The Value of Studying Roman Frontiers

Abstract

Modern cross-border studies generally pay scant attention to the frontier works themselves. Yet analysis of these can tell us much about the relationships between Rome and her neighbours. In spite of that, and their popularity with a wider public, Roman frontier studies have fallen out of favour in mainstream academic circles in the UK. This paper seeks to emphasise that the study of these frontiers is essential to a balanced understanding of the Roman Empire and its relationship with its neighbours. The importance of understanding the detail before creating the bigger picture is underlined, as is the necessity to examine other frontiers than those in Britain, both elsewhere in the Roman Empire and at other times.

Keywords

• Roman frontiers
• Roman army
• warfare
• Hadrian’s Wall
• Dacia
• indigenous population of Britain