Britannia Romana: Roman inscriptions and Roman Britain

Review

“The book is a triumph, and if you are only able to read one book on inscriptions, you had better make it Britannia Romana.”
Current Archaeology

"Retelling the history of Roman Britain through the medium of inscriptions is a splendid idea, and there can be no one better qualified to carry out the task than Roger Tomlin..."
Classical Journal

“But this book is more than just an anthology of inscriptions...for any professional classicist and for anyone else with a serious interest in Roman Britain, the book is a gold mine. It provides insights which are not available from any other source.”
ClassicsForAll

"Even looking forward to future advances in biomolecular approaches to human skeletal remains, it is difficult to anticipate reconstructing individual biographies equivalent in nuance or empathy to those which Tomlin teases out of his sources...The book's success as an invitation to engage with Britain's Roman inscriptions, is partly, and inimitably, achieved by hearing historical and literary echoes of Roman lives in other times and places."

Product Description

Britannia Romana: Roman Inscriptions and Roman Britain is based on the author’s 40 years’ experience of the epigraphy of Roman Britain. It collects 487 inscriptions (mostly on stone, but also on metal, wood, tile and ceramic), the majority from Britain but many from other Roman provinces and Italy, so as to illustrate the history and character of Roman Britain (AD 43–410). Each inscription is presented in the original (in Latin, except for eight in Greek), followed by a translation and informal commentary; they are linked by the narrative which they illustrate, and more than half (236) are accompanied by photographs. All Latin terms in the narrative and commentary are translated and explained. The authordemonstrates his unrivalled ability to read and understand Roman inscriptions and their importance as a source of historical knowledge. They are treated by chronology or theme in 14 chapters. The first eight take the narrative from Claudius’ invasion (AD 43) to the death of the last emperor to attempt the conquest of Britain, Septimius Severus (AD 211). The next four cover the general themes of soldier and civilian, economy and society, government, religion. The last two continue the narrative to the death of the last emperor to rule Roman Britain, Constantine III (AD 411).

About the Author

Roger Tomlin is a Fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford having retired in 2010 as the University Lecturer in Late-Roman History. He is the leading European scholar on the analysis of Roman inscriptions and has published extensively on material from thourghout the Roman Empire, and especially withi roman Britian, including the Bath curse tablets as Tabellae Sulis (1988) and the Bloomberg London stylus tablets as Roman London’s First Voices (2016). He is one of the joint editors of the annual ‘Roman Britain (Inscriptions)’ survey in the journal Britannia, and co-editor/contributor to the indispensible Roman Inscriptions of Britain (RIB) volumes.