The Eagle of the Ninth

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The Eagle of the Ninth is a historical adventure novel for children written by Rosemary Sutcliff and published in 1954. Set in Roman Britain in the 130s after the building of Hadrian's Wall, it is the story of a young Roman's search to discover the truth about the disappearance of his father's legion in the north of Britain.

Sutcliff explained in a foreword that she created the story from two elements: the disappearance of the Legio VIIII 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. Fifty years on, scholarly opinion disputes this. There are extant records for the Ninth legion later than 117, and it was probably annihilated in some other part of the Roman Empire. The museum housing the Silchester eagle states that it "is not a legionary eagle but has been immortalized as such by Rosemary Sutcliff".^[1] 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. However most people would recognise that she tells her story well, and her description of the background of Roman Britain seems plausible enough.^{[citation needed]}

It is one of Sutcliff's earlier books but may perhaps be her most well-known title. It is the first in a sequence of novels, followed by The Silver Branch, The Lantern Bearers, and Sword at Sunset.

A BBC television serial was made of the book in 1977. The BBC also produced a Radio 4 dramatisation.