Guy Bedoyere

Stretching 73 miles from coast to coast and reaching a height of about 13 feet, Hadrian's Wall should have been counted as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Today, a World Heritage site, it stands as the most imposing monument north of the Alps and attracts millions of visitors a year. Yet, despite all the excavation and research that has been carried out, this is the first detailed guide to be written for many years. Having first dealt with the practical questions of transport, clothing and maps, Guy de la Bedoyere explains why and how the Wall was constructed. With the help of almost 100 sketch maps, drawings and photographs, he then conducts the visitor, stage by stage, along the full length of the Wall, providing map locations, route and parking instructions, details of access and opening times, and a full account of everything that can be seen. He also covers the outpost forts, the forts and settlements to the rear (South Shields, Corbridge and Vindolanda) and the local museums which house so many of the artefacts discovered along the Wall. This indispensable guide-book concludes with a list of dates, a glossary and a summary of all the key sources.

One of the Roman Empire's greatest achievements was religious tolerance, at least by modern standards. It was a world in which Fortuna and Fate ruled the minds of men and women. That world left behind a marvellous legacy of literary and archaeological records. This book attempts to unravel the wide-ranging evidence.

Rome's power was under constant challenge. Nowhere was this truer than in Britain, Rome's remotest and most recalcitrant province. From the beginning to the end, a succession of idealists, chancers and reactionaries fomented dissent and rebellion. This book covers eleven rebellions and explains why Britain was a hot-bed of dissent.

Today, Britain's Roman Town survive in numerous different forms: from the earthworks of small roadside settlements in Lincolnshire, to the unending new discoveries from deep beneath London's busy modern streets, and the great ruins at Leicester and Wroxeter. They bear witness to Britain's first period as a single political, social and economic entity, and they helped form the framework modern Britain is still built around. This is a completely updated edition of the author's well-known book on the subject, taking into account a vast amount of new work and discoveries over the last decade. He examines the four centuries of Romano-British history, from the ramshackle streetside developments in the opening years of conquest, right through to the archaeological mysteries of the third and fourth centuries.

This book assembles a great deal of evidence for religious practices in Britain, but despite some genuine insights (for example in relating religious sites to natural features and phenomena, and a highly commendable use of ancient sources), in general it is superficial and lacks real empathy with ancient cult. The gruff, colloquial writing style proclaims that this is a plain man's guide' and presumably the avoidance of meaningful engagement with iconography, iconology, art or theology, goes along with this, though for me these are all vital for any understanding of ancient religion. Other books by the author show he can do far better and, indeed, Gods with Thunderbolts betrays signs of a very hasty composition, and reads more like a first draft than a finished product. Guest reviewer - Martin Henig .

This book deals thematically with an extensive range of building types, from country villas and urban basilicas to bridges and lighthouses. It covers construction techniques, including interior decoration and features; military buildings, including frontier works, Hadrian's Wall, and the Antonine Wall; public buildings, including market buildings, inns, and monumental arches; sacred sites, including Romano-Celtic temples, Mithraea, and rural shrines; and much more. The appendices deal with orthographic projections, inscriptions, recommended sites, and Romano-British history.

Archaeological excavations produce great public interest, and tours of ancient sites are more popular than ever before. But even the ruins of Imperial Rome lack the clatter of crowds and markets, the laughter in the theatres, the screams and shouts of political rallies, the noise and horror of battle and the bewildered shrieking of doomed animals in the Circus. Instead it is through the histories, letters, literature and inscriptions that we can really find a way into the minds of the Roman People. What emerges is a world very like our own - in which dignity sat side by side with decadence, creativity with corruption, and power with humility. This personal anthology of Roman life contains some passages, like Pliny the Younger's escape from the eruption of Vesuvius, that are familiar but too good to omit; others, from the less familiar pages of Herodian or Sidonias, will be entirely new for most readers. The translations aim to retain the sense of immediacy conveyed by the original Latin or Greek.

Stretching for 73 miles from coast to coast, and reaching a height of about 13 feet, Hadrian's Wall attracts millions of visitors every year and is a designated World Heritage site. This book offers a detailed guide to Hadrian's Wall.