The authority of classical texts was challenged in the mid-Victorian era through the unearthing of a very different -Rome- in the material remains under British soil. Developments in archaeology created a new picture of Roman Britain as wealthy and civilized - an image which sat more comfortably with the Victorians' own changing view of empire as they themselves became an imperial power. Changing intellectual ideas ensured that the Roman heritage could no longer be seen solely as the preserve of the classically educated upper class: excavating with a spade allowed a larger audience to...