Motion picture: Centurion, 2010.
Directed by Neil Marshall.
While Rome was an undisputed superpower of the ancient world that forged its fate on the strength of its military might, her large standing army was never indestructible. Many a time in her long military history, her legions (each 5,000 man strong) suffered catastrophic defeats at the hands of enemies – a noted being the battle of Teutoburg forest where three roman legions were wiped out in an ambush staged by a coalition of Germanic tribes during the reign of the first roman emperor, Augustus.
Among the four legions stationed in Britain in the 2nd century. The legio IX Hispania is speculated by some historians to be yet another legion that met with a similar fate possibly during an uprising of Britonic tribes. Formed by Pompey in 65 BC, the IX Hispania, also known as the Spanish Legion was a veteran army unit having participated in major conflicts with the Bull as its mascot. It was last recorded to be operating in the present day region of York, England before mysteriously disappearing off the army roster, never to reappear again.
Released in 2010 Centurion draws its inspiration from this annihilation theory and chooses to depict a hypothetical scenario to suggest how the legion could have possibly met its end. The story line revolves around a handful of survivors, who having somehow escaped the massacre of the ninth (at the hands of the Picts, one of Rome’s historic enemies), attempt to make their way back to their own lines through hostile enemy territory under the command of the Centurion Quintus Dias, a largely fictional character.
Starring Michael Fassbender (Prometheus and 300 Spartans), Olga Kurylenko (Quantum of Solace and Oblivion), Dominic West (Johnny English Re-born), Liam Cunningham (Clash of the Titans) and Noel Clark (Star Trek into Darkness), the movie despite its historical inaccuracies and hypothetical story line, is a thoroughly enjoyable one specially for the fans of the Roman empire.
