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Life in Roman Britain
This accessible reconstruction of life in Roman Britain begins by placing Britain firmly in a historical context, drawing parallels with other provinces of the Roman Empire and linking the indigenous Celtic people with the Roman invaders. Thereafter, individual chapters cover administration and society; religion, belief, and death; recreation and leisure; the domestic economy; food and drink; art and decoration; and personal lifestyle. Throughout, in text and illustrations, the author makes use of the latest archaeological evidence.
- GenresRoman BritainHistory
192 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2006
About the author
Joan P. Alcock
23 books1 followerJoan Pilsbury Alcock is an archeologist and historian and an Honorary Fellow of London South Bank University and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London. She is the author of Life in Roman Britain (1996) and Food in Roman Britain (2001), among other works.
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
May 17, 2021
Another unfortunate letdown from Tempus (now folded into The History Press), one of those independent presses whose books are split fairly evenly between 'excellent works written by acknowledged experts' (de la Bedoyere 2007; Sim & Ridge 2007; Pryor 2011) and 'outdated works in dire need of an editor' (this book).
I was rather flip with my 'review' of the last book of Alcock's I read, so allow me to remedy that below:
These presses are often the most difficult ones to deal with coming from an academic perspective. They can't be written off as pure pulp, but the lay audience must approach carefully if at all. In this case, Alcock actually provides a neat summary of exactly why such books are suspect.
A specialist in Romano-British foodways, the chapter dealing with cuisine is written to a high standard. Indeed I recommend her previous book on the topic! Other chapters suffer from poor editing, a lack of a clear audience (untranslated Latin is shoulder-to-shoulder with a lively description of Claudius' acclamation by the Praetorian Guard), an unfortunate credulousness where ancient sources are concerned, and confident answers to questions that not only cannot be answered with current evidence, but will likely never be answered satisfactorily.
Alcock is also guilty of oversimplifying things that cannot be oversimplified and fails more than once to note the pitfalls of particular strands of evidence--applying Juvenal to the empire at large; applying evidence from one fourth century site to the entire province over its 350-year occupation--in a way that only lets down the lay reader.
There are no good solutions to the problems these presses pose--I have cited Tempus' books in my own publications and done so happily--beyond blunt caveat emptor. Let it apply here.
I was rather flip with my 'review' of the last book of Alcock's I read, so allow me to remedy that below:
These presses are often the most difficult ones to deal with coming from an academic perspective. They can't be written off as pure pulp, but the lay audience must approach carefully if at all. In this case, Alcock actually provides a neat summary of exactly why such books are suspect.
A specialist in Romano-British foodways, the chapter dealing with cuisine is written to a high standard. Indeed I recommend her previous book on the topic! Other chapters suffer from poor editing, a lack of a clear audience (untranslated Latin is shoulder-to-shoulder with a lively description of Claudius' acclamation by the Praetorian Guard), an unfortunate credulousness where ancient sources are concerned, and confident answers to questions that not only cannot be answered with current evidence, but will likely never be answered satisfactorily.
Alcock is also guilty of oversimplifying things that cannot be oversimplified and fails more than once to note the pitfalls of particular strands of evidence--applying Juvenal to the empire at large; applying evidence from one fourth century site to the entire province over its 350-year occupation--in a way that only lets down the lay reader.
There are no good solutions to the problems these presses pose--I have cited Tempus' books in my own publications and done so happily--beyond blunt caveat emptor. Let it apply here.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review