During the times of the Roman Empire, it encompassed a considerable part of the western world. This vast expanse needed to have it borders protected against its many enemies. As such it needed a considerable number of fortifications to help protect the border areas and the lines of commerce. During this time, it was quite common for most of the protectors of these borders to be local troops, or auxiliaries. This resulted in buildings that were designed to fit the local terrain and ones that while Roman in nature, incorporated a lot of local building techniques.

Naturally, as time progressed, so did the design and function of these forts. The author, Duncan Campbell covers all of this starting with a general look at the forts under the various Roman Emperors. Much of the discussion in this section covers just what kind of forces and how many were normally housed in these forts. They varied quite a bit in size depending on the importance of the structure to the local defense, and that is covered in the second major area of the book.  The third part covers the design of the forts themselves as to the purpose of the various structures normally contained in these forts. I found it particularly interesting that the barracks for horsemen had the forward room devoted to the horse, while the larger back room contained the living quarters of the rider. It must have been quite an odorous experience, to say the least. Of course, living quarters were generally shared with several other men with single and larger units saved for the upper ranks.

The penultimate section in the book is living in these forts and what it must have been like. Though crude by current standards, they were surprisingly self-contained with hospitals, granaries and of course, baths. The last section is on what the later forts looked like, and they were considerably more robust, made of a great deal of stone rather than wood used in most of Europe. Fortunately for us all, there are a number of extant sites, some of which have been partially rebuilt so we can see what they may have looked like during their active period.

 All of this is superbly illustrated by photographs of the sites as they appear today as well as the excellent illustrations of Brian Delf, whose work allows us a look at these places as photos of the ruins cannot easily portray.

In all, a fine addition to the Fortress series and a book that I believe you will find interesting.

September 2009

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