Human Mobility in Roman Italy, II: The Slave Population

In this paper, I seek to delineate the build-up of the Italian slave population. My parametric model revolves around two variables: the probable number of slaves in Roman Italy, and the demographic structure of the servile population. I critique existing estimates of slave totals and propose a new ‘...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of Roman studies Vol. 95; pp. 64 - 79
Main Author: Scheidel, Walter
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 01.11.2005
Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies
Subjects:
Censuses
DEMOGRAPHY
Manumission
Men
Mortality
MORTALITY RATES
Population
Population estimates
ROMAN AGRICULTURE
Roman civilization
ROMAN ITALY
ROMAN SOCIAL HISTORY
Sex ratio
Slave women
Slavery
SLAVES
Social history
Social mobility
Italy
ROMAN ITALY
DEMOGRAPHY
ROMAN SOCIAL HISTORY
SLAVES
MORTALITY RATES
ROMAN AGRICULTURE
ISSN:0075-4358, 1753-528X
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:In this paper, I seek to delineate the build-up of the Italian slave population. My parametric model revolves around two variables: the probable number of slaves in Roman Italy, and the demographic structure of the servile population. I critique existing estimates of slave totals and propose a new ‘bottom-up’ approach; discuss the probable sex ratio, mortality regime and family structure of the Italian slaves; and advance a new estimate of the overall volume of slave transfers. I argue that the total number of slaves in Roman Italy did not exceed one-and-a-half million, and that this population had been created by the influx of between two and four million slaves during the last two centuries B.C.
Bibliography:PII:S0075435800002513
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ArticleID:00251
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ISSN:0075-4358
1753-528X
DOI:10.3815/000000005784016270