Roman Britain: A Very Short Introduction

Very Short Introductions #017

by Peter Salway

Peter Salway's Very Short Introduction to Roman Britain weaves together the results of archaeological investigation and historical scholarship in a rounded and highly readable concise account. He charts life in Roman Britain from the first Roman invasion under Julius Caesar to the final collapse of the Roman Empire in the West around AD 500.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Ancient History, British Literature, Ebooks, Roman Britain, Roman History

78 pages, Paperback

First published August 10, 2000

About the author

Peter Salway is a British historian, who specialises in Roman Britain. He was a tutor for the Open University and later a fellow of Sidney Sussex College Cambridge and later at All Souls College Oxford. He is the author of Roman Britain (1981), a volume in the Oxford History of England series.

Reviews

[Diana]

A very quick to read basic history book about the Roman occupation of Britain. There were actually things that I hadn't known about prior to reading this book. I had mainly picked it up as a refresher prior to starting my nongeneral ed history classes next semester since I've been mainly focusing on the history of the Americas in my classes. I also enjoyed the bibliography at the end, giving you more material if you want to learn more.

[Lee Broderick]

This is one of the rare Very Short Introductions that shows both the potential and the limits of the format. On the one hand, a great deal of information is included relating to the rise and fall of the Roman Empire in Britain, on the other hand, the bulk of the Romano-British period is more or less ignored.

As both one of the shortest books in the series and one of the earliest it's probably not unfair to ask if it was a rush-job. The front matter reveals that the text was first published as part of The Oxford Illustrated History of Britain in 1984. The bibliography has obviously been updated for this edition, but I can't help wondering about the validity of the rest of the text: surely discoveries since then must have altered our understanding in some respects?

I read this 28 years afters its initial publication and 12 since its first appearance in this guise. I can only say that I've learnt a lot about the reasons behind the conquest and loss of Britain by the Roman Empire as understood by archaeologists thirty years ago. The Very Short Introductions series is still going from strength to strength, with new volumes continuing to be added in its twelfth year: it might be time to revisit some of the earlier ones, including this, which could benefit not just from new research but from an extra forty to sixty pages on life in Roman Britain.

[Megan Plaumann]

Though I am very interested in this topic I found this book hard to read. It did not grasp my attention as much as I was hoping. It was written like a traditional college class lecture where all the students fall asleep. It definitely is a great introduction into a subject that is vast but I would rather have read a more in depth book that was written better than read this shorter book.

[stionely]

Having little to no knowledge about Roman Britain, I am glad I finished this book, but also kind of relieved, as it sometimes felt a bit dull. I feel like it brushed over the most interesting and iconic of events (the Bouddican revolt, or the Christianisation of Britain? I couldn't be sure as I'm no expert on that era) while recounting a flow of dates and names that confused me greatly. Overall I loved all the anecdotes on the day-to-day life of the commoners, fashion, architecture and so on, as well as the debunking of popular mistaken ideas about that era.

[Richard]

This is one of the earlier volumes in the series and, at only 68 pages of main text, perhaps the shortest one that I've read so far. It may be rather churlish to complain that a "Very Short Introduction" is very short—but this one is! Could this be because we don't actually know very much about Roman Britain? I'm not qualified to say. Salway takes a no-nonsense chronological approach, without much of the thematic organization or forays into theory or historiographical analysis that variously enhance or mar other VSI books, and his style is readable but very dry. As at least one other reviewer here has suggested, although I've learned something from this book, a read-through of the Wikipedia article on this topic would probably have proved equally informative, and more engaging.

[C. Varn]

Useful

While a bit dry, this book is very helpful on laying out everything and political life in Roman Britain as best as we actually know it. It is particularly useful for outlines of economic history often ignored for this time period.

[Ben Hammerslag]

A bit of a challenge to rate. It is, as advertised, very short. If I were told I would need to appear knowledgeable about Roman Britain in conversation and had only an hour to prepare, I'd reach for this in a heartbeat.

But the shortness can be extreme - major historical figures and events are introduced, briefly discussed, and discarded. 70 pages doesn't leave a lot of room for context!

[Timothy]

A bit dry, and oddly paced: major issues and events are passed over briefly, while some historiographical debates that are probably above the "pay grade" of Very Short Introduction readers get fleshed out. Nothing to get too inspired about here, but it definitely gets the job done.

[demondelusions]

I had to read this for my History of England course. It was alright, very textbooky with a lot of information piled into a tiny book.

[Cassie]

I'm currently trying to build up my basic knowledge of the Roman Empire, and after The Roman Empire: A Very Short Introduction, narrowing the focus to Roman Britain seemed like a logical next step.

Like probably quite a lot of British people, I didn't come to this knowing absolutely nothing. Boudicca, Hadrian's Wall, Roman roads and various other fragments have been floating around my brain since school. What I didn't really have was a framework connecting those pieces together.

Peter Salway does a really good job of providing one.

Starting before the conquest and moving through several centuries of Roman rule, the book gave me a much better sense of how Britain fitted into the wider Empire and, importantly, how much it changed during that time.

I particularly enjoyed the combination of historical and archaeological evidence. The written record can only tell us so much, and the archaeological evidence gives a much broader picture of settlements, society and everyday life.

As with most Very Short Introductions, its strength is also its limitation. There's an enormous amount to cover in roughly 120 pages. Sometimes names, emperors and political changes come thick and fast, and there were plenty of subjects where I wanted Salway to stop and give me another twenty pages.

