Simon Forder

Publius Cornelius Tacitus wrote a laudatory biography of his father-in-law, Gnaeus Julius Agricola. In the years 79-84, Agricola campaigned in northern England and Scotland, eventually fighting a pitched battle against Scottish tribesmen at a place named Mons Graupius, resulting in a major Roman victory.

The location of the battle and the reliability of Tacitus’ account have long been debated by historians. Author Simon Forder enters the fray with his own interpretation. Forder puts a lot of research effort into identifying Roman campsites; conveniently for modern archaeologists and historians, Roman military units built more-or-less standardized fortified camps along their route. The size and type of camp allows Forder to estimate the size and type of force that used it; he thus deduces the route of Agricola’s force and the site of the battle.

The book seems extremely well researched; Forder visited every site and reviewed archaeological evidence from those formally excavated. The catch is I don’t know enough about the history and archaeology of the area and time period to evaluate this properly. Forder doesn’t advertise any formal academic training or affiliation; that’s not necessarily a bad thing since enthusiastic and competent amateurs have contributed much to the advancement of science – but enthusiastic and incompetent crackpots have contributed much to the detriment of science.

The book also suffers from its cartography. Forder provides quite a few maps, but they are not very well presented. They’re often based on a relief map of a general area – “Roman activity between the Forth and North Esk”, for example – but there are no modern place names allowing somebody with less than advanced knowledge of Scottish geography to figure out what’s going on. Similarly the text references Scottish place names with nothing to help the reader who isn’t an expert on Scottish geography.

There’s a large plate section showing many of the relevant sites, endnotes, and a bibliography. I was initially put off to find many of the references were web pages, but this seems to be justified here since Historic Environment Scotland documents sites this way; it’s probably more convenient than endless little pamphlets.

Oh, and the Battle of Mons Graupius? Near Moncrieffe Hill. And there’s a map of Moncrieff Hill and Environs, with Roman-era features indicated. But once again no help for the non-Scotsman as to where Moncrieffe Hill is.… (altro)