Roman Britain : Life at the Edge of Empire

A vivid overview of Roman Britain highlights cultural interaction, daily life, military, economy, religion, and regional variation through artefacts and sites.

The British Museum's new introductory guide to Roman Britain combines an informative text with first-class design and is illustrated with plentiful artefacts from the museum's collections. Throughout the book the emphasis is on cultural interaction and change; showing the impact of the Roman presence; but also British survivals; the book starts; perhaps unusually for general guides of this kind; with a section on pre-Roman Britain; and ends with a chapter on Britons after Rome. In between we learn about the military; the new literate culture introduced by Rome; about the impact of Rome on the rural economy; and on life in the new towns; as well as about religion. Constant reference to archaeological finds and sites gives a sense of place; and also of regional variation.

Richard Hobbs is curator of the Romano-British collection at the British Museum. His research interests include the deposition of precious metals and food and banqueting, particularly in the Late Roman empire. Previous publications include (with Ralph Jackson), Roman Britain: Life at the Edge of the Empire and The Mildenhall Treasure (British Museum Objects in Focus).

Ralph Jackson is a senior curator at the British Museum. Previous publications include Doctors and Diseases in the Roman Empire; Camerton: A Catalogue of Late Iron Age and Early Roman Metalwork; Excavations at Stonea, Cambridgeshire 1980–85; Cosmetic Sets of Late Iron Age and Roman Britain; and (with Richard Hobbs) Roman Britain.