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Wikipedia / Calgacus

According to Tacitus, Calgacus (sometimes Calgacos or Galgacus) was a chieftain of the Caledonian Confederacy who fought the Roman army of Gnaeus Julius Agricola at the Battle of Mons Graupius in northern Scotland in AD 83 or 84.

There is debate as to the existence of Calgacus; Anthony Kamm and Simon Turney argue that Calgacus was invented by Tacitus to convey his own political opinions.

Name

The name Calgacus is of Celtic origin and generally taken to mean "swordsman" or "stinger". It appears related to the Old Irish personal name Calgaigh. The first element may be cognate with Old Irish calg ("point"), Breton calc'h ("penis") (all from a root *kalga) with the adjectival suffix *- a:k- (cf. Welsh caliog ("having a penis"); Old Irish golgach). Alternatively, in view of the meaning of the Breton and Welsh words, a name implying virility may be considered (cf. Gaulish names with *busso-, meaning the same).

Whether Calgacus is a personal name or an epithet remains unclear.

Biography

He was the first Caledonian to be recorded in history. The only historical source that features him is Tacitus' Agricola, which describes him as "the most distinguished for birth and valour among the chieftains". Tacitus wrote a speech which he attributed to Calgacus, saying that Calgacus gave it in advance of the Battle of Mons Graupius. The speech describes the exploitation of Britain by Rome and rouses his troops to fight.

The following excerpt is from the speech attributed to Calgacus by the historian Tacitus in the Agricola, but most historians note that since Calgacus was fighting Tacitus' father-in-law, Gnaeus Julius Agricola, in the battle, the reader should assume some bias:

Calgacus is not mentioned during or after the battle, and he is not named as one of the hostages Agricola took with him after putting the Caledonians to flight. Both Calgacus and the speech may be figments of Tacitus's invention.

His speech is often quoted as "they make a desert and call it peace".

References