"By lost I do not mean to imply that the Ninth [legion] is somehow wandering around...trying to solve a navigation problem; what I mean is that they have been wiped out, defeated, decimated, destroyed and murdered to a man. The Ninth has ceased to be...the Ninth has not been misplaced, the Ninth is no longer.
from Sacre Bleu by Christopher Moore
(It also made me laugh that this written to mirror the style of the "dead parrot sketch" by Monty Python
" 'E's not
pinin'! 'E's passed on! This parrot is no more! He has ceased to be! 'E's
expired and gone to meet 'is maker! 'E's a stiff! Bereft of life, 'e rests in
peace! If you hadn't nailed 'im to the perch 'e'd be pushing up the daisies!
'Is metabolic processes are now 'istory! 'E's off the twig! 'E's kicked the
bucket, 'e's shuffled off 'is mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the
bleedin' choir invisible!! THIS IS AN EX-PARROT!!")
The Ninth Legion was (probably) founded by Julius Caesar in Gaul about 50 BC (Remember Asterix?) and fought the in Gallic Wars. They also fought in North Africa, Spain and Germany. The last known deployment of the 9th Legion was in Britain where legions tried to keep the peace, and likely helped build Hadrian's Wall
We know the 9th Legion suffered a defeat at the hands of Boudica, and mostly likely the legion fought and died in Britain. image from pbs.org
Cartoon of Boadicea from Asterixonline.com
The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff (1954) was a plausible version of what happened to the 9th Roman legion. Scholars have disputed that the legion was destroyed, suggesting that legionaries were settled, transferred, or that the legion was disbanded. Some evidence suggests that some units, or at least legionaries, served in places like the Netherlands or Germany, but there is no evidence that the 9th was taken out of Britain. Maybe Rosemary Sutcliff was right after all.
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-12752497
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