Il Duomo di Modena. Studi e ricerche per un approccio interdisciplinare

Abstract

of the 4th century and especially the early years of the 5th, the military and civil administration was withdrawn. Unlike many smaller cities in the province, which were self-contained centres of civitates, in London there was no native gentry class living in villas clustered around the urban centre, so the city was more fully depopulated and, in consequence, its decline was more complete than elsewhere. Roman Britain can be viewed in two ways. In one interpretation, London is in every way Roman, and essentially exploitative, drawing in craftsmen from the Rhineland or from elsewhere in Britain (the Cotswolds in the case of sculpture). Local styles are not to be sought in the arts practised here. This view provides plenty of evidence for those who, like David Mattingly, take a ‘hard view’ of Britain’s place in the Roman Empire. However, as Perring so brilliantly shows, another interpretation is possible. London was different from anywhere else in southern Britain. As a provincial capital which remained without chartered status for years, it was an exception in the Empire as a whole. In marked contrast with Verulamium, let alone Silchester, Chichester and Winchester in the south, or Dorchester and Cirencester in the west, it did not have flourishing local cultures descended from pre-Roman tribal polities. It remained an artificial creation, and by its very nature it could never be a true part of the (only partly realized) Roman ideal of a benign commonwealth of self-governing cities and communities. It only remains to record that this book’s production is excellent in every way. With its list of excavated sites, full bibliography, excellent maps and indexes, the publication is a joy to read and to consult. Author and publisher deserve our profound thanks.