The volume’s stated aim was to examine the lives and activities of the household members (familia) of Roman auxiliary commanders by investigating inscriptions on stones, structural remains of praetoria and tribune houses, and letters and documents preserved at Vindolanda. Those making up a household are taken here to include women and children as well as slaves and ex-slaves, groups often marginalised, only reluctantly accepted, or neglected in Roman frontier studies (apart from the stellar work of Penelope Allison).

There are eight chapters, of which two are an introduction and a conclusion. Ch. 2 deals with previous studies of the officers and their households. Ch. 3 reviews epigraphic evidence for the families of the officers, while ch. 4 summarises the evidence for the servile households in the quarters of the auxiliary commander and his wife. Ch. 5 is a short chapter on inscriptions referring to the praetorium, followed by a chapter on the physical evidence for praetoria and tribune houses in forts. Why these two chapters were not combined is not clear. The discussion of the archaeology of the praetoria (advertised in the subtitle of the book) is somewhat lacking in detailed scrutiny, and the few plans accompanying it are mostly of whole forts, rather than the buildings in question. Letters from Vindolanda are the focus of ch. 7.

Does the book fulfil its aim? It does so only partially. Employing different types of evidence that reveal different aspects of military life is a good idea, and the section on the epigraphic evidence for the relevant officers and their households is very useful, especially because it is testament to the commanders and their wives and children. The author also rightly highlights the need for further work to be done on the labour required to run praetoria and tribune houses in auxiliary forts, but we could say the same of officers’ quarters in any Roman fort, including legionary bases. And I found it interesting that praetoria and tribune houses underwent almost constant rebuilding and alteration, although the question why that might be so is not answered. Furthermore, the personal correspondence from Vindolanda is used by the author to advantage to shed light on hierarchical social networks and the integration of wives, children and other members of the familia in these networks.

But, in reality, despite the aim of illuminating the lives and activities of the commander’s familia, we are left with information captured in inscriptions and letters, but not really in the archaeological record. The author concludes (82) that the archaeological evidence does not establish the presence and agency of particular groups such as slaves, women or children. And yet on 72 she refers to the analysis of datable small finds from the phase 2 praetorium at Oberstimm which suggest a domestic function and the presence of women and children. And on the subject of women and children in forts, some important publications have not been cited, most notably P.M. Allison, ‘Artefact distribution within the auxiliary fort at Ellingen: Evidence for building use and for the presence of women and children’, Bericht der Römisch-Germanischen Kommission 87 387–452 (2006); M. Carroll, Infancy and Earliest Childhood in the Roman World. A Fragment of Time, esp. 163–5 (2018).

The section on food preparation and kitchens is short, and it may well be that the evidence is not copious. But there is indeed spectacular evidence for kitchens at legionary fortresses such as Vindonissa where it was part of the residence of a centurion and possibly his family (M. Flück et al., Zu Gast bei Offizieren in Vindonissa. Von der spätlatènezeitlichen Befestigung zur Grossküche eines Offiziersgebäudes. Auswertung der Ausgrabung Windisch-Römerblick 2002–2004 (2022)). And archaeological evidence is also apparent for women and children in legionary fortesses (J. Trumm and R. Fellmann Brogli, ‘Mitten im Lager geboren. Kinder und Frauen im römischen Legionslager Vindonissa’, in U. Brandl (ed.), Frauen und römisches Militär: Beiträge eines Runden Tisches in Xanten vom 7. bis 9. Juli 2005, 102–19 (2008)). I would have been keen to know why there might be these differences between officers’ quarters in auxiliary and legionary bases and their households, and the discussion in the volume could have been enriched by such comparative evaluation, even if briefly. Also of comparative interest are the (unfortunately) lesser-known writing tablets from Vindonissa which preserve letters, including those addressed to a woman who lived opposite the baths (in the fortress), and another refers to a landlady. The publication of these tablets by M. Speidel (Die römischen Schreibtafeln von Vindonissa. Lateinische Texte des militärischen Alltags und ihre geschichtliche Bedeutung (1996)) is cited in the bibliography, but the context and results of their analysis is not integrated with the Vindolanda tablets. As the author states (85), the Vindonissa letters cannot be related to officers’ households, but rather than dismiss them one could make use of some of their information for a wider discussion of the non-combatant occupants of military bases.

The book is the published version of the author’s PhD. It is well written and generally soundly organised, and it has a useful appendix with tables compiling attested household members. Its focus, however, is rather narrow and still has the ‘feel’ of a dissertation that would have benefited from more comparative analysis.