London Still on My Mind

I have just finished a slow slog (but still an appealing one) through John Morris’ Londinium: London and the Roman Empire. It was first published in the early eighties; the paper edition I used was found at the bottom of a bin at a book barn in Cedar Rapids. The print was small and the details got too precise for my taste (or my limited background) at times, but there was also a fascination with the way the book brought known events into confluence with archaeology and analogical social behavior to develop a picture of the way in which a country was enveloped and a city developed by a conquering force. We discover that the plotting of coin finds enabled scholars to locate the routes of Roman roads and who lived along them and where and when. We discovered how geology determined the ford points for the invading armies and ultimately the location of defensive works, then settlements, and finally whole cities. Morris writes with scholarly thoroughness and yet somehow retains a sense of humanity and compassion for the many nameless souls whose lives went unrecorded except as revealed by their scattered detritus, building stones, and bones. A most pleasant and pleasurable read.