Imperium Romanum is the first full-length book in English on the organisation of the Roman empire for over fifty years and will provide the student at all levels with a conspectus of the latest research and conclusions of all aspects of the Empire. Much important new material is now available; Andrew Lintott brings to light and discusses recent discoveries of documents preserved in inscriptions and on papyrus. The classic books on the Roman empire emerged in a period when imperial enterprise was generally exalted. These works transferred the values and preconceptions of the British empire onto that of the Romans. The stressed territorial control, defined frontiers, clear divisions of responsibility and channels of communication. More recent research by, contrast, highlights how flexible, casuistic, personal and (sometimes deliberately) ill-defined the principles and methods of Roman imperialism were. Andrew Lintott provides an up-to-date assembly of the evidence and suggests new interpretations of this material. how far did a system arise from this apparent lack of system. How far did Rome's subjects grow into a unity, which transcended the results of direct Roman coerc