First published in 1998. Over three hundred letters and documents have recently been discovered at the fort of Vindolanda, written on wooden tablets which have amazingly survived nearly 2000 years. Painstakingly deciphered by Alan Bowman and J. David Thomas, they have contributed a wealth of evidence for daily life in the Roman Empire. From the military documents we learn of the strength and activities of the units stationed at Vindolanda. The accounts testify to the lifestyle of officers and ordinary soldiers, with payments for pepper and oil, towels and tallow, boots and beer. Then there are snapshots of domestic life in letters between the officers' wives, including a birthday invitation (see front cover). Most fascinating of all is the evidence for a high level of literacy in the Roman army, where even someone of humble rank receives a letter from home promising him a parcel of socks. Alan Bowman's lively summary of this new evidence is followed by the texts of 38 key tablets, in Latin and in translation, including new tablets found in 1991-4, which bring the reader very close to the actual people who inhabited Vindolanda in 100 AD.

First Published in 1998. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Over three hundred letters and documents have recently been discovered at the fort of Vindolanda, written on wooden tablets which have amazingly survived nearly 2000 years. Painstakingly deciphered by Alan Bowman and J. David Thomas, they have contributed a wealth of evidence for daily life in the Roman Empire. From the military documents we learn of the strength and activities of the units stationed at Vindolanda. The accounts testify to the lifestyle of officers and ordinary soldiers, with payments for pepper and oil, towels and tallow, boots and beer. Then there are snapshots of domestic life in letters between the officers' wives, including a birthday invitation (see front cover). Most fascinating of all is the evidence for a high level of literacy in the Roman army, where even someone of humble rank receives a letter from home promising him a parcel of socks.

The Roman army was the greatest fighting machine the ancient world produced. The Roman Empire depended on soldiers not just to win its wars, defend its frontiers and control the seas but also to act as the engine of the state. Roman legionaries and auxiliaries came from across the Roman world and beyond. They served as tax collectors, policemen, surveyors, civil engineers and, if they survived, in retirement as civic worthies, craftsmen and politicians. Some even rose to become emperors. Gladius takes the reader right into the heart of what it meant to be a part of the Roman army through the words of Roman historians, and those of the men themselves through their religious dedications, tombstones, and even private letters and graffiti. Guy de la Bedoyere throws open a window on how the men, their wives and their children lived, from bleak frontier garrisons to guarding the emperor in Rome, enjoying a ringside seat to history fighting the emperors' wars, mutinying over pay, marching in triumphs, throwing their weight around in city streets, and enjoying esteem in honorable retirement.

A fascinating insight into everyday life on Hadrian's Wall. The translations of the Vindolanda Scrolls ('send fresh socks' etc) are also a treat!

The Roman Empire was one of the most powerful forces in history. However, few people realize that this vast empire was guarded by one frontier, a series of natural and man-made barriers, including Hadrian's Wall. It is impossible to have a true understanding of the Roman Empire without first investigating the scope of this amazing frontier. The boundary ran for roughly 4,000 miles--from Britain to Morocco via the Rhine, the Danube, the Euphrates, the Syrian Desert, and the Saharan fringes; reinforced by walls, ditches, palisades, watchtowers, and forts. It absorbed virtually the whole imperial army, enclosed three and a half million square miles, and defended forty provinces (now thirty countries) and perhaps eighty million Roman subjects. In protecting the empire the frontier made a substantial contribution to the Pax Romana and ultimately to preserving the inheritance of future Europe. Yet this static mode of defense ran counter to Rome's tradition of mobile warfare and her taste for glory, born of centuries of conquest. The emperors' choice of a passive strategy promoted lassitude and conservatism, allowing the military initiative slowly to pass into barbarian hands. The Reach of Rome is the first book to describe the entire length of the amazing imperial frontier. It traces the political forces that created it and portrays those who commanded and manned it, as well as those against whom it was held. It relates the frontier's rise, pre-eminence, crises, and collapse and assesses its meaning for history and its legacies to the post-Roman world. Finally, it also tells the story of the explorers who rediscovered its lost works and describes the nature and location of the surviving remains. Includes thirty beautifully designed maps.

The history of Ancient Rome has been passed down to us through official accounts, personal letters, annotated words of great orators and the considered histories of powerful men. It is found on inscriptions, in private memoirs and official reports from every corner of the Empire. Over 150 pieces are collected in this autobiography of Ancient Rome, from the written accounts of Caesars and slaves, generals and poets on major battles, conspiracy and politics to the minutiae of everyday life and includes amongst them: How to keep a slave, by Cato the Elder; The Life of a Roman Gentleman by Pliny the Younger; Gang Warfare in Rome, by Cicero; a Chariot Fight, by Julius Caesar; Female Athletes and Gladiators, by Juvenal; the Eruption of Vesuivius, by Pliny the Younger; Nero Murders Britannicus, by Tacitus; On Going to bed with Cleopatra, by Mark Antony; Homosexuals in Rome, Juvenal; Alaric the Visogoth Sacks Rome,by Jordanes; The Great Fire of Rome, by Tacitus; Gladitorial Shows, by Seneca; Two Days in the Life of an Emperor's Son, Marcus Aurelius.