''The Eagle of the Ninth'' is a historical adventure novel for children written by

Rosemary Sutcliff Rosemary Sutcliff (14 December 1920 – 23 July 1992) was an English novelist best known for children's books, especially historical fiction and retellings of myths and legends. Although she was primarily a children's author, some of her novel ...

and published in 1954. The story is set in

Roman Britain Roman Britain was the period in classical antiquity when large parts of the island of Great Britain were under occupation by the Roman Empire. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410. During that time, the territory conquered wa ...

in the 2nd century AD, after the building of

Hadrian's Wall Hadrian's Wall ( la, Vallum Aelium), also known as the Roman Wall, Picts' Wall, or ''Vallum Hadriani'' in Latin, is a former defensive fortification of the Roman province of Britannia, begun in AD 122 in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian. Ru ...

Plot

Discharged because of a battle wound that has left him lame in one leg, a young Roman officer Marcus Flavius Aquila tries to discover the truth about the disappearance of his father's legion in northern Britain. Disguised as a Greek

oculist Ophthalmology ( ) is a surgical subspecialty within medicine that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of eye disorders. An ophthalmologist is a physician who undergoes subspecialty training in medical and surgical eye care. Following a medic ...

and travelling beyond

with his freed ex-slave, the British native hunter Esca, Marcus finds that a demoralized and mutinous

Ninth Legion Legio IX Hispana ("9th Spanish Legion"), also written Legio VIIII Hispana, was a legion of the Imperial Roman army that existed from the 1st century BC until at least 120 AD. The legion fought in various provinces of the late Roman Re ...

was annihilated by a great rising of the northern tribes. In part, this disgrace was redeemed through a heroic last stand by a small remnant (including Marcus's father) around the legion's eagle standard. Marcus's hope of seeing the lost legion re-established is dashed, but he is able to bring back the gilded bronze eagle so that it can no longer serve as a symbol of Roman defeat – and thus will no longer be a danger to the frontier's security. Rewarded by Rome for his services, he decides to settle as a landowner and farmer in Britain with his British wife, Cottia, and his freed friend, Esca.

Development

''The Eagle of the Ninth'' is one of Sutcliff's earlier books, but may be her best-known title. It is the first in a sequence of novels, followed by '' The Silver Branch'', ''Frontier Wolf'', '' The Lantern Bearers'' (which won a Carnegie Medal), '' Sword at Sunset'', '' Dawn Wind'', ''Sword Song'', and '' The Shield Ring''. The sequence loosely traces a family, of the Roman Empire and then of Britain, who inherit an emerald

seal Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, or "true seal" ** Fur seal * Seal (emblem), a device to imp ...

ring bearing the insignia of a dolphin. The book has also been published as ''The Eagle''. It has been adapted a few times, most notably as the 2011 film '' The Eagle''.

Historical basis

Sutcliff wrote in a foreword that she created the story from two elements: the disappearance of the

Legio IX ''Hispana'' Legio was a Roman military camp south of Tel Megiddo in the Roman province of Galilee. History Following the Bar Kokhba Revolt (132-136CE), Legio VI Ferrata was stationed at Legio near Caparcotna. The approximate location of the camp of the Le ...

(Ninth Legion) from the historical record following an expedition north to deal with

Caledonia Caledonia (; ) was the Latin name used by the Roman Empire to refer to the part of Great Britain () that lies north of the River Forth, which includes most of the land area of Scotland. Today, it is used as a romantic or poetic name for all ...

n tribes in 117; and the discovery of a wingless

Roman eagle An ''aquila'' (, "eagle") was a prominent symbol used in ancient Rome, especially as the standard of a Roman legion. A legionary known as an ''aquilifer'', the "eagle-bearer", carried this standard. Each legion carried one eagle. The eagle ha ...

in excavations at

Calleva Atrebatum Calleva Atrebatum ("Calleva of the Atrebates") was an Iron Age oppidum, the capital of the Atrebates tribe. It then became a walled town in the Roman province of Britannia, at a major crossroads of the roads of southern Britain. The modern villa ...

(

Silchester Silchester is a village and civil parish about north of Basingstoke in Hampshire. It is adjacent to the county boundary with Berkshire and about south-west of Reading. Silchester is most notable for the archaeological site and Roman town of ...

). The

Museum of Reading Reading Museum (run by the Reading Museum Service) is a museum of the history of the town of Reading, in the English county of Berkshire, and the surrounding area. It is accommodated within Reading Town Hall, and contains galleries describing t ...

