
Thinking with Dogs in Roman Britain
Lived Experience, Inequality, and Ritual in a Roman Province
Robin Fleming(Author)
Oxford University Press
Published on 26. March 2026
Book
Hardback
304 pages
978-0-19-893894-1 (ISBN)
Description
Thinking with Dogs in Roman Britain: Lived Experience, Inequality, and Ritual in a Roman Province argues that in Roman Britain, where little written evidence survives, some aspects of the past are more visible when we look not at people but instead focus on the dogs nipping at their heels. By examining the evidence of more than 1,700 Roman-period dogs preserved in structured deposits that Fleming suggests are the remnants of ritual acts, she provides a history of the relationships between canines and people living in a provincial context. The book begins by investigating the lives of real dogs in Britain under Rome, some of which were pampered working or personal animals, but many of which had hard lives and had to fend for themselves. It then explores how the period's authors used both pampered dogs and strays as metaphors, shedding light on issues of hierarchy, inequality, and enslavement. Finally it then turns to the widespread use of dogs as a material of religion, investigating their role as sacrificial animals and ritual agents, first in temple and shrine rituals and then in everyday household religion. Fleming concludes by asking what dogs did for ritual and what they can tell us about the making of Roman provincial culture.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Illustrations
c. 40
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 164 mm
Thickness: 23 mm
Weight
658 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-893894-1 (9780198938941)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Robin Fleming, earlier in her career, wrote on the political history of Viking, Anglo-Saxon, and Anglo-Norman England; historical writing in the early Middle Ages; English law before the Common Law; Domesday Book; and nineteenth-century medievalism. She now investigates Roman and early medieval material culture and animals and writes history from archaeology. She has received fellowships from the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton; the Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Studies at Harvard University; and the Guggenheim Foundation. She is a 2013 MacArthur Fellow. This book is based on her 2022 James Ford Lectures in British History.
Content
Part 1. Real Dogs and Metaphors 1: Why Roman Britain? Why Material Culture? Why Dogs? 2: Real Dogs under Rome 3: Dogs as Metaphorical Agents: Hierarchy, Inequality, Enslavement Part 2. Dogs as a Material of Religion 4: The Deaths of Dogs in the Lives of Dedicated Ritual Spaces 5: Dogs in Everyday Religion 6: Making Memories and Making Provincial Society with Dogs