IMPERIAL GENERAL: The Remarkable Career of Petellius Cerialis

1-196720

Petilius Cerealis is one of the few Imperial Roman officers, below the level of Emperor, whose career it is possible to follow in sufficient detail to write a coherent biography.

Cerealis was in Britain when Boudicca's revolt erupted (60 or 61 AD) and he marched to confront her army. He lost most of his force but narrowly escaped with his own skin intact.

In 69 AD, the infamously tumultuous 'year of the four emperors', he was in Rome, the seat of conspiracy. When his uncle, none other than Vespasian, decided to make his own bid for the Imperial purple (he was to become the fourth emperor that year), Cerealis was in danger of losing his life as a traitor and had to escape from the city to join his uncle who was marching to force his way in.

A short while later he was commanding a force on the Rhine when the Batavian mutiny broke out. This time he only escaped death because he was in bed with a local girl rather than in his own tent. And so it goes on... Includes six maps and eight pages of b/w plates.