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The Resilience of the Roman Empire' discusses the relationship between population and regional development in the Roman world from the perspective of archaeology. By adapting a comparative approach, the focus of the volume lies on exploring the various ways in which regional communities actively responded to population growth - or decline for that matter - in order to keep going on the land available to them. The theoretical framework - or at least the starting point - for the case studies is the agricultural intensification models developed by Thomas Malthus and Ester Boserup. In order to advance the debate on the validity of these models for identifying the societal and economic pathways of the Roman world, the contributors incorporate the concepts of resilience and diversity into their approach, and shift attention from the longue-durée to how people managed to sustain themselves over shorter periods of time. The aim of the volume is not to discard the theories of Malthus and Boserup, but rather to deconstruct overly strict Malthusian or Boserupian scenarios, and as such introduce novel and more layered ways of thinking by exploring resilience and variability in human responses to population growth/decline in the Roman world.

Agriculture --- Economic aspects --- Rome --- Population. --- Rural development --- Food supply --- Economic conditions --- History --- Population --- Rome - History - Empire, 284-476 --- Rome - Population

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"The crisis of the Roman Republic and its transformation into an Empire have fascinated generations of scholars. It has long been assumed that a dramatic demographic decline of the rural free peasantry (which was supplanted by slaves) triggered the series of social and economic developments which eventually led to Rome's political crisis during the first century BC. This book contributes to a lively debate by exploring both the textual and the archaeological evidence and by tracing and reassessing the actual fate of the Italian rural free population between the Late Republic and the Early Empire. Data derived from a comparative analysis of twenty-seven archaeological surveys - and about five thousand sites - allow Dr Launaro to outline a radically new picture according to which episodes of local decline are placed within a much more generalised pattern of demographic growth"--

Rural population --- Landscape archaeology --- Population rurale --- Archéologie du paysage --- Rome --- History --- Histoire --- Population --- Population. --- Archéologie du paysage --- Agricultural population --- Farm population --- Sociology, Rural --- Rim --- Roman Empire --- Roman Republic (510-30 B.C.) --- Romi (Empire) --- Byzantine Empire --- Rome (Italy) --- Rural population - Rome --- Rome - Population --- Rome - History - Empire, 30 B.C.-284 A.D. --- 30 av. J.-C.-476 (Empire)

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Recent research has called into question the orthodox view that the last two centuries of the Roman Republic witnessed a decline of the free rural population. Yet the implications of the alternative reconstructions of Italy's demographic history that have been proposed have never been explored systematically. This volume offers a series of in-depth discussions not only of the republican manpower and census figures but also of the abundant archaeological data. It also explores the growth of cities, especially Rome, and the changing distribution of the population over the Italian landscape. On the rural side it addresses the interplay between demographic, economic, and legal developments and the background to the Gracchan land reforms. Finally it examines the political implications of demographic growth and large-scale migration to the provinces. The volume as a whole demonstrates that demography is the key to many aspects of Italy's economic, social, military, and political history.

Demography --- Rural population --- City dwellers --- Rome --- Population --- History --- Rome. --- Population. --- Démographie --- Cities and towns --- Urbanization --- Démographie --- Population rurale --- Villes --- Citadins --- Urbanisation --- Growth --- Croissance --- Histoire --- Agricultural population --- Farm population --- Sociology, Rural --- Historical demography --- Social sciences --- Vital statistics --- City population --- City residents --- Dwellers, City --- Residents of cities --- Urban dwellers --- Urban people --- Urban population --- Urban residents --- Urbanites --- Persons --- Rim --- Roman Empire --- Roman Republic (510-30 B.C.) --- Romi (Empire) --- Byzantine Empire --- Rome (Italy) --- Europe --- Demography - Rome --- Rural population - Rome --- City dwellers - Rome --- Rome - Population --- Rome - History - Empire, 284-476