The Eagle Has Fallen

The loss of an entire Legion numbering upwards of four thousand fighting men, has been spun variously from a catastrophic military defeat to an almost supernatural 'mass vanishing'.

Naturally this has meant the subject has been ripe for dramatization, as two recent films will testify. 'The Eagle' and 'Centurion' were both written as Roman stories highlighting the Ninth Legion.

However with so much speculation, the topic has often become an excuse to casually reinvent history rather than study the available facts.

This is where the inspiration for this book arose. The Eagle Has Fallen is an unravelling of that mystery and is based upon factual characters and events.

For many years Historians had a wide variety of opinion as to the fate of the Ninth Legion Hispania who were stationed in York, Eboracum. Of the three Legions based in Britain, the Ninth were responsible for keeping the peace amongst the most feared British tribe: the Brigantes.

This book is written as a re collection of the events surrounding what happened in Britain and the rest of the Roman Empire, when Hadrian came to power in 117AD:

The World was not such big a place to Rome. World domination was a possibility.

So why did Hadrian order the construction of the largest boundary in the Roman Empire?

What made the historians of the day comment 'the Britons could not be kept under Roman control'?

What happend to the Ninth Legion in York?

The idea of a permanent boundary between Roman and barbarian was unthinkable, for it would set a limit to Rome's ability to conquer. Rome saw her ability in terms of war and government. Peace was achieved by force. The Roman army operated in groups of Legions under the command of the Emperor and his generals. Their essential task was to seek out the enemy forces and destroy them in battle.

This is the true story of the Ninth Legion and a young Roman officer who served in it. His incredible story against all the odds from enemies outside and within the Roman Army.