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Article: The population of ancient Rome.
- Article from:
- Antiquity
- Article date:
- December 1, 1997
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 Antiquity Publications, Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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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.
Introduction
What was the population of ancient Rome? Many have believed there were as many as one million inhabitants - the figure in recent standard accounts (Brunt 1971: 376-88; Hopkins 1978: 96-8; Hodges & Whitehouse 1983: 4852; Stambaugh 1988: 90; Bairoch 1989: 259; Robinson 1992: 8) and commensurate with the city's grandeur as ...