Disease and death in the ancient city of Rome
This paper surveys textual and physical evidence of disease and mortality in the city of Rome in the late republican and imperial periods. It emphasizes the significance of seasonal mortality data and the weaknesses of age at death records and paleodemographic analysis, considers the complex role of environmental features and public infrastructure, and highlights the very considerable promise of scientific study of skeletal evidence of stress and disease.
A comparative perspective on the determinants of the scale and productivity of maritime trade in the Roman Mediterranean
I argue that imperial state formation was the single most important ultimate determinant of the scale, structure, and productivity of maritime commerce in the Roman period. Hegemony and subsequent direct rule created uniquely favorable conditions for maritime trade by cutting the costs of predation, transactions, and financing to levels that were lower than in any other period of pre-modern Mediterranean history.
Julian's strategy in AD 361
Both Roman generals and modern historians have tended to find Julian’s moves in the civil war of AD 361 hazardous as well as difficult to understand. This is especially true of his long, ultra-rapid and semi-clandestine journey down the Danube, which was carried out by a dangerously small corps (under the command of the Usurper himself !) and ended with a very brief visit to Sirmium.
Valentines from Ancient Rome: Sex, Death and Lust
‘Love for them was interesting, both to live and to write about, because it was painful, like a disease,’ Gold says. Roman lovers described themselves as ‘wounded, wretched, enslaved by their lovers, having their bone marrow on fire and suffering from double vision.’
Epigraphy and demography: birth, marriage, family, and death
Epigraphy and demography: birth, marriage, family, and death Scheidel, Walter Princeton/Stanford Working Papers in Classics, June 2007 Abstract In recent years, the adoption…
Rule and Revenue in Egypt and Rome: Political Stability and Fiscal Institutions
Rule and Revenue in Egypt and Rome: Political Stability and Fiscal Institutions Monson, Andrew Princeton/Stanford Working Papers in Classics, August 2007 Abstract This…
Communal Agriculture in the Ptolemaic and Roman Fayyum
Communal Agriculture in the Ptolemaic and Roman Fayyum Monson, Andrew Princeton/Stanford Working Papers in Classics, October 2007 Abstract The article presents the model…
Monogamy and polygyny in Greece, Rome, and world history
Monogamy and polygyny in Greece, Rome, and world history Scheidel, Walter Princeton/Stanford Working Papers in Classics, June 2008 Abstract:
Monogamy and polygyny
This paper discusses Greco-Roman practices of monogamy and polygyny for a forthcoming handbook on the ancient family.
The presentation of gladiatorial spectacles in the Greek East
Once believed by many to offer the historian little of value beyond a horrifying, if titillating, glimpse into the Roman psyche, gladiatorial combat is now appreciated as an important expression of Roman cultural priorities.