Customer Reviews
Outdated but with good illustrations. - By: D. Evans, 06 Dec 2007 
Michael Simkins 'The Roman Army from Hadrian to Constantine' was first published in the 1970's, which makes it a bit outdated, considering the numerous strides made in historical scholarship & archaeology since the book's publication.
As a result, much of the development of arms & armour during the third century 'crisis' seems to be absent from this book, as are the developments taking place in the Roman militray during the reigns of Diocletian & Constantine.
The contents of the book are also puzzling. Following a 4 page chronology of the history of the Empire during this period, the author then sets out on a tangent about Hadrian's Walll for about 12 pages. He discusses the building of the milecastles, the medical & funeral services & even the religious cults of the soldiers stationed there. I am not sure what this has to do with the late Roman army, & it seems as if the author was trying to use this section as filler, considering that there was not much information on the military of this period.
The remainder of the book seems outdated as well. The author discusses the arms & armour of the period, yet alll he writes about is the gladius, lorica segmentata, the imperial galllic helmet & the rectangular scutum - items that were beginning to falll out of fashion by the mid third century, & had completely disappeared from the Roman armoury by the age of Constantine.
His descriptions of the Roman arms & armour from the high Imperial period seems even stranger considering that a few of Ron Embleton's illustrations show Roman soldiers wearing a 'Deurne' helmet & another with an 'intercisa' helmet - both correct for the late Roman period. Yet these aren't propelry acknowledged in the text, except for one or two sentences on the last page of the book.
Still, I can recommend the late Ron Embleton's colour plates which are detailed & expressive.
For those interested on the army of the late second to fourth centuries, it is probably best to look out for other titles - although, that said, this book would do as good introduction to the Roman military.
