Scottish Blog

The Battle of Mons Graupius was a battle between Roman and Caledonian forces in 83 or 84 AD.

Up until the Battle of Mons Graupius the invading Roman forces had trouble forcing the local Caledonians to face them in open battle. Although they were in the most part outnumbered, the Romans believed that their superior organization would equal out any local benefits to numbers.

Under the command of Gnaeus Julius Agricola the Roman forces marched upon the recently filled granaries of the Caledonians, in order to force them into open battle. As this resulted in the Caledonians choices being narrowed down to fighting or losing their food supply for the following winter, they chose to fight.

The Battle of Mons Graupius was fought between 20,000 Roman troops and 30,000 Caledonian troops. Of the 20,000 Roman troops, it is believed that roughly 9,000 were legionnaires who did not end up being involved in the battle.

There are no records showing the exact location of the Battle of Mons Graupius, but modern estimates based of the written records have garnered some guesses. The most prominent of the guesses are Gask Ridge, Bennachie or Kempstone Hill.

One critical element in identifying the location of the Battle of Mons Graupius is the description in the records of Ganeus Julius Agricola, who claimed that from the onset of the battle the Caledonians held an advantage in their position on top of a steep hill.

Records of the Battle of Mons Graupius show that after a brief round of firing various missiles at each other the two forces charged. At this point the Caledonians were routed back to the top of the hill where they retreated. In total they suffered an estimated 10,000 losses compared to 360 for the Romans.