Breeze - The Frontiers of Imperial Rome

I have been lucky to have worked intensively on two frontiers in Britain, Hadrians Wall and the Antonine Wall; fortunately, both retain the ability to surprise through new information obtained from excavation or as the result of research in the study. I have also visited the whole of the European frontier from Katwijk on the Dutch coast to the Black Sea with the exception of modern Serbia, much of the eastern frontier but only a small section in North Africa. In spite of several visits to some areas, I would not admit to having more than a limited knowledge and am grateful to the many friends and colleagues who have helped me visit frontiers and understand them better and who have discussed frontier problems with me over many years, and in particular those who have read and commented on earlier drafts of this book as well as colleagues who have helped with references. These include Dietwulf Baatz, Alan Beale, Paul Bidwell, James Bruhn, Walter Cockell, Orietta Cordovana, Brian Dobson, Beryl Elliott, Bill Errington, George Findlater, Phil Freeman, Erik Graafstal, Bill Hanson, Nick Hodgson, Sonja Jilek, Rebecca Jones, Valerie Maxfield, Ioana Oltean, Andrew Poulter, Boris Rankov, Alan Rushworth, Sebastian Sommer, Matthew Symonds, Andreas Thiel, Zsolt Visy and Willem Willems. Jackie Henrie has applied her considerable skills as a copy editor to the text, for which I am most grateful. I am also grateful to Phil Sidnell of Pen & Sword for inviting me to write this book.

While I was working on this book I was invited by Professor Bill Hanson to give the Dalrymple lectures at the University of Glasgow. This was useful in helping me to shape and firm up many ideas which are detailed here and I am grateful to the members of the audience for their feedback.

I should like to thank Richard Beleson for financial assistance with the illustrations, and the following for help with providing the illustrations: Jim Devine of the Hunterian Museum, Kurt Schaller of the University of Salzburg who prepared all the maps, Graeme Stobbs who provided several plans, and Andreas Thiel.

I am grateful to the following publishers for permission to reproduce translations: Professor A. R. Birley; Professor Brian Campbell; Dr. J. S. Johnson; Gerald Duckworth & Co. Ltd (Bristol Classical Press); The publishers and Trustees of the Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, for the quotations from volumes 2, 111, 176, 249, 263 and 454, by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Loeb Classical Library is a registered trademark of the President and Fellows of Harvard College; Liverpool University Press; Penguin Books Ltd.

Picture acknowledgements

AirFotos, Newcastle upon Tyne pl. 14; Bayerisches Landesamt fr Denkmalpflege (photograph Otto Braasch) pl. 20; Culture 2000 Project Frontiers of the Roman Empire Frontispiece; Deutsche Limeskommission pls. 9 and 11; Dietwulf Baatz figs. 12, 13, 21, 22; William S. Hanson fig. 10a; Historic Scotland fig. 19, pl. 17; Hunterian Museum pls. 1ae, 18; Simon James pl. 25; Angus Lamb pls. 36; Michael Mackensen pl. 26; Valerie Maxfield 41, pl. 28; Michael J. Moore figs. 79, 17, 20; Belinda Ratnayake pl. 2d; Roman Society fig. 5; Rmisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum, Mainz pl. 7; Kurt Schaller/University of Salzburg figs. 11, 14, 18, 24, 25, 28, 34, 35, 38, 39, 40, 4245; Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne figs. 15, 16; Graeme Stobbs figs. 10b, 26, 2933, 37, 46, 47, 48; TimeScape fig. 3; Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums pl. 16; Utrecht pl. 10; Vindolanda Trust pl. 8. Other photographs are copyright of the author.