Saskia Hin (Leiden University and Stanford University)
Princeton/Stanford Working Papers in Classics, November (2007)
Abstract
This article focuses on the debate about the size of the population of Roman Italy. I point at logical inconsistencies related to the dominant view that the Republican census tallies are meant to report all adult males. I argue instead that the figures stemming from the Republican census may represent adult men sui iuris and suggest that those of the Augustan censuses include all citizens sui iuris regardless of age and sex. This implies a population size under Augustus which falls between those suggested by ‘high counters’ and ‘low counters’. Since the share of free citizens enumerated as sui iuris was further affected by various historical phenomena a range of intermediate scenarios or ‘middle counts’ is perceivable. However, such factors as affect the multiplier all pull in the same downward direction. Therefore, it is likely that the number of people inhabiting Roman Italy in Augustan times was closer to that suggested by the ‘low count’ than to that implied by the ‘high count’.
What was the size of the population of Roman Italy? The enigmatic character of much of the information in the ancient sources prevents a satisfactory answer to this fairly basic question. The solutions put forward by modern scholars are extremely divergent. The estimates of those presenting a ‘high count’ and those favouring a ‘low count’ are of an entirely different order of magnitude, which has significant implications for our understanding of many related aspects of Roman economy and society.
Counting Romans
Saskia Hin (Leiden University and Stanford University)
Princeton/Stanford Working Papers in Classics, November (2007)
Abstract
This article focuses on the debate about the size of the population of Roman Italy. I point at logical inconsistencies related to the dominant view that the Republican census tallies are meant to report all adult males. I argue instead that the figures stemming from the Republican census may represent adult men sui iuris and suggest that those of the Augustan censuses include all citizens sui iuris regardless of age and sex. This implies a population size under Augustus which falls between those suggested by ‘high counters’ and ‘low counters’. Since the share of free citizens enumerated as sui iuris was further affected by various historical phenomena a range of intermediate scenarios or ‘middle counts’ is perceivable. However, such factors as affect the multiplier all pull in the same downward direction. Therefore, it is likely that the number of people inhabiting Roman Italy in Augustan times was closer to that suggested by the ‘low count’ than to that implied by the ‘high count’.
What was the size of the population of Roman Italy? The enigmatic character of much of the information in the ancient sources prevents a satisfactory answer to this fairly basic question. The solutions put forward by modern scholars are extremely divergent. The estimates of those presenting a ‘high count’ and those favouring a ‘low count’ are of an entirely different order of magnitude, which has significant implications for our understanding of many related aspects of Roman economy and society.
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