Roman funerary commemoration and the age at first marriage
This paper offers a critical assessment of the debate about the customary age at first marriage of men and women in Roman Italy and the western provinces of the early Roman empire.
Marriage, families, and survival in the Roman imperial army: demographic aspects
This paper provides a survey of marriage and family formation in the army of the Principate, and assesses the main determinants of the life expectancy of professional Roman soldiers.
Growing up fatherless in antiquity: the demographic background
Growing up fatherless in antiquity: the demographic background Walter Scheidel (Stanford University) Princeton/Stanford Working Papers in Classics, June (2006) Abstract The severe mortality regime…
A model of real income growth in Roman Italy
The economic impact of Roman imperialism on the mass of Italy’s population is still only poorly understood: who benefited, and how?
The Roman slave supply
This survey of the scale and sources of the Roman slave supply will be published in Keith Bradley and Paul Cartledge (eds.), The Cambridge world history of slavery, 1: The ancient Mediterranean world.
Epigraphy and demography: birth, marriage, family, and death
When it comes to ancient demography, documentary evidence takes center stage. Our present focus on epigraphy notwithstanding, it must be stressed that it is papyrology that has made the single most substantial contribution to our understanding of early populations.
Roman population size: the logic of the debate
Our ignorance of ancient population numbers is one of the biggest obstacles to our understanding of Roman history. After generations of prolific scholarship, we still do not know how many people inhabited Roman Italy and the Mediterranean at any given point in time.
Cult and Belief in Punic and Roman Africa
This is a second attempt at a synthesis of the main problems for the forthcoming Cambridge History of Ancient Religions. The problems are complex and still threaten to overwhelm. This version remains a cri de coeur: any helpful comments and criticisms are encouraged.
Monogamy and polygyny in Greece, Rome, and world history
In what sense were the ancient Greeks and Romans monogamous, and why does it matter?
Real wages in early economies: Evidence for living standards from 1800 BCE to 1300 CE
In this paper, I present a critical survey of pertinent data from antiquity and the early and high Middle Ages. This broadened perspective expands the chronological scope of the historical study of real incomes of unskilled workers from a few centuries to up to four millennia and at least in a few cases enables us to trace contours of change in the very long run.