Roman Britain (Oxford History of England) [Hardcover]

Salway is a noted historian of the period; moreover, he writes with lucidity and fluidity. He has, however, to grapple with the essential problem at the heart of any inquiry into Roman Britain. This is part of the Oxford history of 'England', but its title covers Roman 'Britain'. 'England', of course, did not exist when this history begins - the English would not arrive until after the Romans had gone; 'England' would be forged by a series of new invaders from the Germanic and Scandinavian mainland, and finally tempered by the Norman conquest.

The Romans described the island as 'Britannia' - a name which may have come from the indigenous population. What is clear, however, is that the indigenous tribes - often described as the Celts or Britons - had no unifying concept of themselves as people sharing an island; it is, indeed, questionable, whether they even appreciated they lived on an island (the Romans, themselves, would only confirm this in Agricola's time).

While the southern tribes displayed some form of co-operation in the face of Roman invasion, while the tribes along the Pennine spine seem to have formed some sort of confederation as the Brigantes, and while the tribes of the far north - latterly described as Picts and Scots - also appear to have co-operated to drive the Romans back south, there can be no sense of any political, cultural, or linguistic unity across the island. They did not conceive of themselves as British or Britons. The name is a Roman invention.

And this is, perhaps, the most significant change which has taken place since the original Oxford History was produced - the term 'Britain' has become problematic in the face of Celtic nationalism in Scotland, Wales, even Ireland. It is creating a new perspective on the invasion and posing an insistent question - "What did the Romans ever do for us?"

Peter Salway writes for an educated, aware, but not a uniquely academic audience. The Romans brought history to the island - it was a preliterate world before them. Salway looks at the evidence for the political economy of the island, explores the different cultures and the tribal organisation of the islanders' pre-Roman world. How self-contained were they? How much contact did they have with Europe? Salway sifts the evidence and presents it well.

The island certainly came to the attention of the Romans some time before Caesar's abortive invasion. Salway offers a stimulating pen-portrait of Roman imperialism and argues why they needed to cross the Channel. After Caesar, there was a century of trade and political intrigue before the Claudian invasion.

Salway details the preparation, the campaigns and resistance, the process of the pacification of the south, the frontier garrison, the patterns of agriculture and economy which would come to dominate the occupied territories.

It's a very readable account - intelligent, informed, dense with information but comprehensible ... a hefty volume which can actually be read and enjoyed rather than simply used as a source of reference for essay writing. It's an excellent text for the student, and an excellent guidebook to the era for the historian.

The perspective, of course, is heavily Roman. The Britons left little written evidence. All the sources left accessible to the modern historian are Roman - we cannot hear the voices of the tribes except as echoes in Roman accounts. That is the major weakness of any history of the Roman centuries - the reader has to imagine as well as understand, has to speculate as well as comprehend.

A quarter of a century since its publication, Salway's epic volume may be beginning to show a crack or two. It remains, however, a brave piece of scholarship, an essential read for any student of the invasion, and a broad base which can be supplemented by more up-to-date analyses.