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''Casca'' is a series of paperback novels, and since January 2014, ebooks as well, created and written by author Barry Sadler in 1979. The stories revolve around the life of Casca Rufio Longinus, the soldier in the Roman legions who drove the Holy Lance into the side of Jesus Christ on Golgotha, and (in the novels) who is doomed by Jesus to wander the Earth aimlessly, always as a soldier, until the Second Coming. The character is loosely based on the Longinus legend of Christianity. Sadler wrote some of the early novels in the series while the others were assigned to ghostwriters. Two subsequent novels (''Casca 23: The Liberator'' and ''Casca 24: The Defiant'') were written by Paul Dengelegi. The current author, Tony Roberts, has written all the novels since 2006, excluding ''Casca 29: Immortal Dragon'' and ''Casca 33: The Outlaw'', which were written by Michael B. Goodwin. In April of 2013, "Casca 29: Immortal Dragon" was removed from the list of books on casca.net due to alleged plagiarism, and shortly afterwards his other novel in the series, ''Casca 33: The Outlaw'', was removed for the same reason. There is another story, in the form of an unauthorized audiobook, ''Casca: The Outcast'', which was written by Paul Dengelegi in 2004. ==Series overview== Casca was first introduced in ''Casca 1: The Eternal Mercenary''. Little is known about his early life, although vague clues are given in various books in the series. He spent most of his adult life serving the Roman empire in the Legions, and there are some scraps of information about his family. He grew up in the hill country of Etruria, now known as Tuscany, to the north of Rome. The village name was Falerno.〔''Casca 15: The Pirate''〕 When he was a child, he saw the 10th Legion march through his village en route to Gaul. His uncle, Tontine, enlisted into the army under Julius Caesar. His family died of plague and the young Casca burned the family home afterward. He enlisted into the 7th Legion at either Messilia〔''Casca 2: God of Death''〕 or Livorno.〔''Casca 1: The Eternal Mercenary〕 His first battle under the eagle of the 7th was on the German border against the Suevii when 15,000 tribesmen attacked them at dawn. Only 300 made it back into the forests of Germania. He joined the 10th Legion and was sent to Jerusalem where he was assigned to the execution detail for three prisoners, amongst whom was Jesus. At Golgotha, Casca stabbed Jesus with his spear, in an attempt to relieve Jesus of his pain and suffering. Jesus condemned Casca by saying, "Soldier, you are content with what you are. Then that you shall remain until we meet again. As I go now to My Father, you must one day come to Me." As Jesus died, blood from his wound trickled down Casca's spear and onto his hand, and Casca unknowingly tasted it after wiping sweat from his mouth, causing his body to convulse in pain. Casca did not initially understand what was happening to him until he was condemned to work in labor mines over a 30 year period. There he slowly discovered that he does not age and cannot be killed or seriously wounded. He learned that he is immortal, although he can feel all pain inflicted on his person. While his wounds heal completely, his body accumulates countless scars over the centuries. Casca possesses an affinity for spoken languages. He can master most languages that he encounters, including their dialects, colloquialisms, and sub-tongues. Casca is also superbly skilled in edged weapons. He was first trained as a Roman Legionnaire with the Gladius Iberius sword. He later improved those skills as a Gladiator in the Circus Maximus. Casca is easily recognizable by the long facial scar that he possesses. It runs from the side of his eye to his mouth in a crescent shape, giving him a permanent sneer. Casca acquired the scar while trying to short-change a local prostitute in the Holy Land. Over the years many onlookers assume that Casca received the wound while in battle; Casca just chuckles and thinks, "If they only knew." Casca knew some of the most famous people throughout history, including: * Jesus Christ - book 1 * Niccolò Machiavelli - book 3 * Heinrich Himmler - book 4 * Adolf Hitler - book 4 * Shapur II - book 6 * Attila the Hun - book 7 * Hernán Cortés - book 10 * Moctezuma II - book 10 * Tomas Torquemada - book 10 * Omar Khayyám - book 13 * Hassan-i Sabbah - book 13 * Blackbeard - book 15 * Max Immelmann - book 21 * Genghis Khan - book 22 * Marco Polo - book 24 * Robert E. Lee - books 25, 26 and 27 * William the Conqueror - book 31 * George Washington - book 36 * Mohammed - various books 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Casca (series)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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