Caledonians

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The Caledonians (Latin: Caledonii ) were an ancient people who settled in the eastern part of what is now Scotland . In the first centuries AD they waged several wars against the Romans after their invasion of Britain under Emperor Claudius . Their territory was called Caledonia (Latin Caledonia ) by the Romans .

Most of the known information about the Caledonians comes from Roman Imperial authors, particularly Tacitus and Cassius Dio , while it is not yet mentioned by Caesar . Additional information is provided by archaeological evidence, for example about the settlements of the Caledonians. These had different shapes such as hill-forts , fenced farms and houses close to the sea. Apparently there were a number of local centers of power ruled by a military nobility, but no king ruling over the people .

Cassius Dios' report that the Caledonians and the neighboring maeates mostly rule by the people suggests that these tribes did not have any royal rule. Cassius Dio also mentions that the Caledonians were mainly cattle breeders and hunters and occasionally went on raids. They went to war with chariots and small, fast horses as well as with infantrymen. Their main weapons were shields, short spears and swords. They are described as very resistant to hunger and cold. According to Tacitus, they had red-blond hair and were very tall.

Pliny the Elder notes that even 30 years after the invasion of Britain, the Roman armies did not advance through the vicinity of the Caledonian Forest ( Silva Calidoniae ).

The first major armed conflict between the Caledonians and the Romans came when the governor of Britain, Gnaeus Iulius Agricola , with the support of the fleet , undertook a campaign to the north of the island across the Firth of Forth - Firth of Clyde line . The Caledonian contingent, which is said to have comprised 30,000 soldiers, including the mobilized landsturm, was under the command of Calgacus , who was probably a general chosen by various clans. In 83 or 84 AD Agricola achieved a decisive victory over his opponents in the battle of Mons Graupius , a location that was not precisely localized. Since he was recalled by Domitian as early as 85 AD , the Caledonians remained outside of Roman rule.

The 122 n. Chr., Begun Hadrian's Wall and also the later just north of this built Antonine Wall were located south of the territory of the Caledonians. When Clodius Albinus was striving for the title of emperor and in 196 moved with considerable troops from Britain to Gaul , Caledonian units pushed south into the power vacuum that had developed.

Emperor Septimius Severus , who defeated Clodius Albinus, restored the ruined forts of Hadrian's Wall and prepared a great attack on Scotland. Despite his gout, the emperor personally took part in this offensive, presented in the year 208, and was transported in a sedan chair for this purpose. The Caledonian tribes evaded a field battle and inflicted great losses on the Romans through their guerrilla tactics, but eventually had to submit and accept large territories. Soon after, the Caledonians and Maeaten revolted again. Septimius Severus threatened them with a war of extermination, but died earlier in February 211. His son Caracalla withdrew the Roman troops from Scotland.

Later, the Caledonians are likely to have risen in the Picts .

See also

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ Malcolm Todd : Caledonii. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 2, Metzler, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-476-01472-X , Sp. 935.
  2. ^ Cassius Dio 76, 12, 1-4.
  3. ↑ Pliny the Elder , Naturalis historia 4, 102.
  4. ↑ Tacitus , Agricola 29-37.
  5. ^ Karl Friedrich Krieger, Geschichte Englands I , 2nd edition Munich 1996, p. 31.
  6. ^ Cassius Dio 76, 13 and 76, 15; on this Karl Christ , Geschichte der Römischen Kaiserzeit , 3rd edition Munich 1995, p. 610f.