Was lost Roman Ninth legion wiped out in LONDON? New book hints 5,500 soldiers that vanished off face of earth were massacred after being sent south from York to supress rebelling Britons
By Harry Howard For Mailonline29 Jan 2021
They marauded on to British shores 43 years after the birth of Christ, founded the city of York - and then vanished from the historical record.
The mystery of what happened to the Roman Army's Ninth Legion, who came to these shores with Emperor Claudius's invasion, continues to vex experts.
The last mention of the legion, which was made up of 5,500 officers and men, is on a gateway in York, which dates from AD108.
The theory dramatised in children's book The Eagle of the Ninth and film The Eagle, that the soldiers were annihilated in modern-day Scotland, had fallen out of favour.
Now, a new book delves into each alternative hypothesis - that the men were killed by rebels in Roman London; that they were transferred to the Rhine; or that they were dismissed after failing to suppress an uprising in what is modern-day Palestine.
But the conclusion which Dr Simon Elliott reaches in Roman Britain's Missing Legion - What Really Happened to IX Hispana? is that the simplest explanation is the best one: the men were likely ambushed and cut to pieces by tribes in Scotland.
It is thought that this defeat could have prompted the construction of Hadrian's Wall, as well as the sending of reinforcements from Rome to replace the lost men of the Ninth Legion.
Below, MailOnline details Dr Elliott's theory, as well as the other hypotheses...
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The Roman troops of the ninth legion likely slaughtered in Scotland
The mystery of what happened to the Roman Army's ninth legion, who came to these shores with Emperor Claudius's invasion, continues to vex experts.