This edited volume presents a synthesis of recent research on villas and villa landscapes in the northern provinces of the Roman world. It offers an original, multi-dimensional perspective on the social, economic and cultural functioning of villas within the context of the Roman empire.

Preface, Studying Roman villa landscapes in the 21st century. A multi-dimensional approach, Reflections on the Iron Age background to the emergence of villa landscapes in northern France, Exploring villa development in the northern provinces of the Roman empire, On the origin and development of axial villas with double courtyards in the Latin West, Town-country dynamics in Roman Gaul. The epigraphy of the ruling elite, Ethnic recruitment, returning veterans and the diffusion of Roman culture among rural populations in the Rhineland frontier zone, Indications for rural slavery in the northern provinces, The idea of the villa. Reassessing villa development in south-east Britain, The role of mortuary ritual in the construction of social boundaries by privileged social groups within villa landscapes, Monumental funerary structures of the 1st to the 3rd centuries associated with Roman villas in the area of the Treveri, Roman rural settlements in Flanders. Perspectives on a ‘non-villa’ landscape in extrema Galliarum, Evaluating settlement patterns and settlement densities in the villa landscapes between Tongres and Cologne, villa landscape of the Middle Aare valley and its spatial and chronological development, Roman villa landscapes of the lignite mining areas in the hinterland of Cologne, The Roman villa complex of Reinheim, Germany, The Roman villa at Borg. Excavation and reconstruction, List of contributors.