Writing the Legions: The Development and Future of Roman Military Studies in Britain
By Simon James
Archaeological Journal, Vol. 159 (2002)
Abstract: The province of Britannia and the Roman world as a whole were largely created and maintained by martial means. However, while Roman military studies in Britain achieved much during the last century, it is argued here that they have become isolated, theoretically stagnant and increasingly marginalized. Current archaeological discourse on the Roman world tends to concentrate excessively on social elites and the supposedly peaceful civil core of the empire. The historical reasons for this situation are discussed, the need for proper theorization of Roman military archaeology is argued, and its potential contributions to central debates in Roman archaeology are explored. Some possible routes towards reintegrating the martial aspect of Roman antiquity into mainstream archaeology are sketched out.
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