Afterword

This short section reasserts and summarizes some of the key conclusions to the book, explaining how London responded to the strategic choices of Roman emperors and governors, initially as a gateway emporium and subsequently as a defended administrative enclave. Episodes of systematic change were also provoked by exogenous shock, and the effects of war and plague can be identified in the archaeological record from London. Imperial inputs helped London to recover from such events, but the city was wholly a creature of Rome and otherwise lacking in social capital. Its eventual failure was a direct product of the failure of the Roman administration. Some directions for future research are considered.