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A pioneering comparative and multidisciplinary study of the interaction between local disease environments and demographic structure, this book breaks new ground in reconstructing the population history of Egypt during the Roman period and beyond. Drawing on a wide range of sources from ancient census data and funerary commemorations to modern medical accounts, statistics and demographic models, the author explores the nature of premodern disease patterns, challenges existing assumptions about ancient age structure, and develops a new methodology for the assessment of Egyptian poplation size. Contextualising the study of Roman Egypt within the broader framework of premodern demography, ecology and medical history, this is the first attempt to interpret and explain demographic conditions in antiquity in terms of the underlying causes of disease and death.
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DEATH ON THE NILE MNEMOSYNE SUPPLEMENTS SUB SERIES HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY OF CLASSICAL ANTIQUITY EDITORS WILLEM M.JONGMAN ·IAN MORRIS VOLUME CCXXVIII WALTER SCHEIDEL DEATH ON THE NILE DEATH ON THE NILE DISEASE AND THE DEMOGRAPHY OF ROMAN EGYPT BY WALTER SCHEIDEL BRILL LEIDEN ·BOSTON · KQLN 2001 This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Scheidel, Walter, 1966Death on the Nile : disease and the demography of Roman Egypt I by Walter Scheidel. p. em. - (Mnemosyne, bibliotheca classica Batava. Supplementum, ISSN 0169-8958; 228) Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 900412323 7 (alk. paper) I. Diseases-Egypt-History. 2. Demography-Egypt-History. 3. Medicine, Ancient. I. Title. II. Series. R653.E4 S36 2001 614.4'232-dc21 2001043185 Die Deutsche Bibliothek - CIP-Einheitsaufnalune Scheidel, Walter: Death on the Nile : disease and the demography of Roman Egypt I by Walter Scheidel. - Leiden ; Boston ; Ki.iln : Brill, 200 I (Mnemosyne : Supplementum ; Vol. 228) ISBN 90-04-12323-7 ISSN 0169-8958 ISBN 90 04 12323 7 © Copyright 2001 by Koninklijke Brill.Nv, Leiden, The Netherlands All rights reserved. No part of this publication m'!Y be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval rystem, or transmitted in any.form or by a'!)' means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission .from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items.for internal or personal use is granted by Brill provided that the appropriate.foes are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910 Danvers MA 01923, USA. Fees are sullject to change. PRINTED IN THE NETHERLANDS For my Cambridge friends CONTENTS Abbreviations .............................................................................. List of maps, figures, and tables . .. .. ... .. .. .. .. .. ......... .. .... .... .. .. .. ... Maps .......................................................................................... Introduction ................................................................................ xi xVIn xxi 1. Mortality patterns and causes of death .............................. 2. Age structure and life expectancy ...................................... 3. Population size and demographic change .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ....... .. .. . 1 118 181 IX Appendix One Months of death in epitaphs from ancient and medieval Egypt and Nubia .............................. Appendix Two Persons with exact ages in the census returns 256 Bibliography ... .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ... .... .. .. .... ..... .. .. .. .. .... .. ... ... ... .. .. .. .. ... .. . Index .......................................................................................... 259 281 251 ABBREVIATIONS Refer