An imperial possession : Britain in the Roman Empire, 54 BC-AD 409

989 Pages·2006·5.24 MB·English

by  David J Mattingly

PENGUIN BOOKS
THE PENGUIN HISTORY OF BRITAIN GENERAL EDITOR: DAVID CANNADINE
AN IMPERIAL POSSESSION
David Mattingly is Professor of Roman Archaeology in the School of
Archaeology and Ancient History at the University of Leicester, having
held previous university appointments at the University of Michigan and
the University of Oxford, where he was a British Academy Post-Doctoral
Fellow. His research focuses on the archaeology of the Western Roman
Empire and he has carried out fieldwork in Libya, Tunisia, Jordan, Italy
and Britain. His publications include An Atlas of Roman Britain (co-
author); Tripolitanis; Farming the Desert: The UNESCO Libyan Valleys
Archaeological Survey. Vols 1-2 (co-author); Dialogues in Roman
Imperialism (editor); Leptiminus (Lamta: A Roman Port Town in Tunisia,
Reports 1-2 (co-author); Life, Death and Entertainment in the Roman Empire
(co-editor); Economies beyond Agriculture in the Classical World (co-
editor); and The Archaeology of Fazzan. He is a Fellow of the British
Academy and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, London.
THE PENGUIN HISTORY OF BRITAIN
Published or forthcoming
I: DAVID MATTINGLY Roman Britain 100-409
II: ROBIN FLEMING Anglo-Saxon Britain: 410-1066
III: DAVID CARPENTER The Struggle for Mastery: Britain 1066-1314
IV: MIRI RUBIN The Hollow Crown: Britain 1272-1485
V: SUSAN BRIGDEN New Worlds, Lost Worlds: Britain 1485-1603
VI: MARK KISHLANSKY A Monarchy Transformed: Britain 1603-1714
VII: LINDA COLLEY A Wealth of Nations? Britain 1707-1815
VIII: DAVID CANNADINE The Contradiction of Progress: Britain 1800-1906
IX: PETER CLARKE Hope and Glory: Britain 1900-2000
DAVID MATTINGLY
An Imperial Possession
Britain in the Roman Empire,
54 BC-AD 409
PENGUIN BOOKS
PENGUIN BOOKS
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First published by Allen Lane 2006
Published in Penguin Books 2007
1
Copyright © David Mattingly, 2006
Maps copyright © J. E. Skinner and David Mattingly, 2006
All rights reserved.
The moral right of the author has been asserted
Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject
to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent,
re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s
prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in
which it is published and without a similar condition including this
condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser
EISBN: 978–0–141–90385–9
For the Harolds
Contents
List of Figures and Tables
Preface
Part One
Introduction
1 The Spectre of Empire
2 Sources of Information and Rules of Evidence
3 ‘Nothing for us to Fear or Rejoice at.’ Britain, Britons and the Roman
Empire
Part Two
The Military Community
4 The Iron Fist Conquest (43-83) and Aftermath
5 Britannia Perdomita: The Garrisoning of the Provinces
6 The Community of Soldiers
7 The Fashioning of the Military Identity
8 De Excidio Britanniae: Decline and Fall?
Part Three
The Civil Communities
9 Forma Urbis: The Development of Towns
10 Townspeople: Demography, Culture and Identity
11 The Urban Failure?