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Contents ( 111)
  1. BY ADRIAN GOLDSWORTHY
  2. CONTENTS
  3. MAP
  4. PROLOGUE
  5. I
  6. In the hill country
  7. Nearer the Euphrates
  8. The same night
  9. II
  10. The temporary camp of Legio VIIII Hispana, Fifty-five miles east of Cyrrhus
  11. Fifteen days before the Kalends of March
  12. III
  13. On the training grounds outside Zeugma
  14. Fifth day before the Nones of March
  15. In the house of Simon the merchant, Nicopolis
  16. The next day
  17. IV
  18. The temporary camp of Legio VIIII Hispana
  19. V
  20. Outside Nicopolis
  21. Eleventh day before the Kalends of April
  22. Nicopolis
  23. The same day
  24. VI
  25. On the road to the crossing at Zeugma
  26. Tenth day before the Kalends of April
  27. VII
  28. Zeugma
  29. Seventh day before the Kalends of April
  30. VIII
  31. The camp of VIIII Hispana
  32. One day before the Nones of April
  33. Nicopolis
  34. The same day, late afternoon
  35. IX
  36. Outside Nicopolis
  37. Eighth Day before the Ides of April
  38. X
  39. Near Nicopolis
  40. A little later
  41. XI
  42. In the plain in front of Nicopolis
  43. The Ides of April
  44. Nicopolis
  45. The same night
  46. XII
  47. In front of Nicopolis
  48. Eighteenth day before the Kalends of May First day of the siege
  49. XIII
  50. Outside Nicopolis
  51. Seventeenth day before the Kalends of May Second day of the siege
  52. XIV
  53. Outside Nicopolis
  54. Fifteenth day before the Kalends of May The fourth day of the siege
  55. Nicopolis
  56. The sixth day of the siege
  57. XV
  58. Up country
  59. Thirteenth day before the Kalends of May The eighth day of the siege
  60. XVI
  61. Zeugma
  62. That same night
  63. XVII
  64. The siege lines outside Nicopolis
  65. Eleventh day before the Kalends of May The tenth day of the siege
  66. XVIII
  67. The large camp to the east of Nicopolis
  68. Tenth day before the Kalends of May The eleventh day of the siege
  69. Nicopolis
  70. Late on the fourteenth night of the siege
  71. XIX
  72. Before Nicopolis
  73. Fifth day before the Kalends of April Sixteenth day of the siege
  74. XX
  75. Outside Nicopolis
  76. The Kalends of May The twenty-first day of the siege
  77. XXI
  78. Before Nicopolis
  79. The day before the Nones of May The twenty-sixth day of the siege
  80. Nicopolis
  81. The next day The twenty-seventh day of the siege
  82. XXII
  83. North west of Nicopolis, some miles from the road
  84. Fifth day before the Ides of May The thirty-second day of the siege
  85. XXIII
  86. In front of Nicopolis
  87. The day before the Ides of May The thirty-fifth day of the siege
  88. XXIV
  89. Outside Nicopolis
  90. The Ides of May
  91. The thirty-sixth day of the siege
  92. XXV
  93. The breach in the western wall
  94. XXVI
  95. Outside Nicopolis
  96. Seventeenth day before the Kalends of June The thirty-seventh day of the siege
  97. The prison at Nicopolis
  98. Three days later
  99. The forty-first day of the siege
  100. XXVII
  101. The citadel at Nicopolis
  102. The last hours of the fourteenth day before the Kalends of June
  103. The forty-first day of the siege
  104. XXVIII
  105. Nicopolis
  106. The same night
  107. EPILOGUE
  108. The next morning
  109. HISTORICAL NOTE
  110. GLOSSARY
  111. CAST OF CHARACTERS

‘Sisyphos,’ Arrian whispered and Ferox hoped that that was not bad luck, and that the damned thing would not reach near the top only to roll back every time. So slow was the progress of the tower, that the walls and the cliff on which they stood seemed higher than ever. After a while there was a pause, the tower braced and held in place, while the cables were taken to the next set of pulleys, and the ascent resumed.

The first stone hummed through the air, missed the side of the tower by a good six feet and kept going to fall harmlessly in one of the few open spaces.

‘Ah,’ Arrian said. ‘Well, I cannot say I am surprised.’

More stones and bolts followed, and some clanged against the iron plates on the front of the tower or now and then thumped into the padded sides. The Roman artillery responded, aiming at anyone they saw on the top of the wall, or waiting for the hatches to open so that a catapult could shoot.

The noise grew, punctuated by cheers when a hit was scored. Arrian, Ferox and a couple of other officers crouched behind a stretch of earth rampart to watch as the tower continued its climb. After a while, when the ropes had shifted to the final set of pulleys, Rufus came in to join them.

‘Nearly there,’ he gasped nervously. Crispinus, along with Cerialis and other senior staff were in an observation tower built some way back, but the centurion did not seem eager to join them. The primus pilus had remained on the western side, in charge both from his rank and as the chief engineer of the siege works there in case the Nicopolitans saw an opportunity to attack while everyone was focused on the opposite side of the city.

‘Come on, girl, easy does it.’ Rufus had a tight grip on the top of the parapet, his head higher than it needed to be, so intent was he on watching the progress of the ladder. He was the senior engineer here and now, and also the man who had designed the tower and supervised the repairs and rebuilding after the storm. The siege tower crept up the ramp.

‘You can do it, go on, go on.’

By now the top of the siege tower was higher than the rampart of the curtain wall, although still a little beneath the towers. A few of the archers dared a shot, bobbing up, loosing an arrow and then ducking down. One of the scorpiones spat out its bolt and skill or blind chance sent the missile through a slit in one of the towers. Someone cheered from inside, and the shouting spread, so that for a moment even the men hauling the ropes hesitated.

‘No, go on, go on,’ Rufus begged them. The tower crawled the last few yards stopping almost at the edge of the ramp, which did not reach to the wall itself. ‘That’s it, that’s it!’