This book systematically examines evidence for Roman auxiliary commanders’ households on frontiers in western Europe and North Africa during the first three centuries CE. Although the existence of these households has long been known this is the first time they have been comprehensively studied. Until recently, the typicality of letter-writing evidence from the first century fort at Vindolanda near Hadrian’s wall has been disputed, and therefore its applicability to frontiers more widely has been questioned. This book therefore surveys and critically evaluates three types of evidence for auxiliary commander households from across Europe and North Africa: praetorium archaeology; Latin inscriptions on stone; and the first century letters of the officers’ households at Vindolanda. By bringing together perspectives from these three evidence-types the book gives insight into how these households, including women and children, were constituted and the likely roles of different household members living on the frontiers.

AUTHOR

Dr Claire Millington is a Roman military archaeologist with interests in households within the Roman army and in community archaeology.

REVIEW

‘(…) a highly pertinent contribution for all those invested in the study of the Roman army and Roman social history at large’ Dr Jesús Bermejo Tirado, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid

‘The methodology of combining epigraphic, archaeological and textual evidence in relation to this neglected topic is itself original, while the evaluation of evidence in the light of feminist thinking and other theoretical approaches is refreshing.’ Dr Nick Hodgson, Honorary Research Fellow, Durham University