Cleopatra's Kidnappers : How Caesar's Sixth Legion Gave Egypt to Rome and Rome to Caesar

by Dando-Collins, Stephen

• ISBN13: 9780471719335
• ISBN10: 0471719331
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-10-28
• Publisher: Wiley

Summary

A powerful tale of war, romance, and one of history's most desperate gambles Julius Caesar was nothing if not bold. When, in the wake of his defeat of Pompey at Pharsalus his victorious legions refused to march another step under his command, he pursued his fleeing rival into Egypt with an impossibly small force of Gallic and German cavalry, raw Italian recruits, and nine hundred Spanish prisoners of war-tough veterans of Pompey's Sixth Legion. Cleopatra's Kidnappers tells the epic saga of Caesar's adventures in Egypt through the eyes of these captured, but never defeated, legionaries. In this third volume in his definitive history of the Roman legions, Stephen Dando-Collins reveals how this tiny band of fierce warriors led Caesar's little army to great victories against impossible odds. Bristling with action and packed with insights and newly revealed facts, this eye-opening account introduces you to the extraordinary men who made possible Caesar's famous boast, "I came, I saw, I conquered." Praise for Caesar's Legion "A unique and splendidly researched story, following the trials and triumphs of Julius Caesar's Legio X. . . . More than a mere unit account, it incorporates the history of Rome and the Roman army at the height of their power and gory glory. Many military historians consider Caesar's legions the world's most efficient infantry before the arrival of gunpowder. This book shows why. Written in readable, popular style, Caesar's Legion is a must for military buffs and anyone interested in Roman history at a critical point in European civilization." -T. R. Fehrenbach author of This Kind of War, Lone Star, and Comanches

Author Biography

STEPHEN DANDO-COLLINS is the author of Caesar's Legion: The Epic Saga of Julius Caesar's Elite Tenth Legion and the Armies of Rome and Nero's Killing Machine: The True Story of Rome's Remarkable Fourteenth Legion, both from Wiley. He is an Australian-born researcher, editor, and author who has spent the last three decades identifying and studying the individual legions of the Roman army of the late Republic and the empire of the Caesars.

Table of Contents

Atlas

Acknowledgments

Author's Note

Introduction: Caesar in Context

Last Stand in Alexandria

Trapped

According to Brutus

The Deal

Cleopatra's War

Mark Antony, Ruler of Rome

Sailing into History

Egyptian Resistance

The Kidnap

Caesar's Baby

Defeat and Castration

Reinforcements

Taking the Island

Releasing the King

The Relief Column

Battle on the Nile

To the Victor, the Spoils

Going after Pharnaces

The Chariots of Zela

The Roman Triumphs of the 6th

One Last Battle

Porcia's Secret

After the Murder

The Wolf's Twins

The Imperial 6ths

Republican Roman Military Ranks, First Century B.C., and Their Modern-Day Equivalents

Imperial Postings of the Two 6th Legions

Sources

Glossary

Index

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