 How can a legion of the Roman army just disappear from history? Well this is the case when it comes to legion 9 Hispana, also known as the Ninth Legion, a mystery that has puzzled historians for centuries. This video will go through some of the main theories about this mystery. I would also be interested in hearing your thoughts about the disappearance of the Ninth Legion, please let me know in the comments below. For a little context as far as timelines, the Ninth Legion existed from at least 58 BC to some time in the 2nd century AD, with the last concrete evidence of the Ninth Legion being in existence, coming in 108 AD at York. What is clear is that the Ninth Legion did not exist by the time of the reign of Septimius Severus, who ruled the Roman Empire from 193 to 211 AD. As the Ninth Legion was not included in two identical but independent lists, of the 33 legions existing in this period. So between 108 AD and the reign of Septimius Severus, late in the 2nd century AD, the Ninth Legion literally vanishes from history. The Ninth Legion first came to Britain around 43 AD, under Emperor Claudius during the Roman invasion of Britain, and it was involved in various conflicts in the coming decades, from helping to suppress Boudicca's revolt around 60 AD, to fighting against the Caledonians in the north of Scotland, and the Battle of Mons Grapeus around 83 or 84 AD. One popular theory for the Legion's disappearance is that it was wiped out by the Caledonians, a fierce tribal confederation that made up part of ancient Scotland. The story goes that the Ninth Legion may have been sent north to quash a rebellion of the Caledonians, and they were ultimately picked off and wiped out. It is the story of an underdog defeating a bully, a native people defeating a foreign imperial occupying force. It was popularised in a work of historical adventure, a novel written by Rosemary Sutcliffe called The Eagle of the Ninth in the 1950s. But is there any truth to this narrative? Well the context of Roman Britain at this point does lend support to this narrative. The early 2nd century AD was a deeply traumatic period for the Romans in Britain. The Roman writer Fronto observed that in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian, who ruled from 117 to 130 AD, large numbers of Roman soldiers were killed in Britannia. A tombstone recovered from Italy tells us that emergency reinforcements of over 3,000 men were rushed to Britain early in Hadrian's reign. The Britons could not be kept under Roman control. Furthermore, we know that during the 2nd century AD, the Romans constructed two walls, one in modern-day Scotland known as Antonin's Wall and one in the north of England known as Hadrian's Wall. Although there was a variety of reasons for the construction of these walls, we know for a fact that the Romans were trying to fortify their position in Britain and were trying to protect themselves from the native tribes, from attacks from the native people. In the words of Emperor Hadrian's biographer, Hadrian was the first to build a wall 80 miles long to separate the Romans from the Barbarians. This is all to say that the Roman occupation of Britain at this moment in time in the early 2nd century AD was a highly volatile place. Many of the Barbarians, as the Romans called them, were always very conscious of framing events in their favour. Many of these local tribes were rebelling against Roman rule. Interestingly, and this is a highly important piece of information and a story that has very few facts, this is potentially a smoking gun. When Hadrian came to Britain in 122 AD, he brought an entirely new legion with him, the legion of the 6th. Furthermore, where this legion was stationed once they arrived in Britain gives us clues to what had happened in Britain in the years prior to their arrival in 122 AD. When the 6th legion arrived in Britain, they were stationed in York, a fortress that was synonymous with the 9th. The 9th legion after all had helped to construct this fortress and they had been stationed there in numerous times. In Roman times, the fortress was known as Iboracum. The movement of the 6th legion to York suggested the great losses of personnel alluded to by frontal had occurred within the ranks of the 9th. As Dr Miles Russell, the senior lecturer in prehistoric and Roman archaeology at Bournemouth University wrote in a BBC article. The last concrete piece of evidence left by the 9th legion is also found at York in 108 AD. It was in the form of an immense stone inscription. They recorded the completion of building work in the fortress and as it lists a set of titles for the Emperor Trajan, it can be securely dated to the year AD 108. Another element adds to the potential credibility of the idea that the 9th legion were wiped out in battle probably against the Caledonians but it might have been a wider conflagration that included various other local tribes such as the Brigantes. The Brigantes of Northern England, the land we call Northern England today, quite a large tribe and it could have been a alliance between the Caledonians, the Brigantes and other forces that attacked the Romans. But another element that gives this narrative credence is the fact that if the Romans did suffer a major loss against the local tribes, the Romans would be in their interest to keep this quiet. Obviously it would have been very embarrassing for the Romans and it would have damaged their reputation if the local tribes at a bunch of barbarians and farmers as they would have saw them managed to wipe out an entire legion with the legion being around 5,500 men. A considerable force not to be taken lightly. So the Romans obviously we understand that they understood optics and public relations in general. Julius Caesar for instance wrote his commentaries on the conquest of Gaul for a Roman audience. It was written as propaganda for a Roman audience and it was meant to obviously make Caesar look fantastic. So if the Romans did suffer heavy defeats in Britain to the point that entire legion was wiped off the map it would make sense for the Romans to keep this quiet. It would hardly play well for the Romans to tell the Roman public we just got smoked in Caledonia. The idea that the Ninth legion was wiped out by the Caledonians or some sort of alliance of Celtic tribes is only one theory however. There are various other theories some of these theories include a potential mutary within the Ninth legion and they rebelled against the Romans and the Romans dealt with them swiftly and effectively but probably kept us quiet as well because that would have been embarrassing. There's not basically any evidence for this but that has been posited as one theory. Another theory which is perhaps a little more mundane is that the Ninth legion was simply transferred from Britain to parts of Europe and ultimately to the eastern section of the Roman Empire and died in battle in the eastern section of the Roman Empire. Various theatres of war have been proposed for the final downfall of the Ninth legion including the Third Jewish Revolt in the Roman province of Judea from around 132 to 135 A.D. to Marcus Aurelius's war against Parthia, Fortan Armenia and lasting from around 161 to 166 A.D. Three time-stamped tiles bearing the unit number of the Ninth found in the Netherlands have been used to support this idea suggesting that the Ninth may have been based there from around 120 A.D. The problem with this theory of redeployment however is that many argue that the tiles found seem to date to around the 80s A.D. when detachments of the Ninth were indeed on the ring fighting Germanic tribes. They do not prove that the legion left Britain for good and the last concrete piece of evidence of the Ninth legion is found at York, in Britain and 108 A.D. Ultimately, outside of some earth-shattering discovery, archaeological or historical discovery, the mystery of the Ninth legion will remain a mystery and subject to debate. On the balance of evidence however, it seems more likely or most likely out of the various scenarios and there's many more on top of what we went through today but these are some of the key scenarios. The Ninth legion was sent north to Caledonia to suppress a revolt by the native people and they were picked off and wiped out, ultimately leading to vanishing from history. Roman Britain between around 108 A.D. and the arrival of Hadrian and 122 A.D. was a very volatile place and it seems that the Ninth legion was probably swallowed up by that volatility. But let me know your thoughts in the comments below I would be really interested to hear your position on it and any interest in sources that you've come across. Speaking of Hadrian's Wall, I did it to make a video on location at Hadrian's Wall. To watch it, please click here. Thanks for watching, please subscribe and hit the bell and tell your friends and family about this channel, give this video a like. Thanks again for watching and I'll see you next time.