Mason Roman Chester City of the Eagles Römer Antike Römisches Reich
Mason Roman Chester City of the Eagles
Roman Chester was essentially a military fortress, home for more than 300 years to an imperial legion, one of the 30 such elite units in the Roman army which, led by their eagle standards, won and held Rome's great empire. Chester, or Deva as it was then known, lay at the extreme north-western limit of the empire and thus, in Roman imagination, stood at the edge of the World.
Then, as now, commerce played an important part in the life of the community. A garrison town grew up beside the fortress, along with other substantial settlements in the hinterland, and economic activity was further stimulated by Chester's possession of a natural harbour. In the post-Roman centuries the fabric of Deva collapsed or was dismantled for reuse in medieval buildings, so that today it is only through archaeology that we can reconstruct the grandeur of Roman Chester.
Using new-evidence produced by the vast amount of research and excavation over the last 40 years, the author is not only able to reconstruct the Roman fortress and town, but explains the reasons for its strategic importance and describes its history, as well as the day-to-day lives of the men, women and children who were in one way or another part of the military community. Many of his interpretations are new, especially of the unique and puzzling Elliptical Building, which he sees as a commemorative structure, celebrating Rome and her emperors.
The result is the first ever authoritative book on Roman Chester that is accessible to a wide popular readership.
David Mason has been involved in the investigation of Chester's archaeology since the late 1960s. A member of the city council's archaeology team for many years, he built up a particular expertise in Roman archaeology which he developed further with both his doctoral thesis and his work since becoming an independent consultant and researcher in the early 1990s.
Autor: David J.P. Mason, 176 Seiten, Englischer Text, Format 17,1 x 24,1 cm
ISBN: 9780752419220
Roman Chester was essentially a military fortress, home for more than 300 years to an imperial legion, one of the 30 such elite units in the Roman army which, led by their eagle standards, won and held Rome's great empire. Chester, or Deva as it was then known, lay at the extreme north-western limit of the empire and thus, in Roman imagination, stood at the edge of the World.
Then, as now, commerce played an important part in the life of the community. A garrison town grew up beside the fortress, along with other substantial settlements in the hinterland, and economic activity was further stimulated by Chester's possession of a natural harbour. In the post-Roman centuries the fabric of Deva collapsed or was dismantled for reuse in medieval buildings, so that today it is only through archaeology that we can reconstruct the grandeur of Roman Chester.
Using new-evidence produced by the vast amount of research and excavation over the last 40 years, the author is not only able to reconstruct the Roman fortress and town, but explains the reasons for its strategic importance and describes its history, as well as the day-to-day lives of the men, women and children who were in one way or another part of the military community. Many of his interpretations are new, especially of the unique and puzzling Elliptical Building, which he sees as a commemorative structure, celebrating Rome and her emperors.
The result is the first ever authoritative book on Roman Chester that is accessible to a wide popular readership.
David Mason has been involved in the investigation of Chester's archaeology since the late 1960s. A member of the city council's archaeology team for many years, he built up a particular expertise in Roman archaeology which he developed further with both his doctoral thesis and his work since becoming an independent consultant and researcher in the early 1990s.
Autor: David J.P. Mason, 176 Seiten, Englischer Text, Format 17,1 x 24,1 cm
ISBN: 9780752419220