Roman Forts Book

Examines the structure and defenses of an ancient Roman fort, Roman military life, and the campaigns waged by the Roman Empire against its enemies.

Children's Literature

Part of the "Hallmarks of History" series which uses a physical feature of the day to introduce a specific time period in history, this book focuses on the Roman Empire through the unifying feature of the Roman fort. The book does an excellent job of explaining the various uses of forts by the Romans, but goes far beyond this to discuss the events of the period and the lives of the people during the Roman Empire. There are many colorful illustrations, including interior and exterior diagrams of a fort, portraits of various emperors, and photographs of Roman artwork. The book is thirty-two pages long with twelve chapters and includes such information as the building of forts, the lives of soldiers, the uses of war machines, and religion. Numerous specific terms are defined in a simplified glossary. Each book in the series concludes with a chapter that explains what happened next, and for this book this includes a discussion about how the Roman civilization has influenced our own. Each book also has simplified research aids, such as an index, and a date chart that shows what was happening in various parts of the world during the time being studied. Maps, charts, and sidebars are included throughout the books where they are appropriate. The books in this series are short and contain relatively simple language and sentence structure, making them suitable for many third graders and especially helpful to older struggling readers studying ancient Rome.