Tiberius Claudius Maximus: The Legionary (Rebuilding the Past)

With the ingenuity of a detective Peter Connolly has brilliantly reconstructed the life of a Roman soldier -- who lived less than a hundred years after the death of Christ -- by using a vast array of archaeological material including tombstones and original Roman documents written on papyrus found in the sands of Egypt and Syria. The soldiers name was Tiberius Claudius Maximus and he served under the emperor Trajan in his great wars in Central Europe and the Middle East. Maximus was decorated three times for bravery and became famous for hunting down Romes great enemy Decebalus (leader of the Dacians whose lands covered all of what is now Romania). These two volumes trace the soldiers career from the day he entered the Seventh Legion on the Danube frontier in Central Europe in about 85 AD to the day he retired as a cavalry officer in Mesopotamia some thirty years later. They provide a unique portrait of the life of an ordinary man who lived during one of the most extraordinary periods of Western history. In addition to the text a huge amount of information is conveyed in the richly detailed illustrations that have become the trademark of Peter Connollys work. PETER CONNOLLY has written and illustrated many books for children about the Ancient World including the award-winning Legend of Odysseus. He is an honorary research fellow of the Institute of Archaeology in London. Also in the series: The Fighting Ship by Bernard Brett The Legend of Odysseus by Peter Connolly The Footsoldier by Martin Windrow and Richard Hook The Horse Soldier by Martin Windrow and Richard Hook