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This volume celebrates the career of Professor Simon James and his contributions to archaeological scholarship. Following Simon’s lead for innovative approaches to the study of Rome’s armies and their indigenous adversaries, Anna Walas and Andrew Birley have corralled an impressive array of experts to review the frontiers of the Empire through the lens of Cultural Relativism. This they define as the relationship between knowledge drawn from data, and its dependence on social, cultural, and historical contexts. Their intent is to open fresh perspectives that may be uncomfortable and challenging for some.
The 21 papers are arranged in five thematic sections: Roman frontiers repositioned; de-colonial approaches in relation to Rome’s frontiers; relativist deconstructions of imperial culture; cultural relativism and belonging on the frontiers; and relativism and cultures of violence. For the most part, they rise to the challenge of the brief. Fraser Hunter’s review of Romano-British beaded torcs is exemplary, bringing the corpus up to date and highlighting more developed typologies, their distribution, and what they might tell us about social shifts in Britain. As you would also expect in a book dedicated to Simon, Roman Africa and the eastern frontiers are well covered, with David Mattingly challenging the very concept of a ‘frontier’ in Africa, Michel Reddé highlighting Rome’s challenges either side of the Red Sea, and Jen Baird reassessing the material culture at Dura Europos. Similarly, Simon’s work on complex military communities is reflected by Beth Green’s review of cultural affiliation at Vindolanda and Ian Haynes’s examination of the military in the heart of urban Rome. All these papers reflect Simon’s innovative perspectives.
There are one or two papers that are less convincing, either by using little more than alternative terminologies without adding value or by proposing methodologies which struggle to convincingly engage with the question. This may reflect the risk we take by using such varied approaches – a point acknowledged by the editors. For all that, however, this book is a thought provoking tribute to Simon’s work over the last three decades, and is recommended to anyone interested in Roman Frontier Studies.
REVIEW BY ALISTAIR McCLUSKEY
Relativism and the Frontiers of Empire: critical perspectives on Roman soldiers, communities, and military landscapes
Anna Walas and Andrew Birley (eds)
Archaeopress, £55, or free eBook
ISBN 978-1805830689
