case, they didn't. Yet, according to Tacitus, all

I suppose a little introduction is required when invading a potentially hostile site. From my chosen name you will gather that I'm not all that fond of what those damn Romans did in Scotland. Nonetheless it's fascinating (apart from the lies put about by Tacitus......) Ave Romanum, f