Agricola was the great Flavian warrior governor of Britain tasked by the emperor Vespasian with conquering the far north of its main island for the first time. Initially campaigning in Wales and then the north of modern England to secure his rear, he launched his first assault into modern Scotland at the end of the 70s AD. Four more bloody campaigns beyond the Solway Firth-Tyne frontier followed, each time the Romans heading further and further into the heart of darkness, as they would have seen it. Famously, at one stage during the campaigns he also contemplated invading Ireland, only to be told no by the new emperor, Domitian. Ultimately, the primary sources say he defeated the combined armies of the natives in far north at the Battle of Mons Graupius in AD 83. After this, the successful conquest of the whole island was declared, Agricola commanded the Classis Britannia (the Roman navy in Britain) to circumnavigate the whole province for the first time, and Domitian ordered a monumental arch to be built at Richborough on the east coast of Kent to celebrate the Roman triumph. This became the imperial gateway into Roman Britain. In this new, generation-defining book on Agricola’s campaigns in Scotland new archaeological evidence will be used to show how Agricola was able to campaign so far north of the imperial frontier and in such numbers (with over 30,000 men, plus the fleet), and the exact routes he followed. Thus, for the first time, the true story of Agricola in Scotland can be told.

Dr Simon Elliott FSA is an award winning and best selling archaeologist, historian and broadcaster with a PhD in Classics and Archaeology from the University of Kent where he is now an Honorary Research Fellow. He has an MA in Archaeology from UCL and an MA in War Studies from KCL. Simon is widely published with numerous works in print on various themes relating to the ancient world, with a particular focus on the Roman military, and he makes frequent appearances on TV as a Roman expert. Simon lectures widely to universities, local history societies and archaeological groups, is co-Director of a Roman villa excavation, a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and an Ambassador for Museum of London Archaeology. He is also a Guide Lecturer for Andante Travels and Trustee of Kent Archaeological Society.