Demography and the Graeco-Roman World New Insights and Approaches

Through a series of case studies this book demonstrates the wide-ranging impact of demographic dynamics on social, economic and political structures in the Graeco-Roman world. The individual case studies focus on fertility, mortality and migration and the roles they played in various aspects of ancient life. These studies - drawn from a range of populations in Athens and Attica, Rome and Italy, and Graeco-Roman Egypt - illustrate how new insights can be gained by applying demographic methods to familiar themes in ancient history. Methodological issues are addressed in a clear, straightforward manner with no assumption of prior technical knowledge, ensuring that the book is accessible to readers with no training in demography. The book marks an important step forward in ancient historical demography, affirming both the centrality of population studies in ancient history and the contribution that antiquity can make to population history in general.

Introduction: studies in ancient historical demography Claire Holleran and April Pudsey; 1. Demography and development in classical antiquity Neville Morley; 2. Demography and classical Athens Ben Akrigg; 3. Nuptiality and the demographic life cycle of the family in Roman Egypt April Pudsey; 4. Family matters: fertility and its constraints in Roman Italy Saskia Hin; 5. Migration and the demes of Attica Claire Taylor; 6. Counting the Greeks in Egypt: immigration in the first century of Ptolemaic rule Christelle Fischer-Bovet; 7. Migration and the urban economy of Rome Claire Holleran; 8. From the margins to the centre-stage: some closing reflections on ancient historical demography Tim Parkin.

Claire Holleran is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the University of Liverpool. Her research interests lie primarily in ancient social and economic history, focusing in particular on the city of Rome. She is the author of Shopping in Ancient Rome (2012) and is co-editor with Amanda Claridge of A Companion to the City of Rome (2011).
April Pudsey is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the University of Liverpool. Her research interests lie primarily in ancient historical demography, with particular focus on Roman Egypt. She is preparing a monograph, Population and Society in Roman Egypt, and is the author of a chapter in Lovén and Harlow (eds.) The Familia and its Transformation from Ancient Rome to Barbarian Europe, 50–600 CE (2011) and a chapter in Evans Grubbs and Parkin (eds.) Oxford Handbook of Childhood and Education in the Classical World (2012).