Several works reviewed in recent issues of this journal have demonstrated the vitality of Roman urban research in France and the number of high-quality publications resulting from conferences. The subject of this review is a large volume devoted principally to the civic fora of Gaul, the proceedings of a seminaire held in Toulouse in 2011, promptly and professionally published under the editorship of Alain Bouet. Most enthusiasts for this subject will be aware of similar syntheses and compendia, based on gatherings in Spain, Italy and Germany during the 1980s and 1990s, notably Los foros romanos de las provincias occidentales (Madrid, 1987), La città nell'Italia settentrionale in età romana (French School at Rome, 1990), Die Stadt in Oberitalien und in den nordwestlichen Provinzen des römischen Reiches (Mainz, 1991), and La ciudad en el mundo romano (Tarragona, 1994). From the point of view of British scholars, the seminal contribution was, of course, J.B. Ward-Perkins' article in JRS 60 (1970) regarding the key role played in the development of forum planning by Northern Italian cities. More recent work has been ably synthesised in a series of papers by Pierre Gros, most impressively in the form of his magisterial L'Architecture romaine I: les monuments publics (1996). H.R. Hurst (ed.), The Coloniae of Roman Britain (1999) contains wider discussions of civic space. Now we also have the benefit of the wide-ranging survey presented by R. Laurence, S. Esmonde Cleary and G. Sears, The City in the Roman West c.250BC–c.AD250 (2011).

The present volume is primarily, but not exclusively, concerned with the results of recent excavations and research. A brief but well-informed preface by Robert Sablayrolles provides a suitable definition for the functions of the civic forum, noting administrative, economic, political and cultural aspects. There follows a useful introductory paper by the editor, covering the history of previous study and the energetic field campaigns of the last 50 years. The diversity of both approaches and layouts, even in the tripartite fora most commonly found in Gaul, is readily acknowledged, as well as the long timescale taken to reach a definitive form at some cities. Bouet stresses the value of studying architectonic decoration, statuary, wall- and floor-decoration, epigraphic evidence, the physical evidence for the imperial cult, and the monumental centre as a whole. That much should be self-evident. It must be said that the approach is very much from a Southern French perspective: little is cited from sources in English (or German, for that matter), and one presumes that they have simply not been consulted. Hence there is no mention of some more recent ideas and approaches. Moreover, although the Introduction does include results of fieldwork at sites in Northern France and Switzerland, the British evidence only appears in a dismissive sentence echoing Grenier's Manuel (1958).

Bouet notes the uncertainty over the exact function of monumental foci at some smaller cities, wondering whether these rather represent sanctuaries separate from the civic centre. Yet, as Laurence et al. ((2011), 179–80) have noted, without excavation the second forum at Conimbriga in Portugal might have appeared to represent just such a sanctuary. Its development from a purely civic structure to the incorporation of, and even domination by, a temple precinct during the first century a.d. probably reflects a contemporary trend. Bouet is correct to raise the possibility that both fora and sanctuaries might indicate locations of pre-existing foci for communal or religious rituals. Unfortunately, the paper on places of assembly at Late Iron Age centres that follows has little geographical overlap with the Roman sites reported on in subsequent papers. There is then a worthwhile study of the documentary evidence for civic structures and legal status. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the Toulousain perspective, the various sites that are reported on in the next 12 contributions lie mainly in Southern France (within the provinces of Aquitania and Narbonensis). Some of these cover the results of excavations as recent as 2008–9 (Ruscino) or even 2010 (Javols), while others represent new reviews of the evidence and updated interpretations. At both Lyon (Fourvière) and Autun (northerly outliers among the sites covered), it is concluded that the fora still await discovery. There is an opposite conclusion for the Northern Italian site of Industria, where, it is argued, the building previously considered to represent a temple of Isis was actually the forum temple.

The article on this relatively unknown Italian city is one of the four final papers not devoted to French sites (though all are by francophone scholars). The concluding piece, on Spanish cities in Late Antiquity by Emmanuelle Boube, is not only the longest but also one of the most impressive contributions to the volume. It repays careful reading. Boube argues that many fora were still in use at the end of the fourth century, and attempts to explain why and to date when they ceased to function. The demise and disengagement of the curial class are seen as crucial factors. She also confronts the thorny problem of dating abandonment — a theme that has been considered for Britain (e.g. N. Faulkner, Archaeol. J. 153 (1996), 79–103). The paper then proceeds to set out systematically various scenarios for what might have happened to the fora. Even fewer were converted to Christian churches in Spain than in Gaul, in contrast with Italy and Africa. Boube suggests how we might recognise when the fora finally went out of use. In particular, being built over for domestic housing is suggested as a decisive indicator. In this relatively arid zone, there is no agonising over the interpretation(s) of ‘dark earth’. Nor, however, is there is any mention of the work of Adam Rogers (2011) on late Romano-British towns or of Neil Christie (1996; 2012) and others on similar questions at Mediterranean sites.

While this final contribution does include references to work in the Mediterranean area by both Tim Potter and Chris Wickham, the apparent lack of awareness of recent British (and German) scholarship is my principal disappointment with this otherwise welcome and substantial collection. Little written in English in the past two decades has been consulted. That partly explains the noticeable absence of the application of social theory and, in particular, the study of individual identity. These themes have become key approaches to our understanding of how and why the civic centre developed and was used in each city, from the time of Millett's paradigm-shifting The Romanization of Britain (1990) through to nuanced recent studies of the architectural context of social and religious rituals, such as Louise Revell's Roman Imperialism and Local Identities (2009). At the least, Greg Woolf's study of cultural change in Gaul — Becoming Roman (1998) — might surely have been noted. One can only hope that we can establish a closer dialogue in future.