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Thread: A historical question about populations

  1. #1
    CanOmer's Avatar Centenarius
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    Default A historical question about populations

    In Cities of the Classical World and some other books by Colin McEvedy, city population estimates are much lower than other sources. For example he says city of ancient Rome had around 250,000 population at its peak. Most sources says it was above 1 million. I wonder which estimate is more accurate for EB historians?
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  2. #2

    Default Re: A historical question about populations

    An excellent question to ask and an interesting thread to start. I have asked myself the same question many times.

    In classical literature, the numbers quoted seem extraordinarily high for populations, armies, and in general the number of people involved in all kinds of events. Particularly, the remains of ancient settlements seem very small considering the number of people reported to have lived there. I will present a few thoughts of mine on the subject. I am not a classical or any other kind of archaeologist, however, but just lay enthusiast with some education in history and classical languages.

    1. Many of the dwellings, especially on the outskirts of larger population centers, must have been made of wood that does not survive. Also, stone buildings are known to have been regularly dismantled for building materials, so the actual archaeological evidence may not represent the situation a long time ago that accurately.

    One specific example is Alesia, the location of which is more or less confirmed today but does not seem to have much at all remaining even in an archaeological sense.

    2. The small arable areas seem unlikely to have supported great populations at a time when agriculture was not as effective as today. BUT:

    3. Unlike many lay people assume, history is not about constant linear development. The classical antiquity was extremely developed, interconnected by trade and travel, and in many ways of technology and organization vastly superior to the dark ages of Europe that followed the precipitous collapse of civilization after the fall of the western Roman empire. Areas could have supported large populations just by food imports that are nicely modeled in EB as well.

    4. Is it likely that all ancient sources, Roman, Greek, or others, would have always systematically misrepresented all figures by a huge factor? Even though the advanced civilizations had censi (censuses?) and had the capability to keep finances and build vast functional empires and economies in times before modern communication and transportation methods. Conceivably, they could not have had an "anything goes" attitude towards numbers.

    I am hoping that we get someone with expertise to comment on the issue. In the meanwhile, let us speculate!
    Last edited by Septentrionalis; September 14, 2018 at 11:54 AM.

  3. #3

    Default Re: A historical question about populations

    Quote Originally Posted by Septentrionalis View Post
    Conceivably, they could not have had an "anything goes" attitude towards numbers.
    To save the trouble of the next forum member pointing it out, I consider military victories and overstating numbers there a separate issue.

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