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Preface

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 September 2013

Nigel Mills
Affiliation:
Director, World Heritage and Access, The Hadrian's Wall Trust
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Summary

‘But Dad, history is boring and the Romans are the most boring bit of it all.’ I may have paraphrased my son's attempted justification for not doing homework but the essence of his argument is, and was, very plain. A similar argument was deployed always when discussing going to visit one of the site museums on Hadrian's Wall; and yet a walk along the Wall where ‘British war parties’ (children), waiting in ambush for Roman supply columns (parents), were routinely ‘flushed-out’ by Roman scouts (the dog) but rallied to win the ensuing battle, were, for a time, one of the most attractive of weekend activities.

Where have we, as teachers, academics and interpreters gone so badly wrong? How have we managed to make the Romans such a hated topic? Readers may think I overreact but on a very brief and totally unsystematic survey (conducted in the last few minutes with two of my children and eight of their friends, home for lunch from school), the result was almost unanimous: the Romans are the most boring part of history — with one dissenter identifying ‘Medicine Through Time’ (although, when pressed by his peers, he acknowledged that the worst bit of this was ‘The Romans and the beginning of public health’ as there was no gruesome dissection or surgery to talk of …).

Type
Chapter
Information
Presenting the Romans
Interpreting the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage Site
, pp. xiii - xiv
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Print publication year: 2013

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  • Preface
  • Edited by Nigel Mills, Director, World Heritage and Access, The Hadrian's Wall Trust
  • Book: Presenting the Romans
  • Online publication: 05 September 2013
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  • Preface
  • Edited by Nigel Mills, Director, World Heritage and Access, The Hadrian's Wall Trust
  • Book: Presenting the Romans
  • Online publication: 05 September 2013
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Preface
  • Edited by Nigel Mills, Director, World Heritage and Access, The Hadrian's Wall Trust
  • Book: Presenting the Romans
  • Online publication: 05 September 2013
Available formats
×