Richard Whittaker. Frontiers of the Roman Empire. A Social and Economic Study (The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore/London 1994).

Charles Richard Whittaker (1929–‍2008) earned a reputation as a fellow at Churchill College, Cambridge, where he was a university lecturer in Ancient History from 1971 until he died in 2008. His main research interests included the frontiers of the Roman Empire and the ancient economy. The book presented here developed out of a series of lectures Whittaker gave at the Collège de France in Paris in 1987 and was first published in French in 1987. The greatly expanded English version was published in 1994 (p. XV).

“Frontiers of the Roman Empire. A Social and Economic Study” covers a broad time frame, beginning with Emperor Augustus in the 1st century and extending into the late 5th century. Focusing on all frontiers of the Roman Empire, Whittaker discusses the forms and limits of Roman frontier policy and explores the question of the nature of frontiers against the background of their social and economic function. In doing so, Whittaker highlights that, in his eyes, there was no comprehensive strategy within Roman frontier policy, or even a central, overarching plan (pp. 49; 63–‍70). He presents his theses and his understanding of Roman frontiers in chronological form as well as thematically subdivided, illustrated by numerous maps.

After an introduction to the existing research and concepts on the frontiers of the Roman Empire in chapter 1, the book deals with the frontier politics of the 1st to the early 4th century in chapter 2. In doing so Whittaker points out that, according to his research, the frontier systems never had a purely defensive role.

In chapter 3, Whittaker deals with the location of frontiers by asking the question: “Why Did the Frontiers Stop Where They Did?”. He argues that they cannot be seen as artificial lines, since the concept of linear, impermeable borders is a modern development (pp. 60–‍62). Rather, they have been zones. Finally, the question raised in the chapter heading is answered. Regarding Owen Lattimore’s studies of the Great Wall of China (Lattimore 1940; Lattimore 1962) and its course, Whittaker argues that the course of the frontier was always oriented along a zone, the crossing of which was not possible for social as well as economic reasons, as the supply could not have been maintained (pp. 85–‍97).

Chapter 4 focuses on the economy and the accompanying social processes along the frontiers of the Roman Empire and the territories beyond. Whittaker focuses on the supply of the army, for which sheep, horses, and cattle were imported in large numbers into the provinces, while wine, grain, pottery, and prestigious articles were produced in the Roman provinces (pp. 104–‍121). Trade on both sides created an economic and social “push and pull of Frontiers”, a process of acculturation within the frontier zone, whereby the population on both sides of the frontier became materially more similar than the populations of the backcountry, while the prestigious articles of Roman culture were reserved for the elites on the other side of the frontier (pp. 124–‍138).

In chapter 5, Whittaker gives a geographically structured overview of the developments within the frontier regions in late antiquity between the late 3rd and 5th centuries, until he traces the collapse of the frontiers in chapter six, where he deals with the military-strategic changes and their consequences (pp. 202–‍214). Here Whittaker revisits the society within the frontier zones, already mentioned earlier, which now increasingly developed its characteristics as a result of the frontier policies of the 4th century. Whittaker sees the increasing integration of troops recruited from the frontier zones themselves under the leadership of their own leaders as a major trigger of this process from the 4th century onwards (pp. 222–‍223; 235).

The final chapter 7 traces the further developments of the late 4th and 5th centuries, in which new military elites, titled by Whittaker as Warlords and Landlords, rise and assume essential roles in the military systems of the Roman Empire of Late Antiquity (pp. 257–‍278).

The presented work provides a geographically and temporally broad insight into the frontier politics of the Roman Empire. Combined with a review of already existing models, new concepts are developed, and further questions are raised. The direct interplay between economic and social processes along the frontiers as well as the character of the frontier as zones are clearly emphasized and underlined or contrasted by modern examples. Whittaker’s book is thus recommended both from an archaeological and historical perspective as a basis for understanding the processes at the frontiers of the Roman Empire and as an advanced study that provides current concepts for understanding social processes within the frontier zones.