Human Mobility in Roman Italy, I: the Free Population

Abstract

How did the relentless spread of Roman power change people's lives? From military mobilization, urbanization, slavery, and the nexus between taxation and trade to linguistic and religious change and shifting identities, the most pervasive consequences of empire all had one thing in common: population movements on an unprecedented scale. Yet despite its pivotal role in social and cultural change, the nature of Roman mobility has never been investigated in a systematic fashion. In this study, I develop a comprehensive quantitative model of population transfers within, to, and from Italy, from the late fourth century B.C. to the first century A.D. Owing to the diverse and complex character of these movements, I develop my argument in two steps. The present paper deals with the demographic context, scale, and distribution of the migration of free persons. I argue that the total population of Italy in the early imperial period was of the order of five to six million rather than fourteen to twenty million (Section II); that state-sponsored re-settlement programmes dramatically increased overall levels of mobility on three occasions (during the Italian wars in the late fourth and early third centuries B.C., in the aftermath of the Second Punic War in the early second century B.C., and in the period of constitutional transition from the 80s to the 10s B.C.) (Section III); and that in the last two centuries B.C., colonization programmes and urban growth in Italy required the permanent relocation of approximately two to two-and-a-half million adults (Section IV).

Becoming a creative city: perspectives from Augustus’ Rome

“…Morley (2003) points out how all sorts of situations brought people to Rome: some came in search of fame and fortune, some in search of an alternative way of life, some to flee war or an economic crisis, and some, unwillingly, to serve the needs of their patrons. Bear in mind that behind this high level of human mobility in the spread of the Roman power, overall, what characterized this period is a population movement on an unprecedented scale (Scheidel, 2004).…”

Different in death: Different in life? Diet and mobility correlates of irregular burials in a Roman necropolis from Bologna (Northern Italy, 1st–4th century CE)

“…The resulting estimates, however, largely deviate from each other. Census and epigraphic data point to a range of nonlocals between 40% of adult males in Italy (Scheidel 2004), 5% of free citizens in Rome and overall Gaul (Wierschowski 1995), and 1-5% in Spain (Haley 1991). A somewhat different scenario is depicted by isotopic studies on single cemeteries, resulting in values of nonlocals reaching 23% in Portus Romae (Central Italy - Prowse et al 2007), 30% in both Saintes (Western France -Stark 2017) and Neuburg/Donau (Southern Germany - Schweissing and Grupe 2003), and percentages of non-locals above 40%…”

Field Methods and Post-Excavation Techniques in Late Antique Archaeology

“…29 Scheidel (2004). 30 Results of stable isotope studies from non-urban cemeteries also hint at no less diverse population origins, for example at Wasperton, Warwickshire (Carver et al (2009)) or Gravesend, Kent (Pollard et al (2011)).…”