The Quest for the Lost Roman Legions: Discovering the Varus Battlefield

I was anxiously looking forward to reading this book but having finished this painful read I am giving it the lowest rating I have ever given any book, and believe me, I have read some stinkers. Do not, if you value your sanity, purchase the 2009 paperback edition. I feel that either the author, publisher or both cheated the reader. Here's why.......

The discovery of the battlefield solves one of the greatest mysteries in military history. The book is in excess of 350 pages and for probably half those pages the author comments on the area and how he deduced the areas to search, yet there is a grand total of two (2) pictures in the entire book. One picture is of the Arminius monument in Germany and the second is a picture of an Arminius monument in the United States. Are you kidding me???

You would also think that the author/publisher would have taken the time to include maps which are relevant to the text. NOPE. There isn't even a map showing the legions route to its final destruction. Oh wait, there is but it is a half page topographical map that you need an electron microscope to read. Additionally, none of the 4 "maps" even have scale.

Oh, I almost forgot.....At the beginning of the book there is a statement saying that following page 150 there is a collection of photos. Surprise, surpise...NO PHOTOS.

May I suggest to those of you who about to author an article or book on a battle. Do us readers a favor and before you publish, pick up a book called How Can Man Die Better. It recounts the British catastrophe at Isandhlwana. Not only does it have excellent and easy to understand maps but also has panoramic photos with arrows superimposed so you can "see" the attacks on the terrain. The book is the gold standard.

This book is actually three books in one:

1) The author's first hand account of his metal detector forays into the countryside searching for the Varus battlefield. Interesting to a degree, but after the seventy-fifth Roman coin find, the excitement wears off.

2) A forensic post-mortem of the actual battle with facts gleaned from various ancient sources. These facts are then used to support the author's own theories of locations, motivations, and battle movements.

3) Purely fictional account of the battle.

Personally, I was most interested in the forensic post-mortem and a common sense "best guess" of what actually happened during that fateful conflict in September of the year 9. Unfortunately, aside from direct quotes of ancient sources, there is very little meat to this aspect of the book. The reader is left to be satisfied with a few sentences of analysis of what may or may not have actually happened. At the end, I was left wanting more - much more.

The fiction device could have worked better if the author managed to support some of the creative decisions he made with historical facts. Did Varus arbitrarily crucify people? What was the real nature of the relationship between the Romans and the Germans? The reader is left with very, very little idea on exactly what is fiction based on fact, and what is just pure, made up fiction. Also, it's widely stated in various accounts that the captured Romans were tortured at the hands of the Germans. How, exactly were they tortured? Some more details regarding this facet of the conflict would have been welcomed.

In short, the book I wanted to read (a forensic reconstruction) has yet to be written.

The book begins very well and has the kind of detail about the discoveries that draws you in. Unfortunately, as others have mentioned, there is a woeful lack of maps to help you visualize what he is talking about. I'm sure to him it was clear as a bell but to those of us who didn't spend that much time in the area it is very hard to follow.

1. Several times in the book he said something along the lines of 'I made a mistake that I would later learn to regret', but - at least for me - I think the author did a poor job of telling us later what, exactly, he meant by that. There are at least three such references that I was never able to understand the context.

2. The fictional writing in this book was superfluous and I honestly believe he added that because otherwise his book would have been 75 pages long. I read very little of it.

3. About the time the author gets transferred back to Great Britain is when the book begins to spiral down. That makes perfect sense because he is no longer on site and cannot really participate in the excavation. However, he continues to try and drag us through the fringe work that he does on the project. This is why the fictional part of the book is so heavy at the end.

If you have an interest in the topic I recommend it, but in the end I did find it lacking.

The Battle of the Teutoburger Forest is one of the most decisive battles of all time (as mentioned in the book). Based upon the recent archeological finds in Kalkriese, three books have recently been published on this battle. Having read all three, this is the best.

The author is initiator of the archeological digs that occurred, having found coins and other items that generated a series of formal searches that found a mask and many more coins and Roman artifacts. Based upon this work, it has been recognized that the lost Roman legions (17th, 18th and 19th) that were ambushed and massacred in 9AD met their end at this site (Kalkriese).

This book has two parts: (1) the author's experiences in searching for coins and artifacts in the Kalkriese and other sites and (2) an historical novel laying out the best guesses on what happened to the three Roman legions. Both parts of the book are fascinating as the interweaving of the artifact search provides more value to the historical novel.

