Mons Graupius Legions

[Crispvs]

Just to revisit comments made earlier in the thread about the specific mention of Batavians and Tungrians, I have often felt that Tacitus' implication that Auxiliaries were used to spare Legionaries lives is little more than rhetoric. Batavians were surely recruited in part for their abilities in what today might be termed 'Amphibious warfare' and their ability to operate well in boggy/marshy conditions similar to their native environment. Tungrians were surely recruited for their native ability to operate well in hilly territory. Obviously Mons Graupius would count as 'hilly' and as we are also led to believe that there was an area of marshy ground at its base, surely using troops with ability to operate smoothly in boggy and hilly territory would be a wise tactical choice for a commander on the ground, considering that heavy close order infantry might not operate so well in the circumstances. Far from Agricola wanting to achieve a victory without the shedding of Roman blood, I think it would be a fairer assessment to suggest that Agricola knew what he was doing and selected the troops with the most appropriate abilities for the job at hand to spearhead his attack.

Moving on, I too will be ordering the book. I don't think I will 'pre-order' it as it is hardly likely that I would order it after I had already got it in any case. Therefore simply ordering it in the old fashioned way will probably do the trick.:wink:

Crispvs