Editing Gnaeus Julius Agricola (section)

=== Hibernia===
In 81, Agricola "crossed in the first ship" and defeated peoples unknown to the Romans until then. Tacitus, in Chapter 24 of ''Agricola'', does not tell us what body of water he crossed.<ref>Tacitus, ''Agricola'' [[Wikisource:Agricola#24|24]]</ref> Modern scholarship favours either the [[Firth of Clyde]] or [[Firth of Forth]]. Tacitus also mentions [[Ireland|Hibernia]], so southwest Scotland is perhaps to be preferred.<ref>{{cite book|first=W.S. |last=Hanson |year=1991|title=Agricola and the conquest of the north|edition=2nd|publisher= Batsford, London|pages= 93–96}}</ref> The text of the ''Agricola'' has been amended here to record the Romans "crossing into trackless wastes", referring to the wilds of the Galloway peninsula.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Campbell|first1=Duncan B.|title=Mons Graupius AD 83: Rome's battle at the edge of the world|date=2010|publisher=Osprey|location=Oxford|isbn=9781846039263}}</ref> Agricola fortified the coast facing Ireland, and Tacitus recalls that his father-in-law often claimed the island could be conquered with a single [[Roman legion|legion]] and [[auxiliaries (Roman military)|auxiliaries]]. He had given refuge to an exiled Irish king whom he hoped he might use as the excuse for conquest. This conquest never happened, but some historians believe the crossing referred to was in fact a small-scale exploratory or [[punitive expedition]] to Ireland,<ref>{{cite book|last1=Di Martino|first1=Vittorio|title=Roman Ireland|date=2006|publisher=Collins|location=Cork|isbn=9781905172191}}</ref> though no Roman camps have been identified to confirm such a suggestion.<ref>See, in general, {{cite journal |first=Duncan B. |last=Campbell |title=Did the Romans invade Ireland? |journal=Ancient Warfare|volume=8|issue=2|date=2014|pages=48–52}}</ref>

[[Irish legend]] provides a striking parallel. [[Tuathal Teachtmhar]], a legendary [[High King of Ireland|High King]], is said to have been exiled from Ireland as a boy, and to have returned from Britain at the head of an army to claim the throne. The traditional date of his return is between 76 and 80, and [[archaeology]] has found Roman or Romano-British artefacts in several sites associated with Tuathal.<ref>{{cite journal |first=R. B. |last=Warner |date=1995 |title=Tuathal Techtmar: a myth or ancient literary evidence for a Roman invasion?| journal=Emania|issue=13|url=https://www.academia.edu/7149513}}</ref>