Skip to content
publicationVerified

The Agricola narrates the conquest of northern Britain, Mons Graupius, and the making of a desert called peace

Inside the Agricola, Tacitus writes the seven campaign years: Ordovices nearly wiped out, Mona taken, forts to the Tay, a fleet around Britain, Mons Graupius with a reported slaughter, and burning homesteads the next morning. In the causal graph this event strengthens Forced-Displacement Scale, a driver that strengthens People Internally Displaced by Conflict and Violence (IDMC) — a worsening welfare path.

Read the full account

Inside the Agricola, Tacitus writes the seven campaign years: Ordovices nearly wiped out, Mona taken, forts to the Tay, a fleet around Britain, Mons Graupius with a reported slaughter, and burning homesteads the next morning. He did not hold the British command. Archival locator: Perseus — Tacitus, Agricola (English) at https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0081 (opens in a new tab) (Perseus Digital Library / Tufts). Independent locator: Britannica — Tacitus at https://www.britannica.com/biography/Tacitus-Roman-historian (opens in a new tab) (Encyclopaedia Britannica).

Context

This is the harm path of the same monograph whose biography path is improving education. Split paths, not cosmetic twins: one is a life of a father-in-law; this is a war on Caledonia. Displacement includes hostages, deported youth into service, and ‘solitudinem faciunt’. Roman ‘humanitas’ as a tool of servitude (Agricola 21) is part of this machine.

Shared responsibility is part of The Agricola narrates the conquest of northern Britain, Mons Graupius, and the making of a desert called peace. Naming Tacitus does not delete co-authors, institutions, or later transmitters. The lag from 0098-01-01 to any measured indicator is not treated as zero. Alternative explanations — weather, other armies, later statutes, or independent cultural change — remain live where the sources do not close them.

Why it matters

Publishing a conquest as glory-with-pity is still a displacement path: the book made Mons Graupius portable. Medium-high confidence on the narrative; the 10,000 figure is his claim, not a census. Later Scottish commemorations are not 98.

Who was responsible

Contribution type and responsibility level for each recorded actor — not sole-author shorthand.

  • Tacitus

    Person

    Direct responsibility

    responsibility level 0.4 · verified

    He wrote the conquest narrative. Agricola and the army did the fighting. Complex literary instrument, not his legion.

What changed

Fact → Driver → Indicator. Relationship strength orders the paths; it is not the observed indicator movement.

Evidence

The sources behind this fact and its verification state.

Verified2 sources on file
  1. 1.Perseus — Tacitus, Agricola (English)Perseus Digital Library / Tufts · High credibility · verified
  2. 2.Britannica — TacitusEncyclopaedia Britannica · High credibility · verified
What the sources establish

Perseus English Agricola 18–38 is the public campaign-and-battle stretch. Britannica independently treats the governorship of Britain 78–84 as the book’s military core. Latin Library supplies the Latin. No unique modern GIS of Graupius is claimed as his.

Established: the campaign chapters as his 98 text. Not established: the battlefield’s modern identity, or a unique refugee total. Conventional publication year. Not a UNESCO wall.

Later competitions, monuments, translations, UNESCO listings, museums, and adaptations are not converted into extra lifetime acts.

If a number is not in the two records named above, it is not supplied here.

Confidence is stated on the impact path, not hidden in adjectives. Mixed effects of The Agricola narrates the conquest of northern Britain, Mons Graupius, and the making of a desert called peace are separate paths.

That reading is an impact-path choice, not a property stored on the Fact itself.

Causal path

How this event connects to drivers and indicators in the graph.

  1. ActorTacitus
  2. contributed toFactThe Agricola narrates the conquest of northern Britain, Mons Graupius, and the making of a desert called peace
  3. strengthensDriverForced-Displacement Scale
  4. strengthensIndicatorPeople Internally Displaced by Conflict and Violence (IDMC)

Cite this page

Factrail. (2026). The Agricola narrates the conquest of northern Britain, Mons Graupius, and the making of a desert called peace. Factrail. https://factrail.ai/facts/tac-agricola-britain-conquest

https://factrail.ai/facts/tac-agricola-britain-conquest

Accessed 16 October 2026.

By the Factrail desk · Method: how we source and score · Last reviewed

Dispute this factNamed here, or represent someone who is? Request a right of reply.