Calgacus
Calgacus was a Caledonian military leader (in present-day Scotland ) in the late 1st century AD.
He is only known from a passage in Tacitus , who in the biography of his father-in-law Gnaeus Iulius Agricola described his campaigns in Britain. Agricola led the Roman troops and British auxiliaries in 83 or 84 AD in the battle against the Caledonians, the last undefeated tribe in the north of the British Isles.
According to Tacitus, Calgacus, who stood out among the Caledonian leaders, called on his compatriots to unity in a fiery speech before the battle of Mons Graupius, probably in AD 83, and accused the Romans as aggressors. Calgacus' best-known sentence, which, like the whole speech, is not authentic, but rather comes from Tacitus, is used again and again to criticize Roman imperialism: “Looting, murdering, robbing they call under a false name rule, and where they create wasteland, they speak of peace. " (Aufferre trucidare rapere falsis nominibus imperium, atque ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant.)
Although the Caledonians outnumbered the Romans, they were defeated in this battle. A little later, however, Agricola was ordered back to Rome by Emperor Domitian , so that the Romans did not use the victory in the Scottish coastal country, the only advance that led into an area far north of the later Antonine Wall , to expand their empire.
Remarks
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Calgacus |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Caledonian military leader |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1st century |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1st century or 2nd century |