This is a really interesting book, I love being sent books on topics and events I had no clue about. Which seems to be a lot…
So Thebes is in Egypt, I get that but I didn’t realise there was a Roman Theban legion that were massacred in what we now call Switzerland.
The initial description of this comes from writing by Bishop Eucharius in AD383. Yet there was very little supporting evidence that this Theban legion existed of that they were massacred because they refused to follow orders.
The author Donald O’Reilly has spent a long time piecing this together and looks like this mystery is totally interwoven with the last days of the Roman Empire. It also provides some interesting insights to the early periods of Christianity and the Constantine meeting of the bishops at Nicea.
This book is much more than a look at the mystery surrounding the legion. This is a very interesting read about the lead up to the last days of Empire.
One mind blowing fact for me, was the discovery of a hoard of Egyptian Roman coins found on London. Also the church as an important feature in peoples lives during this period of time. I didn’t realise the church was so established in the 3rd century. I had not thought about it before.
I really did enjoy reading this book and it was not what I was expecting. To be fair I was expecting a book about an event similar to Varus’s lost legions in Germany.
A pleasant surprise. This is a good book to help understand the period in more detail.
You can buy the book here from Pen and Sword books.
Please note I was not paid to write this review but was sent a review copy of the book. All comments are my own, and the publishers have not amended the review in any way.