The Eagle of the Ninth
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| The Eagle of the Ninth | |
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 Puffin's 50th anniversary edition |
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| Author | Rosemary Sutcliff |
| Illustrator | C. Walter Hodges |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Historical novel |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press |
| Publication date | 1954 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback) |
| Pages | 255 pp |
| Followed by | The Silver Branch |
The Eagle of the Ninth is a historical adventure novel for children written by Rosemary Sutcliff and published in 1954. The story is set in Roman Britain in the second century AD, after the building of Hadrian's Wall. A young Roman officer, Marcus Flavius Aquila, is trying to discover the truth about the disappearance of his father's legion in northern Britain. Travelling beyond Hadrian's Wall, in disguise as a Greek eye doctor, Aquila finds that a demoralised and mutinous Ninth Legion was annihilated by a great rising of the northern tribes. In part, this disgrace was redeemed by a heroic last stand by a small remnant around the legion's eagle standard. Aquila's hope of seeing the lost legion re-established is dashed, but he is able to bring back the 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.
The Eagle of the Ninth is one of Sutcliff's earlier books, but may be her most well-known title. It is the first in a sequence of novels, followed by The Silver Branch, The Lantern Bearers, 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 ring bearing the insignia of a dolphin.
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[edit] Historical basis
Sutcliff wrote in a foreword that she created the story from two elements: the disappearance of the Legio IX Hispana (Ninth Legion) from the historical record, following an expedition north to deal with Caledonian tribes in 117; and the discovery of a wingless Roman eagle in excavations at Silchester. At the time of writing, this was a widely accepted theory.[1] Fifty years on, however, scholarly opinion disputed this. There are extant records for the Ninth Legion later than 117, and it is now believed to have been annihilated in the east of the Roman Empire.[2] The museum housing the Silchester eagle states that it "is not a legionary eagle but has been immortalized as such by Rosemary Sutcliff."[3] She also assumed that the legion's title of "Hispana" meant that it was raised in modern Spain, but it was probably awarded this title for victories there.
[edit] Adaptations
A BBC television serial was made of the book in 1977, scripted by Bill Craig and two others with Anthony Higgins as Marcus Aquila.[4]
The BBC also produced a Home Service dramatisation, broadcast on Children's Hour, in about 1956 with Marius Goring in the lead role, which used the music "Pines of the Appian Way."
A film adaptation has been announced for 2010,[5] with Kevin Macdonald as director and Jamie Bell in the cast.[6]
[edit] References
- ^ Cf., Winston Churchill, A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, vol.1 (1956).
- ^ The article Legio VIIII Hispana (sic) mentions a stay in Nijmegen in 121 and suggests that the Ninth was finally destroyed during the Bar Kochba Revolt in Palestine or in a conflict with the Parthian Empire in 161.
- ^ Reading Museum's Silchester Eagle PDF.
- ^ IMDb page for "The Eagle of the Ninth" (1977 TV-series).
- ^ IMDb page for "The Eagle of the Ninth" (2010 movie).
- ^ Raphael, Amy (5 April 2009). "We went from a state of crisis to State of Play". The Observer. http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/apr/05/state-of-play-kevin-macdonald.
