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REDDÉ Michel, BRULET Raymond, FELLMANN Rudolf, HAALEBOS Jan-Kees, SCHNURBEIN Siegmar von.
L’architecture de la Gaule romaine. Les fortifications militaires
Seventy years after the publication of Volume 1 of Albert Grenier’s Manuel d’archéologie gallo-romaine, Michel Reddé, Raymond Brulet, Rudolf Fellmann, Jan Kees Haalebos and Siegmar von Schnurbein have prepared a new overview of Roman military architecture in the provinces of Gaul and Germania. The first part analyzes the different types of construction techniques observed in military camps, placing the development of this architecture within its historical context, from the conquest of Gaul to the middle of the fifth century AD. The second part is a catalogue which, while making no claim to be exhaustive, presents all the key sites alongside other lesser-known ones, especially in France. Each well-documented and systematically well-illustrated notice is augmented by a bibliography.
This work is the outcome of international cooperation involving over fifty authors. It is aimed at an audience of undergraduates and non-specialist researchers, who will find it useful for the conveniently packaged, up-to-date information gathered together for the first time.
Abstract
Abstract
The present work, devoted to Roman military architecture in the provinces of Gaul and Germania, is the outcome of international cooperation involving over fifty authors. The aim was to update Volume 1 of Albert Grenier’s Manuel d’archéologie gallo-romaine originally published in 1931, and to provide a new, wide-ranging overview using numerous accurate, well-documented examples. The work now comprises two volumes, therefore. The first analyzes the different types of construction and techniques encountered in military camps, placing developments in military architecture in the historic context, from the time of the conquest of Gaul down to the mid fifth century AD. The second comprises a catalogue of sites, with no claim to exhaustiveness. This is because it would have been impossible – unnecessary even in the context of this project – to draw up an updated list of all the camps in Germania, since the focus in this present study is on architecture rather than military history, and the few exceptions to this rule were designed only to direct attention to sites that are still little known, especially in France, where there is a trend to increasing numbers of discoveries following a long period of hibernation in the research field. The presence of military fortifications, even poorly known ones, within a disarmed civil province, nevertheless has a special significance that should not be ignored.
Readers will not find a comprehensive discussion of urban fortifications in the present work, regardless of whether they date back to the early days of the Principate or to late Antiquity. This study, which is forthcoming, will be the subject of a separate volume by a different team of authors. It would have been virtually impossible to deal with this considerable mass of documents in a single volume. The question of town walls in the late empire period has nevertheless been addressed in the more general framework of defensive policy during this troubled period.
This book is aimed at undergraduates, students as well as non-specialist researchers seeking to find conveniently packaged, up-to-date information, gathered together here for the very first time. To date, no other similar work on these questions has been published in any language. In each case, a bibliography has been provided for reference to the original studies, which are often widely dispersed and difficult to access, especially in France, where the German literature is very poorly distributed.
After long reflection it was decided not to redraw the plans, save in exceptional cases, concerning points of detail. The idea was, rather, to supply the original documents as published. The book may have lost something in apparent consistency, but it gains in authenticity and provides a measure of the extremely diverse nature of the documents, and the gaps and limitations concerning the
information we do have, which always constitutes an important factor in scientific thinking.
