Hostname: page-component-6766d58669-6mz5d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-05-16T13:40:07.105Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The population of ancient Rome

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Glenn R. Storey
Glenn R. Storey*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, 114 Macbride Hall, University of Iowa, Iowa City IA 52242-1322, USA. gstorey@blue.weeg.uiowa.edu
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the 'Save PDF' action button.

What was the population of imperial Rome? City blocks in Pompeii and Ostia are sufficiently well explored that a fair estimate of population density can now be arrived at. That peoples the city of ancient Rome with roughly 450,000 inhabitants, within the known population and density range of pre-industrial and modern urban centres.

Information

Type
Papers
Information
Antiquity , Volume 71 , Issue 274 , December 1997 , pp. 966 - 978
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 1997

References

Abstract of the answers and returns made pursuant to an Act passed in the Fifty-First Year of His Majesty King George HI intitled ‘An Act for taking an Account oflhe Population of Great Britain and the Increase or Diminution thereof’ enumeration Part 1, England and Wales. 1801. London: Groat Britain General Register Office.Google Scholar
Adams, R. MCG. & Nisshn, H. 1972. The Uruk countryside. Chicago (IL): Aldine.Google Scholar
Bairoch, P. 1989. Urbanization and the economy in preindustrial societies: the findings of two decades of research, Journal of European Economic History 18: 239–90.Google Scholar
Beloch, K.J. 1968 [1886]. Die Bevölkerung der Griechischen-Römischen Welt. Rome: L’Erma di Bretschneider.Google Scholar
Blakely, R.L. & Mathews, D.S. 1990. Bioarchaeological evidence for a Spanish-Native American conflict in the 16th-century southeast, American Antiquity 55(4): 718–44.Google Scholar
Blanton, R.E. 1981. The rise of cities, in Sabloff, (ed.): 392–402.Google Scholar
Bradley, K. 1991. Discovering the Roman family: studies in Roman social history. New York (NY): Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Bradley, K. 1994. Slavery and society at Rome. New York (NY): Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Brunt, P.A. 1971. Italian manpower: 225 ne to AD 14. New York (NY): Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Calnek, E.E. 1976. The internal structure of Tenochtitlan, in Wolf, E.R. (ed.), The Valley of Mexico: studies in pre-His-panic ecology and society: 287–302. Albuquerque (NM): University of New Mexico Press.Google Scholar
Calza, G. 1926. Ostia. Rome: La Libreria dello Stato.Google Scholar
Calza, G.(Ed.). 1953. Scavi di Ostia: topografia generale. Rome: La Libreria dello Stato.Google Scholar
Carandini, A. 1988. Schiavi in Italia: gli strumenti pensanti dei Romani fra tarda Repubblica e medio impero. Rome: La Nuova Italia Scientifica.Google Scholar
Carcopino, J. 1940. Daily life in ancient Rome: the people and city at the height of the Empire. New Haven (CT): Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Carettoni, G., Collim, A.M., Cozza, L. & Gatti, G. 1960. La pianta marmorea di Boma antica: forma urbis Romae. Rome: M. Danesi.Google Scholar
Carney, T.F. 1971. Bureaucracy in traditional societies: Romano-Byzantine bureaucracies viewed from within. Lawrence (KS): Coronado.Google Scholar
Cary, M. & Scullard, H.H. 1975. A history of Rome down to the reign of Constantino. 3rd edition. New York (NY): St Martin’s.Google Scholar
Casselbury, S.E. 1974. Further refinement of formulae for determining population from floor area, World Archaeology 6(1): 117–22.Google Scholar
Castkén, P. 1975. Ordo populusque pompeianus: polity and society in Roman Pompeii. Rome: Bardi Editore. Acta Institut! Romani Finlandiae 8.Google Scholar
Census of England and Wales 1881 area, houses and population 1. 1883. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode.Google Scholar
Chandler, T. 1989. Four thousand years of urban growth: an historical census. Lewiston (NY): St David’s.Google Scholar
Chandler, T. & Fox, G. 1974. 3000 years of urban growth. Now York (NY): Academic.Google Scholar
Comune Di Roma Ufficio Di Statistica E Censimento, 1960. Roma: popolazione e territorio dal 1860 al 1980 con la distribuzione territoriale dei risultati dei censimenti. Rome.Google Scholar
Crown, P.L. 1991. Evaluating the construction sequence and population of Pot Creek Pueblo, northern New Mexico, American Antiquity 56(2): 291–314.Google Scholar
Culbert, T.P. & Rice, D.S. (ed.). 1990. Precolumbian population history in the Maya Lowlands. Albuquerque (NM): University of New Mexico Press.Google Scholar
Della Corte, M. 1965. Case ed abitanti di Pompei. 3rd edition. Naples: Casa Editrice Fausto Fiorentina.Google Scholar
De Vos, A. & De VOS, M. 1982. PompeiErcolano Stabia. Rome: Giuseppi Laterza.Google Scholar
