One of Rome’s legions is missing!
The disappearance of the Ninth Legion is a mystery that has piqued the interest of historians and archaeologists since the eighteenth century. They knew that it had formed part of the Roman garrison of Britain from the time of the emperor Claudius, but there was no record of its involvement in the great frontier works of the second century. It seemed simply to have disappeared. What had happened to it?
Now, archaeologist Duncan B. Campbell follows the trail of research down through the decades in a meticulously documented account.
In a book that has been hailed as “a model monograph … beautifully written”, we meet a diverse cast of characters, from the Elizabethan scholar William Camden, via eighteenth- and nineteenth-century British clergymen-turned-antiquarians, to German, Italian and French epigraphers; even a Colonel of the French Foreign Legion plays a part. Like a detective, Campbell cuts through the layers of myth and assembles the facts, piecing together the unfolding solution to the age-old mystery of the lost legion.
Praise for The Fate of the Ninth
A tale well told, written with exemplary clarity and scholarship. -- Prof. R.J.A. Wilson, University of British Columbia
This is a splendid book. ... History at many levels and all very well done. -- Dr. A. Fear, University of Manchester
Campbell’s elegantly written book is essential reading for anyone interested in the history of the Roman army. -- Dr. R. Cowan, author of For The Glory of Rome
An engaging and indispensable guide to the fugitive traces of the famous Ninth legion. -- Dr. N. Hodgson, Tyne & Wear Museums
To read Duncan B Campbell is to experience the ecstasy of discovery. -- Prof. J.E. Lendon, University of Virginia
This brief book will serve the general reader or undergraduate well as an introduction not just to the value of epigraphy and prosopography, but also to the weight of learning that underpins all modern work, and the need nevertheless to dig through it to pinpoint those un-evidenced romantic conjectures that have unduly influenced everything that followed. -- Dr. J. Corke-Webster, King’s College London
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