, which now houses the

Silchester eagle The Silchester eagle is a Roman bronze casting dating from the first or second century CE, uncovered in 1866 at Calleva Atrebatum in Silchester, Hampshire, England. It was purchased in 1980 by Reading Museum in Berkshire where it remains on displ ...

, states that it "is not a legionary eagle but has been immortalized as such by Rosemary Sutcliff". It may originally have formed part of a

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but slightly less than one-thousand ...

statue in the forum of the Roman town. Sutcliff also assumed that the legion's title of "''Hispana''" meant that it was raised in

Hispania Hispania ( la, Hispānia , ; nearly identically pronounced in Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, and Italian) was the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula and its provinces. Under the Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into two provinces: Hi ...

(now Spain and Portugal), but it was probably awarded this title for victories there. At the time Sutcliff wrote, it was a plausible theory that the unit had been wiped out in Britain during a period of unrest early in the reign of the Emperor

Hadrian Hadrian (; la, Caesar Trâiānus Hadriānus ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. He was born in Italica (close to modern Santiponce in Spain), a Roman ''municipium'' founded by Italic settlers in Hispania ...

(AD 117–138). Scholarly opinion now disputes this, for there are extant records that have been interpreted as indicating that detachments of the Ninth Legion were serving on the Rhine frontier later than the year 117, and it has been suggested that it was probably annihilated in the east of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...

. This in turn is disputed by other historians, who assert that it was indeed destroyed in northern Britain.

Sheppard Frere Sheppard Sunderland Frere, CBE, FSA, FBA (23 August 1916 – 26 February 2015) was a British historian and archaeologist who studied the Roman Empire. He was a fellow at All Souls College, Oxford. Biography The son of Noel Gray Frere, of the ...

, a Romano-British historian, has concluded that "further evidence is needed before more can be said".

In other media

Radio

* The

BBC Home Service The BBC Home Service was a national and regional radio station that broadcast from 1939 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 4. History 1922–1939: Interwar period Between the early 1920s and the outbreak of World War II, the BBC ...

produced a radio dramatisation which was first broadcast in six parts in ''

Children's Hour ''Children's Hour'', initially ''The Children's Hour'', was the BBC's principal recreational service for children (as distinct from "Broadcasts to Schools") which began during the period when radio was the only medium of broadcasting. ''Childr ...

'' between 27 February and 3 April 1957, repeated between 7 September and 12 October 1958, and later re-edited into a 90-minute radio play version broadcast in June 1963. The adaptation was by Felix Felton and

Marius Goring Marius Re Goring, (23 May 191230 September 1998) was a British stage and screen actor. He is best remembered for the four films he made with Powell & Pressburger, particularly as Conductor 71 in '' A Matter of Life and Death'' and as Julian Cr ...

took the lead role. An extract from the fourth movement of

Ottorino Respighi Ottorino Respighi ( , , ; 9 July 187918 April 1936) was an Italian composer, violinist, teacher, and musicologist and one of the leading Italian composers of the early 20th century. His compositions range over operas, ballets, orchestral su ...

's symphonic poem '' The Pines of Rome'' was used as the theme music. * It was adapted again by the BBC in a full-cast

radio drama Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine t ...

in 1996 starring Tom Smith.

Television

* A BBC television series was made of the book in 1977, scripted by Bill Craig, Donald Bull and Arden Winch, and with Anthony Higgins as Marcus Aquila.

Film

* A film adaptation titled '' The Eagle'' was released in 2011, directed by Kevin Macdonald and with

Channing Tatum Channing Matthew Tatum (born April 26, 1980) is an American actor. Tatum made his film debut in the drama ''Coach Carter'' (2005), and had his breakthrough role in the 2006 dance film '' Step Up''. He gained wider attention for his leading rol ...

as Marcus Aquila and Jamie Bell as Esca.

References

External links

Blogsite on The Eagle of the Ninth and all Rosemary Sutcliff books by her godchild and literary executor

Reading Museum PDF on the Silchester Eagle

6-part BBC Scotland 1977 TV series produced by Pharic MacLaren. Original BBC publicity notes and synopsis of the story, plus cast list and synopses for each episode. {{DEFAULTSORT:Eagle Of The Ninth, The 1954 British novels Children's historical novels Novels by Rosemary Sutcliff Novels set in Roman Britain British children's novels Oxford University Press books British novels adapted into films Novels set in the 2nd century 1954 children's books Novels about missing people Fiction set in ancient Rome Television dramas set in ancient Rome