NERO'S KILLING MACHINE; The True Story of Rome's Remarkable Fourteenth Legion

Dando-Collins, Stephen

ISBN 10: 0471675016 / ISBN 13: 9780471675013

Published by John Wiley & Son, Inc, Hoboken, New Jersey, 2005

About this Item

8vo, brown boards with gold lettering on spine, illustrated with an Atlas consisting of 5 maps, archival mylar-protected pictorial dust jacket (price-clipped) by Corbis, xiv + 322 pages. EXCEPTIONAL CONDITION: tight, bright, clean in comparable sharp dust jacket. Rome's Fourteenth Legion, LEGIO XIV G M V [Gemina Martia Victrix, "Twinned Martial and Victorious"] was raised from defeat after being wiped out by an ambush in Gaul when led by none other than the great Julius Caesar. Thereafter, after being "raised" again (i.e., reconstituted), the legion was honored by receiving the cognomen Martia Victrix (martial and victorious) for their outstanding service in the Pannonian War c. AD 9. Under Germanicus, they retaliated against Arminius and the Germans who had destroyed 3 of Caesar Augustus's legions in the Teutoberg Forest. Never resting for long, the 14th Legion fought bravely at the decisive battle of Actium in AD 31, where it was combined with another understrength legion; thereby receiving the cognomen "Gemina" or twinned) Thereafter, the brave legionaires defeated more than 200,000 raging Britons led by Queen Boadicea in AD 61. Its spectacular victory led Emperor Nero to call it "Conqueror of Britain." Subsequently, Legion XIV G M V fought to the end of the Roman Empire in the fifth century C.E. Noteworthy engagements included combat during the Year of the Four Emperors (69); the revolt of Saturninus (89); the Dacian Wars (101-106); Marcus Aurelius's Marcomannic campaign (168-180); and under Septimius Severus (193-98 C.E.). An extremely well researched study of one of Rome's most celebrated legions. EXCEPTIONAL CONDITION: tight, bright, clean in a comparable dust jacket (price-clipped).

Seller Inventory # 4269

Bibliographic Details

• Title: NERO'S KILLING MACHINE; The True Story of Rome's Remarkable Fourteenth Legion
• Publisher: John Wiley & Son, Inc, Hoboken, New Jersey
• Publication Date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0471675016
• ISBN 13: 9780471675013
• Binding: Boards
• Illustrator: maps
• Edition: First U.S. Edition, First Printing.
• Condition: Very Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Fine
• Seller catalogs:
  • Military & War

About this title

Synopsis

The 14th Gemina Martia Victrix Legion was the most celebrated unit of the early Roman Empire, a force that had been wiped out under Julius Caesar, reformed, and almost wiped out again. After participating in the a.d. 43 invasion of Britain, the 14th Legion achieved its greatest glory when it put down the famous rebellion of the Britons under Boudicca. Numbering less than 10,000 men, the disciplined Roman killing machine defeated 230,000 rampaging rebels, slaughtering 80,000 with only 400 Roman losses, an accomplishment that led the emperor Nero to honor the legion with the title "Conqueror of Britain." In this gripping book, second in the author's definitive histories of the legions of ancient Rome, Stephen Dando-Collins brings the 14th Legion to life, offering military history aficionados a unique soldier's-eye view of their tactics, campaigns, and battles.

About the Author

STEPHEN DANDO–COLLINS is the author of Caesar’s Legion: The Epic Saga of Julius Caesar’s Elite Tenth Legion and the Armies of Rome (Wiley). He is an Australian-born researcher, editor, and author who has spent the last three decades identifying and studying the individual legions of the Roman army of the late Republic and the empire of the Caesars.