In 1993 I read Rosemary Sutcliff's historical adventure novel The Eagle of the Ninth (1954) which tells the story of a young Roman young Roman officer searching to recover the lost Roman eagle standard of his father's legion in the northern part of Great Britain. The story is based on the Ninth Spanish Legion's supposed disappearance in Britain. I bought the novel on a trip north to see an old school friend of mine in Scotland. My wife and I were driving along part of Hadrian's Wall and stopped at one of the many forts where there was a tourist information centre, and that's where I picked the book up. The weather that March day was dreadful with torrential rain hammering down, and I remember thinking what a god forsaken spot the wall must have seemed at times to those Roman soldiers who were used to the sunny Mediterranean weather. It was a novel I greatly enjoyed, so I'm looking forward to seeing the recently released film 'The Eagle' which is based on the book.
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4 comments:
That does look good. I wasn't aware of the book until I saw a movie tie-in edition advertised at the local book store, so it's done some good regardless.
The book is well worth a read, and appeals to both older children and adults alike.
There were no Aquila (eagle standards) lost in Britain which makes me wonder why they didn't set the film in one of the areas they were lost (3 in Parthia, 1 in Spain, 1 in Germany, 1 in Dacia and 3 during the Jewish Revolt in the Middle East).
Snake
A good question, but presumably because of the book, which is so well known.
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