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Having arrived in Britain as governor in 77AD, the Roman leader Agricola campaigned in the north in subsequent years to subdue the whole island. By the summer of 83AD his legions had pushed through the Grampians to reach the coastal plain of the Moray Firth. A decisive battle was fought there, according to a history written by Agricola’s son-in-law, the historian Tacitus.

At a battle site not yet found, the northern Picts were finally defeated by well-drilled Roman soldiers. Tacitus named it Mons Graupius. He alludes to a hill with several tops within sight of the sea. This description fits Bennachie near Archaeolink - did the first recorded battle in Scotland take place here? In the 1470s Tacitus’s history was set in print but an error in transcription resulted in Grampius instead of Graupius - hence today’s Grampian.
 
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