Although there could be better maps to provide a perspective of the locations mentioned in the book, to me this was not a problem. (Partially, because I used a Michelin map of Germany to find the locations and possibly plan a visit in the future.)

If you are interested in Roman history, I highly recommend this book. It is a powerful story of a past time.

Major Clun's account stands alone among the several on offer / based on solid research and reasoning/
recommended as a rock solid primary source of information about Varus' loss of three Roman legions to
the German tribes in 9 AD...

I purchased a new, paperback edition. At the end of the "Contents" pages, under
"Maps and Photographs", is the line, "A gallery of photos can be found after page 150". This 'gallery' does not exist.
The only photograph I found was on page 340 - and it was taken in Minnesota.
I am going to return my purchase and order a hardback edition in the hope that it will be complete.
This book, subtitled "Discovering the Varus Battlefield", needs photographic records of the author's finds in addition to his written descriptions.

The battle in which the Germans defeated the Romans in 9 CE was very important in setting the stage for Germany's future. It happened right in my wife's backyard and we've visited the site several times but it's good to have

That battle happened right in my wife's back yard and we've been able to visit the site several times, so it's good Tony Clunn's story describing how he discovered it - finally in 1987, almost 2000 years after it happened and no one knew exactly where it happened. Very well written and worth reading.

I liked Mr. Clunn's book and have been fascinated by his discoveries but I could have done without his fictionalized account of the battle including fictional characters and a great deal of conjecture and dramatization. The parts discussing his search and discoveries was fascinating but it was jarring to be constantly taken out of the factual narrative and into the fictional one. The book would have been better served by the analysis of some of his archaeologist colleagues to shed some expert light onto his amateur discoveries.

THE QUEST FOR THE LOST ROMAN LEGIONS: DISCOVERING THE VARUS BATTLEFIELD
Tony Clunn
Savas Beatie, 2009
Quality Softcover, [...], 414 Pages, Photographs, Maps, Glossary, References, Index

Germanic homelands comprised modern Denmark, Southern and Central Norway, the North German coastal strip from the mouth of the Elbe to the Baltic shore, and the islands of Gotland and Bornholm. It was from these breeding grounds that warlike tribes, driven by pressures brought about by overpopulation, began their wanderings. Some lost their names, being quickly absorbed into bigger Germanic groupings during the ensuing chaos. Populating the dank and gloomy forests of Northern Europe, the German 'barbarians' who overran the Western Roman Empire were descendants of peasants who had taken up arms; at the time Emperor Tacitus wrote his GERMANIA in the late 1st Century AD, a large proportion of the male population were warriors, and their society was moving towards a crisis. Successful war leaders, normally elected only for the duration of a single campaign, were becoming accepted in a permanent capacity as chieftains. The success of many leaders attracted other tribal warbands and, in an era of constant warfare, the transition from tribe to supertribe, grouped under cunning warlords, was well under way. In the early years of the 1st Century AD, Rome decided to rationalise the northern frontier of her empire by annexing Germany up to the Elbe. The closing move, against the Marcomanni tribe, was frustrated when the new provinces in North Germany flared into revolt. Quinctilius Varus, acting on the information of Hermann, the trusted Chersuci war chief and former auxiliary officer, led three Roman legions: the XVII, XVIII, and XIX in the autumn of 9 AD to contain a rebellion in partially subdued Germanic territory. Expecting to rendezvous with levies from the Chersuci, Varus was himself led into an ambush prepared by Hermann in the Teutoburg Forest. Hermann or Arminius had served in the Roman Army and used his knowledge of its operational limitations in boggy, heavily wooded areas. Constrained by wooded hills to the left, marshes to the right, and turf walls to the front, the Roman Army sustained the initial attack, but having been marching through "friendly" territory it was strung out and disorderly and ultimately unable to extricate itself. The continual hit-and-run tactics of the Chersuci increased disorder and panic, and only a few soldiers survived to return across the Rhine River. Author and retired British Army Major Tony Clunn's THE QUEST FOR THE LOST ROMAN LEGIONS: DISCOVERING THE VARUS BATTLEFIELD does an outstanding job of weaving the few written accounts, recent archaeological evidence, and his own interpretation into a compelling account that is both well written and well organized.

Lt. Colonel Robert A. Lynn, Florida Guard
Orlando, Florida

Required reading for students of Roman history. A detective effort of very significant proportions which ends
the endless speculation of ivory tower types