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The Eagle of the Ninth

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 2nd century AD, after the building of Hadrian's Wall.

Author

Rosemary Sutcliff

C. Walter Hodges

English

Historical novel

Oxford University Press

1954

United Kingdom

Print (hardback)

255

The Silver Branch 

Plot[edit]

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 and travelling beyond Hadrian's Wall with his freed ex-slave, the British native hunter Esca, Marcus finds that a demoralized and mutinous Ninth Legion 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' father) around the legion's eagle standard. Marcus' 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.

The produced a radio dramatisation which was first broadcast in six parts in Children's Hour 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 who also played the part of Guern the hunter; Marius Goring played Marcus and Martin Starkie Esca. An extract from the fourth movement of Ottorino Respighi's symphonic poem The Pines of Rome was used as the theme music.[5]

BBC Home Service

It was adapted again by the BBC in a full-cast in 1996 starring Tom Smith.[6]

radio drama

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.

Eagle of the Ninth