But I wasn't looking for an exhaustive history. I wanted an entry point that would connect some of the scattered pieces of Roman Britain I already knew and give me a foundation for learning more.

It did exactly that.

And naturally my reward for reading a book intended to make me more knowledgeable is an even longer list of things I now realise I know nothing about.

[Derek Frasure]

The lowest quality VSI I have read, and I have now nearly read all their classics volumes (it should be noted I read the 1st edition). This volume strikes me as having not been edited: missing punctuation, incorrect punctuation, sprawling paragraphs that should be broken up, and general lack of consideration for the reader give me the impression of a first draft. There's a lot of information about Roman Britain in this work, generally focusing more on great persons and battles approach to history, with a deep focus on governmentality. However, this information is poorly organized. It feels as though you've caught Salway at the pub after a few drinks and asked him to tell you about his area of expertise–he's digressive and doesn't stop for a break, the players are poorly introduced and contextualized, and you get lost and have to ask him to repeat himself at times; but what he's saying is ultimately quite interesting and you learn a lot despite the muddled delivery. It's hard to say who this book is for. As a novice to Roman imperial history, I found myself lost by the rapid-fire change of emperors and policies. This is perhaps better suited to someone returning to this topic after several years away from studying it.

[T]

Mind you, I am a big fan of Oxford's Very Short Introductions series. This particular entry offers a basic outline of who, whether singularly or alongside challengers, claimed authority over Great Britain from 45 BCE to 410 AD. I feel lukewarm after finishing. As other reviewers have intimated, the writing style is so arid that one sometimes finds the book too infertile a setting for planting one's attention.

Salway frames the discussion of conquerors, war heroes, etc. within a skeletal summary of the geopolitics of Western Europe; the level of detail is expected given the length of books in the Very Short Introductions series. A section on the sweeping Christianization of Pagans helps demonstrate the depth of the ideological shifts that occurred during Britain's half-millennium under Roman rule. There are interesting tidbits mixed in, of course, but the takeaways do not warrant forking over any cash (call the price Hadrian's payWall, if you will). My advice is to browse the Wikipedia page on Roman Britain instead of purchasing this book.

[Stewart Monckton]

Given that I knew pretty much nothing about Roman Britain, this seemed a good place to start.
I have to admit that at times I was a little bit lost during this book - the rate of change of Emperors and such like is pretty remarkable really, as were the changes to the way Britain related to Empire, Emperor and self.

For me, that's the big take away from this book: there was no single 'Roman Britain' (as I had thought) but many versions of it. They were characterised by changes in power structure, 'management structure', and the ebbs and flows of economy.

Dense, but good. SM

[Declan Waters]

An overview of the land of Britain, the Roman invasion, occupation, inclusion in the Empire and the final demise is all included in this short book on the subject.

A very easy to follow explanation with no previous knowledge required, explaining the impact of Roman Empire on Britannia. Recommended for anyone with an interest in the history of Britain, and the changes to the island throughout history.

[Alana Godfrey]

A very short introduction indeed. I felt this entry in the series required you to alrwady have an understanding of roman culture outside of Britain in order to understand the contents of the book.

It was interesting focusing on the growth or Roman culture within Britain and the changes over the centuries, however i found the writing style very dry. I get that with history its best to offer information in a chronological order, however in this, the method was quite dull in places.

[Dan]

An interesting subject, but I wasn’t a fan of the author’s writing style: quite dry and fairly inaccessible to non-experts (like myself). I found some of the content hard to follow Maybe the author has spent too much time doing only academic writing? Worth a read though, especially given the low time investment required.

[Iñigo]

A bit disappointing. I expected to see much more about Roman Britain, way of life, current archaeological remains, heritage, etc. it feels that there’s too much data on the history of the Roman Empire and very little on what the title promised.

[James]

Thorough introduction

A good read with a useful further reading section.

There is some typographical errors in the Kindle. edition that thankfully aren't reproduced in the hardcopy (I have both).

[Kate]

I read this as part of a reading list for a trip to Cornwall I backed out of due to the Delta variant of COVID-19. I found this easy to follow as someone with nominal knowledge of Roman history. I found myself highlighting a fair amount I can review if I ever make it back to the UK.

[Cat]

It felt very informative, still to work into my Zettelkasten due to reading and note taking on Holiday, which should help at least in learning how to deal with such an issue, Primers are still Primers at the end of the day, but I wished to have something to tide me over until soon.

[Gadi Nissim]

Fine book

It is a nice and detailed book. Those who are familiar with English and Roman history will find it illuminating. Others will get lost, as the elaboration of details overshadows the big story.

[Amanda Witt]

As it says, part of the short introduction series, but containing full information about the history of this era pre Christ's birth and the first few centuries in England and modern day France.
Also has a few maps throughout, of England and old Italy.

[David]

Informative

[Strick]

Not bad

[Melissa Barbosa]

It's amazing how much information there is in such a small book. It is dense but a good read nevertheless. I really enjoyed it.

[Alex Cotterill]

Well written with some good details. But it defo lives up to its name as a “very short intro”.

[Taylor Swift Scholar]

I could have skipped this one.

[Joel]

Great subject but very textbook dry delivery.

[Lauren]

I've read better short intros, this one seemed a little less thoughtful to me. I expected more culture and social dynamic overviews than just what the Romans were up to.

[A R]

boring but good