Until the fifth century, and the aftermath of the Battle of Adrianople, it would seem that almost no attempt had been made to study the heavy cavalry techniques used in the second century BC by Philip of Macedon and his son Alexander the Great. It was that renaissance, allied with the arrival of stirrups in Europe somewhere in the first half of the fifth century, that changed warfare forever. In terms of military impact, the significance of the saddle with stirrups was probably greater than the invention of the tank.
Proper and place names
Most of the names used for characters in this novel would have been common in Roman times. The following is a guide to phonetic pronunciation:
Caesarius
[Cee-zary-us]
Caius
[Kay-us]
Claudius
[Klawdy-us]
Flavius
[Flavey-us]
Gaius
[Guy-us]
Luceiia
[Loo-chee-ya]
Plautus
[Plough-tus]
Quinctilius
[Kwink-tillyus]
Quintus
[Kwin-tus]
Seneca
[Sen-nic-a]
Tertius
[Tershy-us]
Theodosius
[Theo-dozy-us]
Valentinian
[Valen-tinny-an]
Vegetius
[Ve-jeeshy-us]
The land the Romans called Britain was only the land we know today as England. Scotland, Ireland and Wales were separate and known respectively as Caledonia, Hibernia and Cambria. They were not recognized as part of the province of Britain.
The ancient towns of Roman Britain are still there, but they all have English names now. What follows is a guide to phonetic pronunciation of Roman place names, with their modern equivalents. They are numbered to correspond to the map provided.
1
Londinium
[Lon-dinny-um]
London
2
Verulamium
[Verr-you-lame-eeyum]
St. Albans
3
Alchester
4
Glevum
[Glev-vum]
Gloucester
5
Aquae Sulis
[Ack-way Soo-liss]
Bath
6
Lindinis
[Linn-dinnis]
Ilchester
7
Sorviodunum
[Sorr-vee-yode-inum]
OldSarum
8
Venta Belgarum
[Venta Bell-gah-rum]
Winchester
9
Noviomagus
[Nowy-oh-maggus]
Chichester
10
Durnovaria
[Durr-no-varr-eya]
Dorchester
11
Isca Dumnoniorum
[Isska Dumb-nonny-orum]
Exeter
12
The Colony
13
Camulodunum
[Ca-moo-loadin-um]
Colchester
14
Lindum
[Lin-dum]
Lincoln
15
Eboracum
[Eh-borra-cum]
York
16
Mamucium
[Mah-moochy-um]
Manchester
17
Dolocauthi
[Dolla-cow-thee]
Welsh Gold Mines
18
Durovernum
[Doo-rove-err-num]
Canterbury
19
Regulbium
[Re-goolby-um]
Reculver
20
Rutupiae
[Roo-too-pee-ay]
Richborough
21
Dubris
[Doo-briss]
Dover
22
Lemanis
[Leh-mann-iss]
Lympne
23
Anderita
[An-der-reeta]
Pevensey
The Legend of the Skystone
Out of the night sky there will fall a stone
That hides a maiden born of murky deeps,
A maid whose fire-fed, female mysteries
Shall give life to a lambent, gleaming blade,
A blazing, shining sword whose potency
Breeds warriors. More than that,
This weapon will contain a woman's wiles
And draw dire deeds of men; shall name an age;
Shall crown a king, called of a mountain clan
Who dream of being spawned from dragon's seed;
Fell, forceful men, heroic, proud and strong,
With greatness in their souls.
This king, this monarch, mighty beyond ken,
Fashioned of glory, singing a song of swords,
Misting with magic madness mortal men,
Shall sire a legend, yet leave none to lead
His host to triumph after he be lost.
But death shall ne'er demean his destiny who,
Dying not, shall ever live and wait to be recalled.
BOOK ONE - Invasion
I
Today is my sixty-seventh birthday, a hot day in the summer of 410 in the year of our Lord, according to the new Christian system of dating the passage of time. I am old, I know, in years. My bones are old, after sixty-seven summers. But my mind has not aged with my body. My name is Gaius Publius Varrus, and I am probably the last man alive in Britain who can claim to have marched beneath the Eagles of the Roman army of occupation in this country. The others who marched with me are not merely dead; they are long dead. Yet I can still recall my days with the legions clearly.