De Vries, J. 1984. European urbanization 1500–1800. Cambridge (MA): Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Eschebach, H. 1970. Die Stadtbauliche Entwicklung des Antiken Pompeji. Heidelberg: F.H. Kerle Verlag. Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts Römische Abteilungen Siebzehntes Erganzungsheft. 1981. Pompei: pianta scavi. Naples: Editore Generoso Procaccini.Google Scholar
Evans, S.T. 1993. Aztec household organization and village administration, in Santley, R.S. & Hirth, K. (ed.), Prehispanie domestic units in western Mesoamerica: 173–89. Boca Raton (FL): CRC Google Scholar
Finlay, R. 1981. Population and metropolis: the demography of London 1580–1650. New York (NY): Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Finley, M.I. 1985. Ancient history: evidence and models. London: Chatto & Windus.Google Scholar
Frank, T. 1924. Roman census statistics from 225 to 28 BC, Classical Philology 19: 329–41.Google Scholar
Frankfort, H. 1950. Town planning in ancient Mesopotamia, Town Planning Review 21(1): 98–115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garnsey, P. & Saller, R. 1987. The Roman empire: economy, society and culture. Berkeley (CA): University of California Press.Google Scholar
Haviland, W.A. 1972. Family size, prehistoric population estimates, and the ancient Maya, American Antiquity 37: 135–9.Google Scholar
Healen, D.M. 1977. Architectural implications of daily life in ancient Tollan, Hidalgo, Mexico, World Archaeology 9(2): 140–56:Google Scholar
Hodges, R. & Whitehouse, D. 1983. Mohammed, Charlemagne and the origins of Europe: archaeology and the Pirenne Hypothesis. London: Duckworth.Google Scholar
Homo, L. 1951. Rome impériale et l’urbanisme dans l’antiquité. Paris: Éditions Albin Michel.Google Scholar
Hong Konc Census & Statistics Department. 1971. Hong Kong population and housing census 1971 main report. Hong Kong.Google Scholar
Hopkins, K. 1978. Conquerors and slaves: sociological studies in Roman history 1. New York (NY): Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Jashemski, W. 1979. The gardens of Pompeii. New Rochelle (NY): Caratzas.Google Scholar
Jongman, W. 1988. The economy and society of Pompeii. Amsterdam: J.C. Gieben.Google Scholar
Kardulias, N.P. 1992. Estimating population at ancient military sites: the use of historical and contemporary analogy, American Antiquity 57(2): 276–87.Google Scholar
Laurence, R. 1994. Roman Pompeii: space and society. Now York (NY): Routledge.Google Scholar
Laurence, R. 1995. The organization of space in Pompeii, in Cornell, T. & Lomas, K. (ed.), Urban society in Roman Italy. 63–78. New York (NY): St Martin’s.Google Scholar
Lipsius, J. 1605 Admiranda sive de magnitudine Romana. 3rd edition. Antwerp.Google Scholar
Lo Cascio, E. 1994. The size of the Roman population: Beloch and the meaning of the Augustan census figures, Journal of Roman Studies 84: 23–40.Google Scholar
Lot, F. 1945–1950. Recherches sur la population et la superficie des cites remontants à la période Gallo-Romaine. Paris: Libraire Ancienne Honoré Champion.Google Scholar
Mckay, A.G. 1988. Houses, in Grant, M. & Kitzinger, R. (ed.), Civilization of the ancient Mediterranean: Greece and Rome 3: 1373–83. New York (NY): Scribner’s.Google Scholar
Maier, F.G. 1954. Römische Bevöikerungsgeschichte und Inschriftenstatistik, Historia 2(3): 318–51.Google Scholar
Meiggs, R. 1973. Roman Ostia. 2nd edition. New York (NY): Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Millon, R. 1981. Teotihuacan: city, state, and civilization, in Sahloff, (ed.): 198–243.Google Scholar
Ministère Du Commerce Service De La Statistique Gènèrale. 1883. Résultats statistique de dénombrement de 1881, France et Algérie. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale.Google Scholar
Ministero Di Agricoltura, Industria E Commercio, Direzione Della Statistica. 1883. Censimento della Popolazione del Regno d’Italia al 31 Dicembre 1881 1, Part 1. Popolazione dei communi e mandamenti. Rome: Tipografia Bodoniana.Google Scholar
Nibby, A. 1829. Viaggio antiquario ad Ostia. Rome: Società Tipografia.Google Scholar
Nicolet, C. 1987 La Table d’Héraclée et les origines du cadastre Romain, in L’Urbs: espace urbain et histoire (iiei siècle av. JC-ii’f siècle ap. JC): 1–25. Rome: école Française de Rome. Collection 98.Google Scholar
Nlcolet, C. 1991. Space, geography, and politics in the early Roman Empire. Ann Arbor (MI): University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Packer, J.E. 1971. The Insulae of Imperial Ostia. Rome: American Academy. Memoir 31.Google Scholar
Palmer, R.K.A. 1980 Customs on market goods imported into the city of Rome, Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome 36: 217–50.Google Scholar
Paoli, U.G. 1963(1940] Home: its people, life and customs. New York (NY): Longman.Google Scholar
Parkin, T.G. 1992. Roman demography. Baltimore (MD): Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Parkin, T.G. 1994. Review of Rawson et al., Journal of Roman Studies 84: 178–85.Google Scholar
