An Imperial Possession

In my opinion the definative, academic standard account of the Roman occupation of Britain. Professor Mattingly’s book is very well organised, with sections which easily engage the reader on specific aspects of the Roman presence here, for example religion, political organisation, the military, agriculture, and industry. It also explains in great detail the various impacts across Britain of the transition from the Late Iron Age to the Roman period.  

Part of what fascinates me about Roman Britain is the idea that centuries before Britain took control of large areas of the globe, we were once a scatter of remote islands on the fringe of somebody else’s Empire.  This book attempts to tell the story of the Roman occupation without starting from the assumption that the invasion was a Good Thing. After all, not everyone was desperate for better roads, posh crockery and a flashy bath house. 

I’m not a professional historian; I’m a writer looking for authentic details, and this work is full of them. I read it cover to cover, underlining as I went. Growing up in England, I’d been taught the “wonders” of Roman occupation – The roads! The central heating! The public baths! What I found here was a more dispassionate view of how the Romans both destroyed and vibrantly re-shaped life in Celtic Britain.

David Mattingly is one of the world’s foremost experts on Roman imperialism and a clear-eyed writer with consistently fascinating perspectives. His book on Roman Britain is one of the few that considers the realities of life in colonised Britain and the human impact of Roman imperialism, from the earliest years of Roman invasions and resistance through the final days of Roman Britain four centuries later.