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Handbook to Roman Legionary Fortresses Kindle Edition

by M.C. Bishop (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 27 ratings
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An extensive guide to the legionary fortresses of the Roman Empire, including locations, history, layout, and more.

This is a reference guide to Roman legionary fortresses throughout the former Roman Empire, of which approximately eighty-five have been located and identified. With the expansion of the empire and the garrisoning of its army in frontier regions during the 1st century AD, Rome began to concentrate its legions in large permanent bases. Some have been thoroughly explored while others are barely known, but this book brings together for the first time the legionary fortresses of the whole empire. An introductory section outlines the history of legionary bases and their key components. At the heart of the book is a referenced and illustrated catalogue of the known bases, each with a specially prepared plan and an aerial photograph. A detailed bibliography provides up-to-date publication information.

The book includes a website providing links to sites relevant to particular fortresses and a Google Earth file containing all of the known fortress locations.
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  1. Print length
    451 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Pen & Sword Military
  5. Publication date
    January 8, 2013
  6. File size
    34423 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Not Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“…for those with a passionate interest or a specialty in Roman military history, this work is an essential reference.”
“Site O”: A Newsletter on Fortifications History

About the Author

Mike Bishop is a specialist on the Roman army, with many publications to his name including the acclaimed and widely used Roman Military Equipment (with J C N Coulston, 2006). The founding editor of Journal of Roman Military Equipment Studies, he has also led several excavations of Roman sites.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00L6Z9D92
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Pen & Sword Military (January 8, 2013)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 8, 2013
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 34423 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 451 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 27 ratings

About the author

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M. C. Bishop

M. C. Bishop

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M. C. Bishop is a freelance writer, publisher, and archaeologist who – amongst other things – walks, drives, cycles, flies, tweets, blogs, draws, and photographs Hadrian’s Wall. His particular specialities are Roman arms and armour and the Roman site at Corbridge in Northumberland, but he confesses to being at his happiest when working on articles or books (writing, illustrating, editing, copy-editing, typesetting, proofreading, and indexing!).

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
27 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

jeff mcculloch
4.0 out of 5 stars You Cannot See The Fortress For The Bricks
Reviewed in the United States on March 20, 2013
Verified Purchase
The title of this review is a bit tongue in cheek. I like this book, but it is probably not for the general reader. There is a huge mass of detail provided in its pages which is more than challenging to anyone other than true aficionados of Roman fortifications. The heart of this book is what I would term a gazetteer of almost all known legionary fortresses of the Roman Empire, approximately 85 locations. Outline drawings of the plans are provided, as well as details such as regions, provinces, proportions and area, compass orientation, dating, literary references, garrison units, modern references, and geographic coordinates. Color photographs of many of the fortress features are provided and text in the front portion of the book provides some description of the functions of the various features of the fortifications. The book is well organized and has features which are unique if not stunning. This is a wealth of detail. Nothing in the book ties the fortresses to strategic analysis, the reason for the fortress being located and constructed as it was, the populations or cities they were attempting to protect, or the enemies they were trying to counter. Could some of these constructs been make work projects to keep the soldiers occupied? Were they the Roman version of stimulus spending? If they were bases and depots to counter various threats, what campaigns did they support? The grand strategy of the empire has many questions and unknown factors, but the book would have been more satisfactory by attempting to answer some of them. Within its limits this is an excellent and exhaustive work. It should be read in conjunction with The Frontiers of Imperial Rome by David J. Breeze or The Reach of Empire by Derek Williams to answer some of the more strategic questions. The Osprey Fortress series contains some excellent information of interest to the generalist.
13 people found this helpful
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Thomas F. Koehl
4.0 out of 5 stars For illustrative purposes I would like to have seen more material to encompass the Limes ...
Reviewed in the United States on July 28, 2015
Verified Purchase
As a serious historian and archaeologist, the author has compiled a comprehensive catalog of all the known legionary fortresses, referencing their geographical coordinates with Google Earth and reproducing the plans of each site. This is primarily a reference book, not a historical narrative, and as such it fulfills it's purpose. For illustrative purposes I would like to have seen more material to encompass the Limes Germanica and the cohort forts which have been excavated and in some cases (Saalburg, for example) largely reconstructed. However, for the serious student of the Roman Army this book is a necessary library addition.
One person found this helpful
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RS
2.0 out of 5 stars Reads like an Archeaologist's field notes.
Reviewed in the United States on May 31, 2014
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A great deal of work obviously involved but with very little historical context to go with the notes and site maps. I also bought "Reach of Rome" which is much more what I was looking for.
3 people found this helpful
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Te Bada
4.0 out of 5 stars Useful
Reviewed in the United States on July 14, 2016
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Excellent buy in E book. The author could have given more detail instead of such a large gazetteer that is of little use. The book is a great guide.
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Top reviews from other countries

Kif
5.0 out of 5 stars Invaluable Resource
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 5, 2016
Verified Purchase
Definitely not for casually-interested, but if you need to know how various Roman forts and fortresses across the empire were laid out, then you've come to the right place. Its coverage and attention to detail is impressive, and only goes to show how unstandard the standard design for Roman forts can be.

The abundance of site diagrams are augmented by chronologies of which legions were based there at any given time (subject to the available evidence), which is helpful to say the least. It does, however, restrict itself to legionary structures, so for an overview of Auxiliary/Cavalry forts, Duncan Campbell's compact Osprey volume will add a little extra.
2 people found this helpful
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Paul mccafferty
5.0 out of 5 stars Detail
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 25, 2018
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Great
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A. J. Springett
4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, informative, comprehensive.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 29, 2014
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I am fascinated by Roman Fortresses, who wouldn't be coming from Chester! The book backed up by thoughts that the forts were formulaic in layout all over the empire, in what ever period, i.e. playing card shaped and 400m wide. The photos, while clear, look like holiday snaps, but they make their point well enough. The book could have looked a bit more into internal structures, like strongrooms (at Chester) and more examples of bath houses.
These are only minor criticisms, I only wish that I would have had the where-with-all to have written it myself. Thank you, M. C. Bishop.
3 people found this helpful
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Ben Kane
5.0 out of 5 stars Miss this book at your peril
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 27, 2015
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An essential text for anyone with an interest in Roman fortresses all over the empire. Wonderful.
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Arjessa
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 3, 2016
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Useful textbook, well researched.
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