Tag: Romans

Rotten Romans and The Eagle of the Ninth | Sutcliff Review of the Week

Anthony Lawton2 Comments

Rosemary Sutcliff's famous novel was first published in the UK in 1954 in hardback by OUP

Zbigniew Tycienski  grew up in south-east Poland but after time in Greece and Italy he migrated to the United Kingdom and settled in Edinburgh. Along the way, he read The Eagle of the Ninth and posted this intriguing article about one of Rosemary Sutcliff’s best historical novels.

One may at first conclude that Rosemary Sutcliff’s The Eagle of the Ninth (1954) is a book for boys about men and masculinity. Read More »

Rosemary Sutcliff influenced and inspired … Reading University lecturer Matthew Nicholls

Anthony Lawton3 Comments
Rosemary Sutcliff's famous novel was first published in the UK in 1954
UK Hardback cover 1954

Reading Sutcliff’s famous historical novel The Eagle of the Ninth helped enthuse University of Reading lecturer  Matthew Nicholls as a child about Roman history. His article in The Guardian Notes and Queries led me to ask what it was about the famous novel  which he found so ‘wonderful’

… I can remember reading The Eagle of the Ninth when I was about 7 or 8; at that age I was starting Latin at School and showing an interest in Romans, so my parents took me off to Wall near Lichfield where we lived and must have bought me the book too. It made a great impression, Read More »

The Eagle of the Ninth Book versions since 1954

Anthony Lawton3 Comments

The Eagle of the Ninth film/movie (starring Channing Tatum , Jamie Bell, Donald Sutherland, Tahir Raman, Mark Strong) is creating increased interest in Rosemary Sutcliff’s historical novel, which has sold over a million copies since it first came out in 1954. These are the versions of The Eagle of the Ninth in the UK I know of, recorded at the British Library at the time of posting.

FULL VERSIONS
  • 1954 The Eagle of the Ninth Illustrated by C. Walter Hodges. (pp. 255. Oxford University Press: London, 1954.)
  • 1977 The Eagle of the Ninth (Harmondsworth : Puffin Books, 1977) (ISBN 0140308903 (pbk))
  • 1980 Three Legions (Oxford : Oxford University Press, 1980.) (ISBN 0192714503)
  • 1985 Three Legions ([Harmondsworth] : Puffin in association with Oxford University Press, 1985, c1980.) (0140319174 (pbk))
  • 1986 The Eagle of the Ninth [New ed.] (Oxford : Oxford University Press, 1986) (ISBN 0192710370)
  • 1994 The Eagle of the Ninth (London : Puffin in associaiton with Oxford University Press, 1994.) (ISBN 0140364579 (pbk))
  • 2000 The Eagle of the Ninth (Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2000, 1954.) (ISBN 0192750453 (pbk))
  • 2004 The Eagle of the Ninth [50th anniversary ed.] (Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2004) (ISBN 0192753924 (pbk.))
  • 2005 The Eagle of the Ninth (London : Folio Society, 2005)
ABRIDGED VERSIONS
  • 1995 Escott, John. The Eagle of the Ninth (Oxford : Oxford University Press, 1995.) (0194227448 (pbk))
  • 2000 Escott, John. The Eagle of the Ninth [2nd ed.] (Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2000.) (0194230333 (pbk.))

Falco writer Lindsey Davis’s top 10 Roman books

Anthony Lawton1 Comment

The classical thriller writer, creator of private investigator and poet Falco, lists her top ten books from shelves and shelves of Roman material. She includes Rosemary Sutcliff.