Antoineonline.com : The eagle of the ninth (9780194791724) : Rosemary Sutcliff : Books

My Shopping Bag

(0 Item)

You have just added :

Other items :

You have 0 more Item

Total Price

$ 0.00

Check Out

Go to shopping bag

My Wishlist

(0 Item)

You have just added :

Other items :

You have 0 more Item

Total Price

View all

The Eagle Of The Ninth

by Rosemary Sutcliff

Our price: LBP 14,650Unavailable

*Contact us to request a special order. Price may vary.

I Add to my wishlist

Overview
Readers reviews (1)

Product Details

Publisher: Oxford University Press
Publishing date: 27/12/2007
Language: English
ISBN-13: 9780194791724
ISBN: 0194791726

Synopsis

In the second century AD, when the Ninth Roman Legion marched into the mists of northern Britain, not one man came back. Four thousand men disappeared, and the Eagle, the symbol of the Legion's honour, was lost. Years later there is a story that the Eagle has been seen again. So Marcus Aquila, whose father disappeared with the Ninth, travels north, to find the Eagle and bring it back, and to learn how his father died. But the tribes of the north are wild and dangerous, and they hate the Romans ...

In just a few easy steps below, you can become an online reviewer.
You'll be able to make changes before you submit your review.

A Masterpiece for History Lovers
From Amazon

In Rosemary Sutcliff's books the history of Britain comes alive through sensuous descriptions of luscious forests and ragged mountains, and characters so deeply imagined that linger in your mind after the book has ended, like childhood friends untouched by time and the drudgery of life. Her books are not popcorn historical fiction novels with anachronistic characters dressed in the costumes of the time yet keeping the ideas and sensibilities of their XX/XXI century authors. The people Rosemary Sutcliff's creates are imbued with the beliefs of their own time. And so it is that Marcus, the young centurion protagonist of The Eagle of the Ninth, pay tribute to Luth, the sun god, while the pagan tribes of Northern Britain worship gods that take animal shape in the night of the horn moon and believe the golden eagle the Roman legions carry in their standard is the Roman god. At the beginning of The Eagle of the Ninth, Marcus, following in the steps of his father (supposed dead when his legion disappeared ten years past in northern Britain) has given his oath to Mithras and taken command of his first cohort in the southern part of the island. Marcus dreams of a legion of his own and of an early retirement to a farm in the Etruscan hills that once belonged to his family. But fate has it that, in his first battle, he's seriously injured and forced to leave the army. During his long and painful recovery, Marcus hears rumors that the Roman eagle from his father lost legion is being worshipped by one of the pagan tribes up in the north. Eager to restore his father's honor and steal the eagle that could be used as a rally symbol against the hated Roman invaders should a revolt ever break anew among the dark barbarians, Marcus and his British freed slave, Ecca, travel north. All through the summer, they crisscross the wild regions beyond the wall that keeps the untamed tribes from the Roman world in search of the eagle. Rosemary Sutcliff's takes her time in creating her characters and their world. As a result The Eagle of the Ninth is not the fast paced adventure you find in an action movie, but a well crafted and realistic tale that is, at the end, much more satisfying. In my mind, a masterpiece.