Pavolini, C. 1988. Ostia. Rome: Giuseppi Laterza.Google Scholar
Purcell, N. 1987a. Tomb and suburb, in Von Hesberg, H. & Zanker, P., Römische Gräbersstassen: Selbstdarstellung-Status-Standard: 25–41. Munich: Verlag Bayerischen Akademie Der Wissenchaften. Abhandlungen Neue Folge, Heft 96.Google Scholar
Purcell, N. 1987b. Town and country and country in town, in Jashemski, W.F. (ed.), Ancient Roman villa gardens: 187–203. Washington (DC): Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection.Google Scholar
Rawson, B. 1986. The Roman family, in Rawson, B. (ed.), The family in ancient Rome: new perspectives: 1–57. Ithaca (NY): Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Rawson, B. 1991a. Introduction, in Rawson 1991b: 1–30. 1991b. Marríage, divorce and children in ancient Rome: New York (NY): Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Richardson, L. JR. 1988. Pompeii: an architectural history. Baltimore (MD): Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Robinson, O.R. 1992. Ancient Rome: city planning and administration. New York (NY): Routledge.Google Scholar
Rodriguez-Almeida, E. 1981. Forma Urbis Marmorea: aggiornamento 1980. Rome: Edizioni Quasar.Google Scholar
Russell, J.C. 1958. Late ancient and medieval populations, Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 48(3): 1–101.Google Scholar
Russell, J.C. 1977. The population and mortality at Pompeii, International Committee on Urgent Anthropological and Ethnological Research Bulletin 19:107–14.Google Scholar
Saller, R.P. 1984. Familia, domus, and the Roman conception of the family, Phoenix 38: 336–55.Google Scholar
Sabloff, J.A. (ED.). 1981. Supplement to the Handbook of Middle American Indians, 1: Archaeology. Austin (TX): University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Saller, R.P. & Shaw, B.D. 1984. Tombstones and Roman family relations in the principate: civilians, soldiers and slaves, Journal of Roman Studies 74:124–56.Google Scholar
Sanders, W.T., Parsons, J.R. & Santley, R.S. 1979. The Basin of Mexico: ecological process in the evolution of a civilization. New York (NY): Academic.Google Scholar
Schinz, A. 1989. Cities in China. Berlin: Gebrüder Bornträger.Google Scholar
Scobie, A. 1986. Slums, sanitation, and mortality in the Roman world, Klio 68(2): 399–433.Google Scholar
Shaw, B.D. 1984. Latin funerary epigraphy and family life in the later Roman Empire, Historia 33(4): 457–97.Google Scholar
Stambaugh, J.E. 1988. The ancient Roman city. Baltimore (MD): Johns Hopkins University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Storey, G. 1992. Preindustrial urban demography: the ancient Roman evidence. Ph.D dissertation, Pennsylvania State University, State College (PA).Google Scholar
Storey, R. 1992. Life and death in the ancient cityofTeotihuacan: a modern paleodemographic synthesis. Tuscaloosa (AL): University of Alabama Press.Google Scholar
Strocka, V.M. 1984. Häuser in Pompeji 1: Casa del Principe di Napoli. Tübingen: Verlag Ernst Wasmuth.Google Scholar
United Nations. 1980. Compendium of social statistics: 1977. New York (NY): United Nations Publishing Service.Google Scholar
United Nations Population Fund. 1988. Cities: statistical, administrative and graphical information on the major urban areas of the world. Barcelona: Instituts d’Estudis Metropolitans de Barcelona.Google Scholar
Van Der Poel, H.B. et al. 1983. Corpus topographicum pompeianum: toponymy. Austin (TX): University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Wallace-Hadrill, A. 1991. Houses and households: sampling Pompeii and Herculaneum, in Rawson 1991b: 191–227. 1994. Houses and society in Pompeii and Herculaneum. Princeton (NJ): Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Warden, P.D. & Bagnall, R.S. 1988. The forty thousand citizens of Ephesus, Classical Philology 83: 220–23.Google Scholar
Ward-Perkins, J.B. 1974. Cities of ancient Greece and Italy: planning in classical antiquity. New York (NY): George Braziller.Google Scholar
Weaver, P.R.C. 1972. Familia Caesaris: a social study of the Emperor’s freedmen and slaves. New York (NY): Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Webster, D.L. & Freter, A. 1990. Settlement history and the Classic ‘collapse’ at Copan: a refined chronological perspective, Latin American Antiquity 1(1): 66–85.Google Scholar
Weiss, K.M. 1973. Demographic models for anthropology. Washington (DC): Society for American Archaeology. Memoirs 27.Google Scholar
Westermann, W.L. 1955. The slave systems of Greek and Roman antiquity. Philadelphia (PA): American Philosophical Society. Memoirs 40.Google Scholar
Wiedemann, T.J. 1981. Greek and Roman slavery. Baltimore (MD): Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Wiseman, T.P. 1969. The census in the first century BC, Journal of Roman Studies: 59: 59–75.Google Scholar