The Towns Of Roman Britain

BCA, 1978. Hardcover. Very Good/Good. h/b 460 pages, condition is very good, the spine of the DJ is faded. Urban life was the key to Roman civilization, and Rome's remarkable success in implanting it in her distant barbarian provinces has affected the history and geography - of Britain down to the present day. In the last decade rescue excavations have vastly increased our knowledge of Roman towns in Britain. Now, for the first time, this knowledge is drawn together on a sufficient scale to produce a fully authoritative account not only of the remains but also of their meaning. In short, The Towns of Roman Britain is, in words of Sheppard Frere, Professor of Archaeology of the Roman Empire, University of Oxford. 'a major event for Romano-British archaeology'. Having defined the types of Roman settlement that can be called towns, John Wacher examines the reasons which lie behind the choice of sites, the factors which caused their foundation and the way in which the towns influenced provincial life. With the aid of numerous maps, plans, diagrams and photographs, and very full documentation of sources, each town is then examined individually and in detail - its topography, historical development, institutions, buildings, inhabitants and economy. Mr Wacher concludes with a controversial chapter about the decline of Romano-British towns in the fifth century and argues that they did not survive as institutions into the Dark Ages.