ROMAN BRITAIN’S MISSING LEGION: WHAT REALLY HAPPENED TO IX HISPANA?

◗ Simon Elliott ◗ Pen & Sword Military (2021) ◗ £19.99 ◗ 208 pages (Hardback) ◗ ISBN:9781526765727 ◗ pen-and-sword.co.uk

The author managed to spring a lot of stuff on me in this book that I didn’t know. This is always a good thing. Now a lot of authors have written about the‘missing IXth legion, so why go for this book?

The book starts with two background chapters. The first covers the army of the Principate. The second looks at early Roman Britain. Then the author points out that there are four main theories as to where the legion may have disappeared. In the north of Britain, in London (which was a real surprise to me), on the Rhine/Danube frontier, and lost in the east in various wars either against the Jews or the Parthians.

Simon Elliott takes us through each of the four possibilities, each of which gets a chapter. He sifts the evidence bringing in literature, archaeology, original inscriptions and generally presents what I felt was a fair and interesting analysis of each of the four options.

Finally in the conclusion he explains which he feels is the most likely. But you’ll have to buy the book to find out. There again, it’s a good book, I don’t think you’ll regret it.