Adrian Goldsworthy: Vindolanda

spatha :another Latin term for sword, which it is now conventional to employ for the longer blades used mainly by horsemen in this period.

stationarii :soldiers detached from their parent units and stationed as garrison elsewhere, often in a small outpost.

tesserarius :the third in command of a century after the optio and signifer . The title originally came from their responsibility for overseeing sentries. The watchword for each night was written on a tessera or tablet.

tribune:each legion had six tribunes. The most senior was the broad-stripe tribune ( tribunus laticlavius ), who was a young aristocrat at an early stage of a senatorial career. Such men were usually in their late teens or very early twenties. There were also five narrow-stripe or junior tribunes ( tribuni angusticlavii ).

Tungrians:a tribe from the Rhineland. Many Tungrians were recruited into the army. By AD 98 a unit with the title of Tungrians was likely to include many men from other ethnic backgrounds, including Britons. In most cases, the Roman army drew recruits from the closest and most convenient source. The Batavians at this period may have been an exception to this.

ADRIAN GOLDSWORTHY studied at Oxford and became an acclaimed historian of Ancient Rome. He is the author of several books, including Anthony and Cleopatra , Caesar , and The Fall of the West .

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First published in the UK in 2017 by Head of Zeus Ltd.

© Adrian Goldsworthy, 2017

The moral right of Adrian Goldsworthy to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

This is a work of fiction. All characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN (HB) 9781784974688

ISBN (XTPB) 9781784974695

ISBN (E) 9781784974671

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