Dreßler, Enno E. Anno Domini IX

When Germania rose up against Rome. In 9 AD, near the Teutoburg Forest, an army of tribal warriors from Lower Germania defeated Varus's army worm consisting of three elite Roman legions, three squadrons of cavalry, six cohorts of auxiliaries, and a huge troop. Their leader was the young Cheruscan prince Sigfrid, who commanded the auxiliary troops under the name Arminius. Was he a traitor? Or what an inexorable fate, the whims of the gods and a great love had made of him? - Carried off to Italy as a hostage, Sigfrid is educated and adopted by General Gaius Albius Arminius.

All paths seem open to him. But a love affair brings him into the thick of a conspiracy against Augustus, who conscripts him for military service in the troubled province of Illyria. Sigfrid proves himself, is raised to the rank of knight and transferred to the Rhine. He sees his family again and finds the love of his life in his cousin Ildiko, but also experiences the cruelty of the Romans towards his countrymen. At first he remains loyal to Augustus. But when he accompanies the new governor Publius Quinctilius Varus to Germania on the right bank of the Rhine as leader of the auxiliary troops in 7 AD, fateful events occur that will change everything ...

The novel incorporates the latest archaeological research as well as the Roman and Germanic world of gods. Let it catapult you into the time around the birth of Christ and enter the fascinating world of Romans and Germanic tribes, gods and spirits. Experience three decades of Roman-Germanic history as a contemporary witness and accompany Arminius on his legendary journey from a Roman hostage to the leader of the greatest uprising that ever shook the Roman Empire; in passing, you will acquire the technical terms of provincial Roman and classical archaeology. Here are three extracts: "Sigfrid gazes at the road, lost in thought, as if he suspected the fate of his beloved, and the pavement blurs before his eyes, as if to spare him great suffering." / "At night Sigfrid holds communion with the dead at Irmgard's grave. Suddenly he feels a hand gently stroking through his hair. 'You must go!" whispers Irmgard. Sigfrid awakens, pulls twigs from his hair and rides off at dawn." / "Varus closes his eyes, lowers his head, lets out a soft sigh, slumps in the glare of a flash of lightning and freezes at the thunder."

Enno E. Dreßler studied art history, classical archaeology and Egyptology in Munich and Würzburg from 1983 to 1989 (degree: Magister Artium). He then became a newspaper reporter, radio editor and PR journalist.