Professor Fulford uncovers the real story behind 'The Eagle' movie

Thursday, 24 March 2011

Professor Mike Fulford with the bronze eagle

New research from Professor Mike Fulford, from the Department of Archaeology, has shed light on the mysterious Roman artefact starring in this spring's blockbuster movie, 'The Eagle'. He presented his findings at the press launch of the film earlier this month.

The original eagle statue was found in 1866 at the Roman town of Calleva near Silchester in Hampshire, which the University's Archaeology Department have been excavating and researching since 1997. This was also the location for the film's official press day, where Professor Fulford gave journalists a tour of the site and told them about his research which suggests the true story behind the eagle.

The film, starring Jamie Bell, Channing Tatum and Donald Sutherland, is based on books by Rosemary Sutcliff, who took inspiration from the discovery of the Roman bronze eagle statue.

View photos from 'The Eagle' press launch: http://www.flickr.com/photos/universityofreading/sets/72157626200032793/

The true story behind the eagle

In 1866 while excavating the principal public building of the Roman town, the Revd James Joyce discovered the remains of a spectacular bronze eagle. Revd Joyce believed the eagle to once be the imperial standard of a Roman legion that was hidden when the legion was attacked, its owners desperate not to let their treasure fall in to enemy hands.

It was this interpretation of the bird as an imperial standard which inspired Rosemary Sutcliff's book 'The Eagle of the Ninth', first published in 1954, while Joyce's speculation about how it came to its final resting place was later used in her 'The Silver Branch' published in 1957.

Nineteenth century excavation of the site where the eagle was first found suggested it was part of a statue that stood in the town's great second-century town hall, which burnt down in the third century. However, new research by Professor Fulford, strongly suggests that the bronze bird stood in the royal palace of the native British King that ruled that part of Britain on behalf of the Roman Empire, long before the Romano-British town hall was built.

Professor Fulford said: "A combination of accumulated knowledge and close study have shown the eagle was almost certainly part of a statue of the Roman god Jupiter and not part of a legionary standard. It's likely that the Romans gave the statue to the local ruler who ruled this part of southern Britain on behalf of Rome. The probable donor was Nero himself as it was he who ordered the construction of the palace for his tribal ally."

At some stage the palace's eagle suffered substantial damage.  So important to the local ruler was the eagle, he had it repaired. Once fixed, it probably continued to reside in the royal palace until the building was destroyed, either by accidental fire or during renewed unrest, probably sometime in the 80s AD. During that mysterious destruction, the eagle was buried under the rubble of the palace, which ended up as part of the 'hardcore' platform on which Silchester's Roman town hall was built.