These two books have in common the history of the discovery of Roman Britain and its intellectual context. However, whereas Hoselitz is concerned with a relatively short period, the first half of the Victorian era from the 1840s to the 1860s, Hingley’s range is much wider, extending over more than three centuries from the very beginning of the systematic enquiry into Britain’s early history, with the publication of the first edition of William Camden’s Britannia in 1586, right up to the beginning of the twentieth century and the first publication of Francis Haverfield’s highly influential lecture on ‘The Romanization of Roman Britain’ in 1906.

Hoselitz is interested in the period when archaeological investigation into Britain’s Roman past began to challenge seriously the ideas derived largely from Roman written sources or from the exploration of Roman villas by antiquaries, such as the great Samuel Lysons, under the patronage of the landed aristocracy. Her focus is on the development of research activity through the foundation of local learned societies in four urban centres and how it changed perceptions of the Roman past. Her choice includes the towns of Cirencester and Colchester and the legionary fortresses at Caerleon and Chester, each of which merits a separate chapter. All four Roman centres lie beneath modern successors and modern development was a major force in the quest for antiquities from their past. These case studies are put in the context of contemporary thought about the Roman occupation of Britain and its significance in the development of the island’s history and identity. In the 1860s the pace of exploration changed with the start of major – often long-term – excavations of greenfield sites, such as Silchester (in Hampshire, not Berkshire, p 170) and Wroxeter, and the work on the baths and temple precinct at Bath in advance of the redevelopment of the spa facilities and hotel.

While Hingley’s chronological range is much greater, there is, inevitably, selectivity in the themes, which he pursues under the broad heading of ‘the history of thought about Roman Britain’, and in a geographical area of enquiry that concentrates on England and Scotland. There are four key ideas permeating the book, which are summarized on p 11: ‘(1) the idea that “civility” or “civilisation” was introduced to native Britons as a result of their incorporation into the Roman empire; (2) the contrasting interpretation of the “walling out” of humanity or “civility” from the peoples of northern Britain as a result of the geographical limiting of the province that occurred through the construction of the two Roman walls; (3) the exploration of the identity and character of the Roman incomers to Britannia; and (4) the role of the ruination of Roman monuments, enabling reflection on Britain’s contemporary imperial purpose’. The relationship between the Roman Empire and the British Empire was more fully explored by Hingley in his earlier book, Roman Officers and English Gentlemen (2000).

In this masterly study, Hingley brings out very well the changing emphases in the interpretation of Britain’s Roman past and the relationship of any one idea with the political context of the time. Two texts were very influential: Tacitus, Agricola 21, where the governor encourages the adoption of Roman behaviour and values within the province, and the celebrated inscription, found in Chichester in 1723, which mentions the ‘great’ king Cogidubnus and was seen as evidence of the confidence which the Romans were prepared to place in a native leader. As to larger, political interpretation, a few examples illustrate this topic well. From very early on the idea that the Romans brought civility to the indigenous people of southern Britain influenced Elizabethan and Jacobean attitudes and approaches to Ireland and the new colony of Virginia. More significant was the role that Hadrian’s Wall and the Antonine Wall played in political life in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and in the unification of England and Scotland. For Scotland, the Roman occupation up to the Antonine Wall could allow a claim to Roman origins, and, therefore, civility, on the one hand on the part of lowland Scotland, while, on the other, pointing up the barbarians beyond the Antonine Wall to the north. Alternatively, in the assertion of a single, strong Scottish identity, the Caledonii could also be claimed as the last great defenders of freedom against imperial power. Not surprisingly, the Roman military occupation of Scotland was seen as a model for the military subjugation of the Highlands in the eighteenth century, including the construction of roads and forts.

This is a fascinating book providing much material for thoughtful reflection on the changing social and political exploitation of the Roman occupation of Britain. The presence in the politically determined national curriculum of ‘Roman’ from the earliest stages of our children’s education reminds us that Rome with its associations of power and ‘civility’ continues to exercise a strong political and social influence on our development to the present day.