The Barracks of the Roman Army from the 1st to 3rd Centuries A.D.

The very mass of barrack evidence, whose buildings at least are clearly all of the same family, challenges an understanding of its variation and variety and of the manner in which the variety is complicated by change and development through time, by location in different provinces, by the vagaries of different architects and builders and even by the impact of different building materials. More specifically it challenges an interpretation of the essential differences between legionary and auxiliary barracks and of the differences between barracks of different kinds of auxiliary unit. With the increase in material it also becomes possible to consider the ways in which the barracks relate to each other within fortress, fort and fortlet, for example in terms of seniority or simply for the organisation of such tasks as the baking of bread.

This study considers the archaeological evidence from the fortresses, forts and fortlets themselves, that is the barracks and the stables/stores/workshops whose very identification is so often tentative and qualified, and seeks to address many direct questions where there is lack of useful written evidence.

First published in 1989.