A medieval fantasy scene by a muddy marsh with a Roman SPQR sign — AI art by @faerierealm
@faerierealm · 5/29/2026
🛡️ The Lost Expedition: Rome’s Ninth Legion 🛡️ This entry didn’t do well in the Lost Expedition challenge, but we’re posting it anyway because we like it. One of history’s greatest unsolved mysteries, Rome’s Ninth Legion vanishes from Roman records some time after AD 120. The three major theories for its disappearance are: 1) Annihilation by Celtic tribes in ancient Brittania 2) Annihilation by Germanic or Parthian forces in Europe 3) Administrative disbandment due to losses such as those proposed above We like to think that whatever the reason, some of the Ninth might have laid down their swords and sought a more peaceful life by blending into local populations. In this image, a young girl examines the Ninth’s rusted eagle standard, looks back at her parents and wonders…
Tags: medieval fantasy, Roman symbolism, SPQR sign, fantasy scene, misty marsh, armor and swords, epic adventure, historical fantasy, cloaked traveler, dramatic still, mythic landscape, rustic armor, brass eagle, quest imagery, fantasy film still
Comments
CaylaCatz
they had an excuse. It's not preventable when you know about it. They did try to store up plant knowledge for medicines. That got messed up during the Witch Hunts where they went out slaughtering the healers. Much medical knowledge was lost. Partly because when the "scientific" medical field was born, it was male centric and they were making things up as they went, ignoring the knowledge base and having women who did heal killed, not just for religious reasons but becasue they were successful competitors. Villagers would go to the women healers rather than the "doctors" because their success rate of patient survival was higher.
DavidP
I know this story, ages back created an image for it to enter into a Roman themed rooms challenge. Would have shared the link but search my creations seems broken on NC. As for this challenge, maybe it was just too much of a thematic stretch to consider it an expedition? I did see it and can't remember if I picked it or not. Would have depended on the match-up.
faerierealm
Yeah, that's a good point. Historically speaking, there have been phases where men direct tremendous anger towards women. And by nature's cruel trick, they are also physically bigger than us, making it easy for them to turn that anger into violence. In my experience, women are far more nurturing and much better caregivers, and it's unfortunate that nature didn't give us the greater size and strength...
panos
I rememberd a few more about that - i can't reference the book. it is in the storeroom in the house we vae in my village. They were part of the Roman defeat at Karres and the Parthians sold them en mass to the Chinese (what a concept) so, no I don't think it was them...
panos
Oh, this was yours? I still remember it because it was inventive and original in that mostly-clones-of-DC-Header-image entries. I seem to remeber reading a fiction book about a "lost legion" perhaps it was talking about this one? I think they ended up in ...China, somehow... yeah.. DON"T ask!! 🙂
faerierealm
Yeah and the whole suffering from preventable diseases was no fun, also. (Although with RFK Jr. and MAGA in charge of health now, we're now bringing back Measles and other easily preventable diseases!)
DavidP
True. And in my mind irrespective I'd have thought of it as being lost during a military campaign rather than an expedition. But I can be a bit pedantic.
faerierealm
Oh, I see what you're saying haha. It wasn't a bunch of explorers or something. If others thought the same thing, that would certainly doom it!
CaylaCatz
That's for sure. I don't think I could live in a historical reality. For one thing, I don't have the skills to make everything from scratch.
faerierealm
Well, if they ended up in China, that wasn't a Roman legion haha. (Although anything is possible once Hollywood rewrites the script!)