The end of the city in Roman Britain
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 20083916 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Richard Reece (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2002 |
| Pages | 146-154 |
| Publication date | 2002-09-11 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | CHAPTER |
| Venue | City in Late Antiquity (SOURCE_BOOK) |
| Publisher | Routledge (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.4324/9780203130162-8 |
| OpenAlex | W2966524196 |
| ISBN | 9780203130162 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 30 |
From the point of view of the Roman administrator around the year AD 220 Roman Britain contained the same units of urban administration as most of the other provinces of the Empire. The provinces of Britain were divided up into civitates, administrative areas of a size similar to the mediaeval county, or larger, with a town to act as administrative headquarters. These towns are often known as the ‘civitas capitals’ and authority almost certainly had a hand in their genesis because they were planned from the first on the grid-iron pattern which was totally foreign to Britain. London grew, probably by trade, but did not have a civitas around it. At some stage it rose in status, perhaps to a colonia, then to a provincial capital, and finally to be metropolis of the Late Roman group of British Provinces or Diocese. Colchester, Gloucester and Lincoln had military origins but when the army moved on northwards and westwards out of the lowland zone they were fashioned into coloniae, colonies for veteran soldiers. At York a colonia was founded beside the legionary fortress. These, to a visiting imperial official, were the towns of Roman Britain. There is the strong possibility that a few new civitas capitals were later created, and therefore some civitates were subdivided, but this remains uncertain (Frere 1987, 188-98)
Ancient history · Archaeology · Geography · Classical Antiquity Studies · History
The world-view
The individual and the gods
Christianity, a.d. 70–192
The family in the late Roman world
Specialized production and exchange
The government and administration of the empire in the central decades of the third century
Government and administration
Egypt from Septimius Severus to the death of Constantine
Armenia and the eastern marches
Coinage and taxation
Developments in provincial and local administration
Administration and politics in the cities of the fifth to the mid seventh century
Diocletian and the first tetrarchy, a.d. 284–305
Maximinus to Diocletian and the ‘crisis’
Emperor and court
Land, labour and settlement
The army, c. 420–602
The Reign of Constantine, a.d. 306–337
Law in the western kingdoms between the fifth and the seventh century
Armies and society in the later Roman world
The new state of Diocletian and Constantine
The Severan dynasty
The age of the Severans
The Germanic peoples and Germanic society
High classical law
Education in the Roman empire
Third-century Christianity
Isotopic Evidence for Breastfeeding and Possible Adult Dietary Differences from Late/Sub-Roman Britain
A experiência imperialista romana
New Light on the End of Roman London
| Citations per year | 1.2 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2001 - 2011 (11) |
| Highly cited | No |