Doctor Who Series 10: 7 Big Questions We're Asking After 'The Eaters Of Light'
6. What Really Happened To The NInth Legion?
The starting point for Rona Munro’s story is the second
century disappearance of the Ninth Roman (Spanish) Legion in Northern Britain:
a mystery that remains unsolved to this day. The Doctor believes that they were
wiped out on the battlefield, supporting the long held view as popularised by
the 1954 novel The Eagle of the Ninth. But Bill, armed with her A* in History, thinks she knows better.
A legion consisting of 5,000 soldiers of various lineage could be dispatched to any part of the Roman Empire and in theory the Ninth could have simply left Britain for another region. But aside from some contestable inscriptions indicating that at least some of the Legion may have been stationed in the Netherlands in 120 CE, they simply disappeared from Roman records.
We do know that during their prolonged stay in Britain the Ninth had mixed fortunes on the battleground. They sustained heavy losses in the Boudica rebellion (61 CE), but the last record of their activity in Britain tells of the rebuilding of a fortress in York (108 CE).
In truth whilst the answer is that we simply lack sufficient evidence, the story has become the stuff of legends and the old idea that they were defeated in battle is unlikely to go away. Who could resist the David and Goliath-like story of a powerful invading army being defeated by the local underdogs.
At the end of the day, this all takes place in a parallel Doctor Who universe, a convenient comeback for any historical errors, not least of which is the otherwise questionable characterisation of the Picts as Scottish.