An Unofficial 'The Rest Is History' Reading List

502. The Roman Conquest of Britain: To the Ends of the Earth (Part 4)

October 09, 2024

Description

In the aftermath of Boudicca’s uprising, the Romans felt they could not withdraw from the British Isles. They sent their most competent fighters and leaders to suppress the indigenous Britons in...
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Books Referenced

On Aqueducts

Author: Frontinus

Context:

Referenced as an ancient Roman text that is the main source for how aqueducts functioned, and was a major source for Robert Harris when writing his novel

Pompeii

Author: Robert Harris

Context:

Mentioned as a novel Robert Harris wrote that was inspired by Frontinus's book on aqueducts

Stratagems

Author: Frontinus

Context:

Referenced as an ancient Roman military text - 'a book on military stratagems through the ages'

Imperial Possession

Author: David Mattingly

Context:

Explicitly quoted as 'the first book in the new Penguin history of Britain' discussing Roman deployment strategy in Britain

Pagan Britain

Author: Ronald Hutton

Context:

Directly quoted from to describe Britain in the late Iron Age, including settlement patterns and cultural characteristics

Britannia, Failed State

Author: Stuart Laycock

Context:

Referenced as a book arguing that tribal groupings persisted in Britain and that Roman rule had shallow foundations

Agricola

Author: Tacitus

Context:

Referenced as Tacitus's biography of his father-in-law Agricola, described as a eulogy and portrait of the ideal Roman governor

Germania

Author: Tacitus

Context:

Referenced as 'a book about the Germans' where Tacitus portrays Germanic peoples as heroic and noble, later influential on Nazi ideology

Eagle of the Ninth

Author: Rosemary Sutcliffe

Context:

Mentioned as 'the famous story' inspired by the mysterious disappearance of the Ninth Legion