Set in Britain in the second century AD, The Eagle of the Ninth is the story of Marcus Aquila, a young Roman officer on his first leadership assignment. The son of a member of the famous lost Ninth Legion, Marcus is determined to discover what happened in the north, why his father never returned, and hopes to reclaim the Legion's eagle - a bronze standard that serves as a symbol of the power and might of Rome.
I first read The Eagle of the Ninth at school, part of a curriculum that emphasised the history, culture and language of ancient Rome, and remember being fascinated by the book. It's been in the back of my mind on my mental To Re-read list for some time, and I came across a copy at the library while searching for Watership Down. It was with eagerness that I began reading, but either the novel or, more likely, the timing, just didn't work, and I couldn't make much headway - every time I went to pick it up my heart sank just a little and I gave up on it only a quarter of the way through.
I don't know why this is: the topic interests me, the era and the cultures fascinate me, and I have a strong - albeit elderly - foundation that includes five years of Latin and a year of Classical Civilizations (the philosophy, art, plays, poetry and culture of ancient Greece and Rome) to support my reading. This all leads me to suspect that the fault lies not with the book but within me and the time I chose to revisit it.
The book was a BBC television series in the mid-seventies, and a film is currently in pre-production, so I suspect interest in it will be renewed. The book is, in the interim, a classic much loved by educators and I may attempt to re-read it again at a more auspicious time. - Alex
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