Roman London (Ancient Peoples & Places)

Ive if the list memorable events of the 1950's in the City of London was the uncovering of the substantial remains of a small Roman temple devoted to the worship of the pagan god Mithras. During the summer of 1954 thousands of Londoners and foreign sightseers alike crowded to this little edifice in the City to inspect a wonderful survival from a literally buried past; and for many people this was the first real awareness that the Romans had evidently established a town of some importance along the River Thames where the core of London now stands. Recent archaeological discoveries described in this book confirm that Londinium was founded by the Romans as a planned town and root shortly after their arrival in AD43. The book also sheds new light on the havoc wreaked by Queen Boudica and her followers, and how the city was rebuilt, burnt and rebuilt again, before falling into decay in the early Saxon period. Peter Marsden is Field Research Officer at the Department of Urban Archaeology of the Museum of London, and has been investigating Roman London since 1954. During the 1960's he directed the Guildhall Museum's archaeological excavations, and is now responsible for research and publication of the huge backlog of discoveries, some of which were made a century ago.