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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

BRENNUS One of the Brigantians serving in the irregular unit under Ferox. He is a one-eyed veteran after a wound suffered in an earlier fight. The name means ‘great king’ and was a common one among the Celtic tribes. V

BRUTTIUS PRAESENS, CAIUS* The legatus of Legio VI Ferrata. A fragment of a lost history records that he issued his men with snow shoes to allow them to operate during the winter in the highlands of Armenia.

CERIALIS, FLAVIUS* Attested in the Vindolanda writing tablets as the commander of cohors VIIII Batavorum at the fort in the early years of the second century, there is no evidence outside these documents concerning him. His name is revealing and suggests a connection to the rebellion of the Batavians in AD 70. Flavius was the family name of Vespasian, which suggests that he or a father/grandfather was given Roman citizenship for loyalty to Rome or changing sides at an opportune moment during this conflict. The commander mainly responsible for suppressing the revolt was Petilius Cerialis – hence Flavius from the emperor and Cerialis from the commander. In one of the writing tablets, he is referred to as king, suggesting that he belonged to the royal family of the Batavians (though the editors of the texts are more inclined to see this as sycophancy). V, ES, B, TF

CLAUDIA ENICA Daughter of the king and queen of the Brigantes – the largest tribe in northern Britain – and granddaughter of the famous Queen Cartimandua, Claudia Enica is both a fine Roman lady and the leader of her tribe. Slim and beautiful, she has the fiery red hair of her family. Trained as a warrior on an island far to the north, and educated in Gaul and Rome, she lives between two worlds. Married to Ferox – to his continuing amazement – they have been kept apart for years by the machinations of Hadrian. Claudia Enica hopes to gain formal recognition as monarch of her tribe by the Romans, and Ferox does his best to help her and most of all protect her and their children.

CLODIUS SECUNDUS (probably an assumed name). A legionary of Legio VIIII Hispana, Clodius has served for fifteen years and has a long record of offences and dereliction of duty. He enlisted in Londinium, but his origins are unknown.

CRISPINUS, M. ATILIUS The senator appointed to command Legio VIIII Hispana as its legatus legionis, Crispinus is old for the role. Born into a distinguished family, the ambitious Crispinus began his career with great hopes. As a young broad-stripe tribune, he first encountered Ferox near Vindolanda, though his father had already met the centurion during Domitian’s Dacian campaigns. Clever, perhaps over clever, Crispinus became involved in a series of intrigues in Britannia, culminating in an attempted rebellion led by Claudia Enica’s brother. Taken prisoner by the rebels, he suffered badly. For a long time, as a result of this, or suspicion that he had genuinely joined the rebels, he was declared mad and retired from public life for over a decade. This new command offers a chance to rehabilitate himself. V, ES, B