Looks at Roman ruins in France and Germany, including recent finds, and describes what life was like under the reign of the Roman Empire

Studies the 'Romanization' of Rome's Gallic provinces in the late Republic and early empire.

Roman Gaul, first published in 1983, makes use of a wealth of archaeological discoveries and modern methods of interpretation to give an account of the Roman presence in Gaul, from the time of Caesar’s conquests until the Crisis of the third century. Professor Drinkwater emphasises the changes caused in the Three Gauls and Germany by the impact of Romanisation – urbanisation, agriculture, trade and education – and points out the often curious ways in which Roman influences survive in these areas to the present day. Particular attention is paid to the evolution of the landowning class, as well as its relationship with the artisans and traders found in townships and cities. An assessment of the strength of Romano-Gallic society and its economy in the tumultuous third century AD concludes this lively and provocative coverage of an intriguing subject. Roman Gaul will be of interest to all students of the Roman legacy.

*Includes pictures *Includes ancient accounts *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading In the minds of most people today, Gaul equates to modern France. However, the vast geographical area that Caesar named Gaul, in fact, was made up of a number of very distinct regions and covered, in addition to modern-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, parts of the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland and Northern Italy. The Romans called the northern area of the Italian peninsula, which is now part of modern Italy, Cisalpine Gaul, or Gaul on this side of the Alps. Early Romans did not even consider this region as part of Italy and repeated incursions southwards, and the sacking of Rome itself in 390 BCE, resulted in Rome taking full control of the area in 221 BCE and thoroughly Romanizing it to the extent that even the Celtic language totally disappeared and was replaced by Latin. The region was initially a province but by the beginning of the 1st century BCE, it had become fully integrated into the Roman heartland and became an administrative region of Italy rather than a province. Ironically, the Roman Republic's development from a city state into a world power that controlled large swathes of modern Italy, Gaul and Spain, as well as other parts of Europe is seen by many as being the direct result of Roman fear of the "Celtic Threat." The sacking of Rome by the Gauls in 386 BCE became indelibly imprinted into the Roman psyche, and with this fear came a desire to put as much distance as possible between the city of Rome and any potential enemy. The result was the gradual acquisition of buffer zones that became provinces of an empire that grew without any particular thought out or deliberate strategy of expansion. The Gallic Wars, the series of campaigns waged by Caesar on behalf of the Roman Senate between 58-50 BCE, were among the defining conflicts of the Roman era. Not only was the expansion of the Republic's domains unprecedented (especially when considering it was undertaken under the auspices of a single general), it had a profound cultural impact on Rome itself as well. The Roman Republic, so dynamic in the wake of the destruction of their ancient enemy, Carthage, had recently suffered a series of dramatic upheavals; from the great slave rebellion of Spartacus to the brutal and bloody struggle for power of Marius and Sulla. Rome had been shaken to its very core, and a victory was essential both to replenish the dwindling national coffers and to instill in the people a sense of civic pride and a certainty in the supremacy of the Republic. Augustus and his successors then began a program of Romanization that, in a remarkably short period of time, transformed Gaul into four provinces. All of these locales added enormously to the Roman Empire in terms of manpower, material goods and wealth. Even today, historians are amazed at how such a large population that was not without its own systems of administration and vibrant culture and tradition could so easily succumb to Rome's pacification process, and to such an extent that, within short periods of time, the indigenous language and traditions of the Celtic peoples of Gaul were totally supplanted. The reasons why Rome was able to subjugate and then transform what was for that time an immense population of over 10 million people lie not only in its military superiority but its system of organization and its conscious program of Romanization. Roman Gaul: The History of Gaul as a Province of the Ancient Roman Empire looks at Caesar's famous conquest, and what Gaul was like for the next 5 centuries until the dissolution of history's most famous empire. Along with pictures depicting important people, places, and events, you will learn about Roman Gaul like never before.

Histories of ancient Rome have long emphasized the ways in which the empire assimilated the societies it conquered, bringing civilization to the supposed barbarians. Yet interpretations of this “Romanization” of Western Europe tend to erase local identities and traditions from the historical picture, leaving us with an incomplete understanding of the diverse cultures that flourished in the provinces far from Rome. The Sons of Remus recaptures the experiences, memories, and discourses of the societies that made up the variegated patchwork fabric of the western provinces of the Roman Empire. Focusing on Gaul and Spain, Andrew Johnston explores how the inhabitants of these provinces, though they willingly adopted certain Roman customs and recognized imperial authority, never became exclusively Roman. Their self-representations in literature, inscriptions, and visual art reflect identities rooted in a sense of belonging to indigenous communities. Provincials performed shifting roles for different audiences, rehearsing traditions at home while subverting Roman stereotypes of druids and rustics abroad. Deriving keen insights from ancient sources—travelers’ records, myths and hero cults, timekeeping systems, genealogies, monuments—Johnston shows how the communities of Gaul and Spain balanced their local identities with their status as Roman subjects, as they preserved a cultural memory of their pre-Roman past and wove their own narratives into Roman mythology. The Romans saw themselves as the heirs of Romulus, the legendary founder of the eternal city; from the other brother, the provincials of the west received a complicated inheritance, which shaped the history of the sons of Remus.

Skin-clad barbarians ransacking Rome remains a popular image of the "decline and fall" of the Roman Empire, but why, when, and how the Empire actually fell are still matters of debate among students of classical history. In this pioneering study, Ralph W. Mathisen examines the "fall" in one part of the western Empire, Gaul, to better understand the shift from Roman to Germanic power that occurred in the region during the fifth century AD Mathisen uncovers two apparently contradictory trends. First, he finds that barbarian settlement did provoke significant changes in Gaul, including the disappearance of most secular offices under the Roman imperial administration, the appropriation of land and social influence by the barbarians, and a rise in the overall level of violence. Yet he also shows that the Roman aristocrats proved remarkably adept at retaining their rank and status. How did the aristocracy hold on? Mathisen rejects traditional explanations and demonstrates that rather than simply opposing the barbarians, or passively accepting them, the Roman aristocrats directly responded to them in various ways. Some left Gaul. Others tried to ignore the changes wrought by the newcomers. Still others directly collaborated with the barbarians, looking to them as patrons and holding office in barbarian governments. Most significantly, however, many were willing to change the criteria that determined membership in the aristocracy. Two new characteristics of the Roman aristocracy in fifth-century Gaul were careers in the church and greater emphasis on classical literary culture. These findings shed new light on an age in transition. Mathisen's theory that barbarian integration into Roman society was a collaborative process rather than a conquest is sure to provoke much thought and debate. All historians who study the process of power transfer from native to alien elites will want to consult this work.