Handbook To Roman Legionary Fortresses

An extensive guide to the legionary fortresses of the Roman Empire, including locations, history, layout, and more. This is a reference guide to Roman legionary fortresses throughout the former Roman Empire, of which approximately eighty-five have been located and identified. With the expansion of the empire and the garrisoning of its army in frontier regions during the 1st century AD, Rome began to concentrate its legions in large permanent bases. Some have been thoroughly explored while others are barely known, but this book brings together for the first time the legionary fortresses of the whole empire. An introductory section outlines the history of legionary bases and their key components. At the heart of the book is a referenced and illustrated catalogue of the known bases, each with a specially prepared plan and an aerial photograph. A detailed bibliography provides up-to-date publication information. The book includes a website providing links to sites relevant to particular fortresses and a Google Earth file containing all of the known fortress locations.

Roman Fortresses and their Legions had its origins in a conference held in 1992, and contains 11 papers by leading Roman military archaeologists on the fortresses of Roman legions from Britain, Germany and the Danube region to the eastern empire. It will appeal to both general and specialist readers interested in Roman military archaeology. Historians, including the pioneer antiquaries, have long realised that the study of the legions is fundamental to our understanding of the history of the Roman Empire. The essays in this volume, contributed by some of today's foremost scholars of Roman army studies, range across the whole of the Roman Empire - including Britain, the Danube lands and the eastern provinces - and cover a wide variety of themes. Authors effectively combine evidence derived from ancient sources and inscriptions with the rapidly growing amount of information and detail obtained from archaeological excavation. The volume covers the period from Augustus, when the plans of permanent legionary fortresses were beginning to evolve, to the Late Empire, when the legion was a very different body from that with which we are familiar in the early imperial period. The essays are dedicated to the late George C Boon FSA, FRHistS to mark his vast contribution to Roman scholarship.

This is a fascinating insight into life behind the walls of a Roman Legionary fortress.

Have you got what it takes to be a Roman Soldier?

The concept of a legionary fortress as a permanent structure dates from the reign of Augustus (27 BC-AD 14). It is only from that time that we find a standing army distributed around the empire, and their permanent fortresses developed from the temporary field fortifications of the legions on campaign. This book describes the development, design and construction of these fortresses throughout the length and breadth of the Empire. It also deals extensively with the experience of life within a typical fortress and covers the operational history of these fortifications, including the famous siege of Vetera in AD 69.

Bidwell describes the development of the forts from the invasion until the end of Roman rule in the early 5th century AD and uses archaeological evidence to examine the everyday lives of those serving in the army, from commanders to ordinary soldiers.