Gnaeus Julius Agricola (13 June 40-23 August 93) was Governor of Roman Britain from 78 to 85, succeeding Sextus Julius Frontinus and preceding Sallustius Lucullus.
Biography[]
Gnaeus Julius Agricola was born in Forum Julii, Gallia Narbonensis, Roman Empire (present-day Frejus, Provence, France) on 13 June 40 to a family of Roman senatorial rank. He served as a Roman Army tribune in Legio II Augusta under Gaius Suetonius Paulinus from 58 to 62, and he participated in the suppression of Boudicca's uprising in 61. He became Quaestor in 64 and served in Roman Asia, and he became tribune of the plebs in 66 and praetor in 68. Agricola's mother was murdered in Liguria by Otho's marauding fleet during the Year of Four Emperors in 69, and Agricola was given command of Legio XX Valeria Victrix in Roman Britain by Emperor Vespasian. Agricola took part in campaigns against the Brigantes in northern England, and he governed Gallia Aquitania from 73 to 76, served as suffect consul in 77, and served as governor from 78 to 85. He forced the Britons of Anglesey to submit to Roman rule, and he also saw Romanization, encouraging communities to build towns on the Roman model and educating the sons of the native nobility in the Roman manner. He also expanded Roman rule north into present-day Scotland, and he launched an expedition to Ireland to restore Tuathal Teachtmhar as High King in 81 AD. In 82 AD, he went to war with the Caledones and defeated them at the Battle of Mons Graupius in 84 AD, leading to the full conquest of Scotland. Agricola established a fort at Cawdor (Inverness) and then had a Roman fleet circumnavigate the northern coast of Scotland to prove that Britannia was, in fact, an island. He was recalled from Britain in 85, as his victories in Britain outshone Emperor Domitian's modest victories in Germania. He declined an offer to govern Roman Africa due to ill health, and he died in Gallia Narbonensis in 93 AD at the age of 53.