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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. His name can be interpreted as Brittonic *{{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, 'possessing a blade', and is seemingly related to the Gaelic {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (meaning 'prickly' or 'fierce'). Whether the word is a name or a title is unknown.<ref name=penelope>Calgacus</ref>
BiographyEdit
He was the first Caledonian to be recorded in history.<ref name=penelope/> 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 historiansTemplate:Examples note that since Calgacus was fighting Tacitus' father-in-law, Gnaeus Julius Agricola, in the battle, the reader should assume some bias:<ref>Duncan B. Campbell, Mons Graupius AD 83, Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2010</ref>
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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.<ref>Braund, David Ruling Roman Britain: Kings, Queens, Governors and Emperors from Julius Caesar to Agricola Routledge; 1 edition (5 Sep 1996) Template:ISBN pp.8, 169</ref><ref>Wooliscroft, D. J.; Hoffman, B. Rome's First Frontier; the Flavian Occupation of Northern Scotland Tempus (June 1, 2006)Template:ISBN p.217</ref>
His speech is often quoted as "they make a desert and call it peace".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>