Product Description

'One could not ask for a more meticulous or scholarly assessment of what Britain meant to the Romans, or Rome to Britons, than Peter Salway's Monumental Study' Frederick Raphael, Sunday Times From the invasions of Julius Caesar to the unexpected end of Roman rule in the early fifth century AD and the subsequent collapse of society in Britain, this book is the most authoritative and comprehensive account of Roman Britain ever published for the general reader. Peter Salway's narrative takes into account the latest research including exciting discoveries of recent years, and will be welcomed by anyone interested in Roman Britain.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #48710 in Books
• Published on: 2001-05-31
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 606 pages

About the Author
Peter Salway, formerly a Fellow of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, and subsequently of All Souls College, Oxford, is an Emeritus Professor of the Open University and Chairman of the Oxford Archaeological Unit. Roman Britain (Vol. I of the Oxford History of England, hbk 1981, pbk 1984). He was a contributor to K.O. Morgan (ed.): The Oxford Illustrated History of Great Britain (hbk 1984, pbk 1986), C. Haigh (ed.): The Cambridge Historical Encyclopaedia of Great Britain and Ireland
(CUP, 1985), and B. Ford (ed.): The Cambridge Guide to the Arts in Britain (CUP, 1988). He has also written reviews for the TLS and the THES, and has appeared in television and radio broadcasts.

Customer Reviews

A good educational Aid
I have bought this book to help with my studies in field archaeology as I need to know an extensive amount about the Roman Period and his book has everything relevant, Salway writes in such a way that the average leyman can understand this simplistic but fascinating style of writing along with the footnotes have helped me write several essays this book is a goldmine of source material - the inclusion of several maps of Roman Britain is a stroke of pure genius.

I heartilly recommend this book to anyone who hads an extensive interest in Rome & it's people & empire.

However if the reader has only a passive interest in Roman History this may be heavy reading (and not entirely suitable for schoolchildren to use as a study aid) as Salway does tend to veer away from the point sometimes albeit for a short while it can be distracting and there are sometimes Omissions such as years (I know we cannot date archaeological evidence exactly but a 'ballpark' estimate would be nice) Salway also uses the writing of Tacitus a roman historian - sometimes so much so that I feel I no Longer need to read the writings of Tacitus as they all are here.

all in all an excellent aid for the older student.

Must do better
I don't have a clear recall of this book, but what I remember is, the first fifth is an uninspired paraphrase of the primary sources, i.e. Tacitus' Agricola and Annals, and the next four fifths are an endless repetition of the dull archaeological conclusion "and we can tell that there was unrest because there were modifications to defences during this period". Disappointing.

A record of dates and names rather than life.
The book covers in great detail the centuries from Caesar to the exodus of the Roman army and even beyond those frontiers of time. It has copious dates and names of people and places but somehow it does not provide a coherent narrative which takes the reader into life in Roman Britain.

There is a lack of depth at any one point which would help to explain what was happening to the people who lived in that society. There is a lot of historical fact, or records, but the book does not inform about what it was like to be a citizen, a servant or a slave in Roman Britain.

It is about a past that is dead - not one that is linked to the contemporary geography, language, beliefs and self-understanding of the islands and people that were occupied by the Roman army.