I heartilly recommend this book to anyone who hads an extensive interest in Rome & it's people & empire.

However if the reader has only a passive interest in Roman History this may be heavy reading (and not entirely suitable for schoolchildren to use as a study aid) as Salway does tend to veer away from the point sometimes albeit for a short while it can be distracting and there are sometimes Omissions such as years (I know we cannot date archaeological evidence exactly but a 'ballpark' estimate would be nice) Salway also uses the writing of Tacitus a roman historian - sometimes so much so that I feel I no Longer need to read the writings of Tacitus as they all are here.

all in all an excellent aid for the older student.


A record of dates and names rather than life.   December 12, 2000
 7 out of 16 found this review helpful

The book covers in great detail the centuries from Caesar to the exodus of the Roman army and even beyond those frontiers of time. It has copious dates and names of people and places but somehow it does not provide a coherent narrative which takes the reader into life in Roman Britain.

There is a lack of depth at any one point which would help to explain what was happening to the people who lived in that society. There is a lot of historical fact, or records, but the book does not inform about what it was like to be a citizen, a servant or a slave in Roman Britain.

It is about a past that is dead - not one that is linked to the contemporary geography, language, beliefs and self-understanding of the islands and people that were occupied by the Roman army.