06-28-2009, 08:52 PM
Quote:...when you approach the area near Benacchie, Tacitis' description of the battle site comes to life vividly in my mind.....
Well, for want of other evidence, that's as good a reason as any!
Bennachie/Durno is a pretty satisfying choice - it's far enough north to suggest a long and epic campaign, tracing a line of march northwards along the coast, supported by the fleet, to Aberdeen before striking inland. After all, Agricola spent several years in Scotland, with several legions plus auxiliaries at his disposal - what was he doing if he only got as far north as Perth? (unless we follow the Gask Project suggestion that he was wrapped up in admin... :? )
On the other hand, the passage in Tacitus actually implies that the Caledonians decided to attack Agricola, rather than vice versa:
Quote:Having sent on a fleet, which by its ravages at various points might cause a vague and wide-spread alarm, he advanced with a lightly equipped force... as far as the Grampian mountains [sic], which the enemy had already occupied. For the Britons, indeed, in no way cowed by the result of the late engagement, had made up their minds to be either avenged or enslaved, and convinced at length that a common danger must be averted by union, had, by embassies and treaties, summoned forth the whole strength of all their states.
Tacitus - Agricola
It would make sense, then, for their great tribal muster to be somewhere in the vicinity of where the Romans were presumably already based - i.e the various Flavian forts around Ardoch. If you want to gather your collective forces to launch a huge final assault on your enemy, it would seem strange to have your mustering point far to the north-east... and Tacitus doesn't actually say that Agricola followed the fleet along the coast at all. It reads rather as if he learned of the tribal muster on the borders of the area he'd already 'fortified' (to some extent), and made a rapid inland march to attack them before they'd gathered their full force. That would indeed suggest a site in the vicinity of Dunning... :|
- N Ross
Nathan Ross
