Learning Intention: To explore the Roman Empire To look at the Roman invasion of Scotland In Roman times, there was no such country as Scotland. The area of Britain now known as Scotland was called ‘Caledonia’, and the people were known as the ‘Caledonians’.
2 Back then, Caledonia was made up of groups of people or tribes. Some tribes were happy to get on peacefully with the Romans, but others fought back. The Romans were worried about the fierce tribes to the north
They wanted to keep the rest of Roman Britain safe from attack
The Romans attacked Scotland three times (remember no one called it Scotland in those days.)
1. Agricola’s invasion
2. The Antonine Occupation
3. The Severan campaign As a group use your information packs to find out more about each invasion and create a pop up fact file in your jotter.
1. Agricola’s invasion
2. The Antonine Occupation
3. The Severan campaign Under the commander Agricola, they marched north to deal with the Caledonians.
The Romans marched north, building forts and roads to link the forts.
8 During Agricola’s invasion of Scotland, the Romans left their mark on the area where we live.
They built at least two big forts, at Inchtuthil and at Ardoch, and several smaller ones. How far do you think the romans got?
What happened then? In the summer of AD84 some Caledonian tribes joined forces and made a stand against the invading Roman army.
The two sides fought at a place called Mons Graupius (the Grampian Mountains).
The Romans were led by the Roman general Julius Agricola and the Caledonians were led by a fierce chief named Calgacus. 11 After the battle of Mons Graupius, most Caledonian tribes accepted the Roman occupation. Some tribes were bribed or given gifts by the Romans to accept their rule. Agricola was called away from Britannia. Legions were taken from Britain to patrol other parts of the Empire.
The Caledonians attacked and destroyed the forts built by Agricola
By AD 100 the Romans had little to show for their efforts to conquer
Caledonia. 14 Much of what we know about the Roman invasion of Scotland is based on writings by a famous Roman Historian – Tacitus
As historians we need to be careful about the evidence we use to describe the Romans.
Why do you think this is?
Discuss this with your shoulder partner for 30 seconds. Tacitus – Can we trust his evidence? YES Tacitus was a well known and famous historian in Roman times. Tacitus also wrote chronicles which were factual day by day accounts of events at the time Tacitus was an eye witness. He was in Scotland with the Romans during Agricola’s campaign. Tacitus would have heard stories from the battle of Mons Graupius from the soldiers who had fought.
16 Tacitus – Can we trust his evidence? NO Tacitus was a Roman. He may have been biased – He may only have given the Roman point of view. Tacitus was Agricola’s son-in-law. Tacitus praised Agricola so much that the ruler of the Roman Empire, the Emperor Domitian was jealous and sent Agricola back to Rome. Tacitus knew his account of the battle would be read by other Romans and so to please them he may have exaggerated some of the details.
17 Roman Roads were much better built and durable than the routes the Celts used Roman forts and walls helped the Romans Many of the routes of control the local tribes Roman Roads are still The threat of the followed by modern How Romans had a roads today Romans caused the lasting impact on native Celtic tribes to life in Scotland unite and work together.
Picts working together would eventually form the basis for the Can you think of any other ways in which the nation of Scotland Romans had a lasting impact on life in Scotland and Britain?