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R oman Urbanism: A View from the Countryside
Author(s) -
Taylor Jeremy
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
oxford journal of archaeology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.382
H-Index - 31
eISSN - 1468-0092
pISSN - 0262-5253
DOI - 10.1111/ojoa.12022
Subject(s) - urbanism , human settlement , context (archaeology) , agency (philosophy) , politics , character (mathematics) , rural area , rural settlement , geography , settlement (finance) , sociology , archaeology , economy , political science , social science , business , law , economics , geometry , mathematics , finance , architecture , payment
Summary The towns of R oman B ritain have been subject to a long tradition of empirical research and discussion, but far less attention has been paid to the landscape context in which they developed. This paper considers the implications of this caveat for our understanding of R oman urbanism and suggests that most previous approaches have internalized the study of towns as social institutions and have failed to give due weight to the role of local rural agency in influencing the character of urban development. In so doing, it is suggested that the potential role of other important and competing nodes of economic, political and religious life, such as forts, fortresses, vici and small towns as well as rural sanctuaries and other settlements, is also not given due consideration in discussing the distinctive character of urbanism in R oman B ritain.