Protecting the Roman Empire: Fortlets, Frontiers, and the Quest for Post-Conquest Security

by Matthew Symonds

The Roman army enjoys an enviable reputation as an instrument of waging war, but as the modern world reminds us, an enduring victory requires far more than simply winning battles. When it came to suppressing counterinsurgencies, or deterring the depredations of bandits, the army frequently deployed small groups of infantry and cavalry based in fortlets. This remarkable installation type has never previously been studied in detail, and shows a new side to the Roman army. Rather than displaying the aggressive uniformity for which the Roman military is famous, individual fortlets were usually bespoke installations tailored to local needs. Examining fortlet use in north-west Europe helps explain the differing designs of the Empire's most famous artificial frontier Hadrian's Wall, the Antonine Wall, and the Upper German and Raetian limites. The archaeological evidence is fully integrated with documentary sources, which disclose the gritty reality of life in a Roman fortlet.

266 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2017

Reviews

[Nick · Rating 2 out of 5]

My father loved to talk about the Roman empire, loved the politics, the city building but most importantly he loved to talk about the Roman army. In particular the later professional army that traveled with the tools on their backs to construct a fort or encampment in short notice. Matthew Symonds takes the reader on a journey to the smaller segments of the Roman military engineering; the outpost fortlets and the watchtowers. He talks about what role they played, how important they were and how they evolved alongside with the frontier and Roman policy in said frontier.

This should have been right up my alley but halas it was not to be. Symonds spents a lot of time in Roman Britain, Hadrians and Antonine walls each get their own chapter and a lot of subchapters get devoted to this province. I can't help but feel that the Doneau and Rhine sections are playing second fiddle here while I was given the impression in the introduction that it would be given equal attention. Given that the man has written another entire book about Hadrians wall.... I will leave it at that.

A second issue for me and one that is a lot more substantial. His style. Although Symonds sets out to talk about how these smaller outposts and towers contributed to security and what impact they had in a wider sense which is all fine but I found his style of writing to be confusing. pages go from Trajan to coins to materials used, speculation on garrisons, early to late roman empire, comparisons with other fortifications, border patrols etc. To me this comes across as to put it bluntly, dumping all the material you have on pages. The frustrating thing is that a lot of that material is in itself interesting but so few of it gets room to breath, so little sticks because you get rushed to something else the very next sentence. page 157 he mentions and discusses an extensive study from the late 19th to early 20th century by German archaeologists on the Rhine fortifications for 40 years these teams worked and published material and I can't help but wonder what Symonds has abbreviated so drastically so to cram it in a few dozen pages on the rhine frontier.

Unintentionally, Symonds has given me an idea for a great hiking vacation; because of his tendency to systematically walk the line of a frontier and talk about every site discovered it almost becomes a tour guide book. You could insert walking directions in between the sites and voila a handy themed walking guide for northern England and to lesser extent the Rhine region. But that was not what I was looking for. What I really wanted was talking about these frontiers as theatres of war and governance. Yes he talks about materials used for the fortlets and rations and usage for communications and support but where did this material come from? What was the production system behind this military project? How were rations for these fortlets obtained? If you talk about cavalry fortlets what was their range? How far could this support role extend? Symonds talks about forward defenses in opposition to the image of static defense, fine but how exactly where they integrated in an attack beyond the frontier? Give us some possible tactical and strategic use in a speculative situation. Symonds sprinkles speculation here and there but does so little with it; like page 171 he talks about how this one fortlet had platforms that could have been used for archers or slingers and then leaves it at that. Was that uncommon? Why? Is this linked to the whole, auxiliary forced used for these garrison duties? Occasionally he talks about asymmetrical warfare and mobility of the bandits, raiders, invaders, rebels but we never leave surface level analysis.

A third and most minor thing that bothered me; the Egyptian material; We apparently have quit a few messages from soldiers stationed in the eastern Egyptian Deserts fortlets who talk about rations, weariness of the patrols, concern for their safety, request transfers and even about pimping out their wives to other garrisons. this is all great fascinating stuff if it were integrated in an in depth analysis of the Egyptian fortlets. In stead it is thrown in there from time to time when he talks about fortlets in Britain and along the Rhine. Because we don't have those kind of messages from these European sites. This is frustrating because part of Symonds goal is to disprove uniformity in these fortlets designs and usage per zone and time but then he uses other material from a totally different setting and presents it as universally valid? I am not sold on that at all.

Likewise there is talk about the impact of said fortlets on local population but Symonds does not go beyond surface level here. I would think that usage of locally recruited auxiliary forces in these fortlets is a not to ignore factor when talking about the impact of fortlets on local populations. Where they more prone to turn a blind eye to smuggling or where they mistrusted? Even if we lack the material to give a definitive conclusion, the use of local troops to guard locals in a colonial frontier context has been used time and time again in other theaters of war and we can and should look into that to think creatively with the material we do have.

In conclusion; if your working on Roman Britain or Rhine region for a book, article, study or thesis I think this is fine enough. Likewise if your planning on writing a Roman fort themed hiking guide this is good stuff but if like me you are interested in the Roman period and want to read about it for fun? Then I do not recommend this book at all. I am sure that the one thing I will remember from this book is Roman soldiers pimping out their wives to garrisons who pooled their wage together for the occasion. Probably not what Symonds intended.