Romans vs Caledonians: The Battle of Mons Graupius

The Ancients

History Hit

History

4.7 • 3.5K Ratings

🗓️ 5 September 2021

⏱️ 61 minutes

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Summary

In 83/84 AD a battle was fought somewhere in Scotland between the Roman forces of Gnaeus Julius Agricola and the 'Caledonians' – the great climax to Agricola’s campaigns in Northern Britain. Details of the clash are few and far between, with our sole literary source for the event being the writings of the Roman historian Tacitus. But how much of Tacitus’ account can we really believe? And what locations have archaeologists suggested as being the site of this lost battlefield? Taking on the challenge of this much-debated ancient military event is Dr Andrew Tibbs, a History Hit veteran and an expert on the Romans in Scotland.

In the first part of this podcast Andrew explains the background to Agricola’s campaigns in the north and the account of the Battle of Mons Graupius itself. In the second segment we look at some of the locations proposed as the site of this enigmatic ancient battle.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	It's the Ancient's on History Hit.
0:05.1	I'm Tristan Hughes your host and in today's podcast we're going back to Ancient Scotland.
0:09.9	I love Scotland and we're now talking about the Romans in Scotland.
0:14.2	We've done a podcast in the past with Dr Andrew Tibbs all about the Antonin wall.
0:20.0	It was one of the first podcasts we ever did.
0:22.4	An Andrew he's now back on the Ancient's to talk about perhaps the most disputed, the
0:27.3	most debated military event from ancient Scottish history.
0:32.8	This is the Battle of Mon's Graupius, the ground climax to the campaign of the Grickler
0:39.1	in the North in the late 1st century AD.
0:42.6	Where did this battle take place?
0:45.4	What do we know about it?
0:47.0	How much of Tacitus' account can we really believe?
0:51.5	In this podcast Andrew really highlights why there is so much debate surrounding this
0:55.9	battle and surrounding the whole campaign of the Grickler in the North.
1:00.6	So that further ado, here's Andrew.
1:06.4	Andrew it is wonderful to have you back on the podcast.
1:10.4	It's great to be back.
1:11.4	It's fantastic.
1:12.4	I love coming on to History Hit and doing stuff as brilliant.
1:15.7	Well exactly on History Hit some glad you said on History Hit because you came on the
1:19.3	Ancient's about a year ago to talk about the Antonin wall, one of our first ever podcasts.
1:24.4	Then you've really hit the star lights you've been on History Hit documentaries from
	...

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