Anthony Thwaite
Thwaite's description of town & country life in Roman Britain is supported by references to relevant archeological findings & integrated with a historical outline. It begins with the multinational Roman soldiers' reluctant crossing to the land they considered to be "beyond the inhabited world" & ends with usurpation from within the army & invasion from the North. As Thwaite acknowledges, little evidence remains of the common people of the time so that country life is reconstructed from the remains of grand villas (with descriptions of baths, banquets etc, in Rome filling in where British documentation is missing); the towns, uniform throughout the Roman world & largely deserted here with the breakup of the Empire, are noted for their orderly layout, highly popular public baths, mosaics & other decoration, & hypocaust heating system. Thwaite's presentation is literate, readable & well-organized; quotations--from Roman historians or British poets--are worked in effectively, & there are 48 b&w & 8 color illustrations of sites & artifacts.--Kirkus,Acknowledgements,Preface,Introduction,The Conquest of Britain,Life in the Towns,Life in the Country,Pleasures & Pursuits,Custom & Ceremony,The Decline & Fall of Roman Britain,Postscript,Bibligraphy,Index
Historical,Roman Britain,Nonfiction,History
Beyond the Inhabited World: Roman Britain