They marauded on to British shores 43 years after the birth of Christ, founded the city of York - and then vanished from the historical record.
The mystery of what happened to the Roman Army s Ninth Legion, who came to these shores with Emperor Claudius s invasion, continues to vex experts.
The last mention of the legion, which was made up of 5,500 officers and men, is on a gateway in York, which dates from AD108.
The theory dramatised in children s book The Eagle of the Ninth and film The Eagle, that the soldiers were annihilated in modern-day Scotland, had fallen out of favour.