Description
Keith Hopkins was a sociologist and Professor of Ancient History at Cambridge from 1985 to 2001. He is widely recognised as one of the most radical, innovative and influential Roman historians of his generation. This volume presents fourteen of Hopkins' essays on an impressive range of subjects: contraception, demography, economic history, slavery, literacy, imperial power, Roman religion, Early Christianity, and the social and political structures of the ancient world. The papers have been re-edited and revised with accompanying essays by Hopkins' colleagues, friends and former students. This volume brings Hopkins' work up to date. It sets his distinctive and pioneering use of sociological approaches in a wider intellectual context and explores his lasting impact on the ways that ancient history is now written. This volume will interest all those fascinated by Rome and its empire, and particularly those eager to experience challenging and controversial ways of understanding the past.
Chapter
1 Contraception in the Roman Empire
Effective and Ineffective Methods
The Use of Contraceptives and the Confusion of Contraception with Abortion
A Note on the Talmudic Tradition56
2 A Textual Emendation in a Fragment of Musonius Rufus: A Note on Contraception
Afterword Contraception in The Roman Empire A Textual Emendation in A Fragment Of Musonius ...
3 On the Probable Age Structure of the Roman Population
Average Age at Death – Alleged Regional Variations
The Median Length of Life – Alleged Regional Variations – a Critique of Burn
Explanation of Tables 3.4 and 3.5
The Imputed Early Death of Women
4 Graveyards for Historians
Afterword On the Probable Age Structure of the Roman Population
5 Economic Growth and Towns in Classical Antiquity
Conquest and the Growth of Towns
The Level of Urbanisation and the Functions of Towns
Afterword Economic Growth and Towns in classical Antiquity
6 Taxes and Trade in the Roman Empire (200 bc–ad 400)
Proposition 3: Rents and Taxes
Proposition 4: The Growth of Trade 200 bc–ad 200
Proposition 5: The Growth of the Money Supply
Proposition 6: The Integration of the Monetary Economy in the High Empire
Proposition 7: Taxes in the High Empire were Low
Conclusion: Low Taxes and their Consequences
Appendix 1: The Cost of the Roman Army
Afterword Taxes and Trade in the Roman Empire (200 bc–ad 400)
7 Models, Ships and Staples
Surplus Sold Locally and Transhipped
Alexandria, Antioch, Carthage
Long-Distance and Middle-Range Transport of Staples
Short-Haul Transport and Local Urban Consumption
The Cost of Ships and of Transport
The Size of Roman Merchant Ships
Afterword Models, Ships and Staples
8 From Violence to Blessing: Symbols and Rituals in ancient Rome
Introduction: The Lupercalia
Roman Political Rituals: The Levy, Census and Popular Assemblies
Configurations of a Lifetime: Other Rituals
Afterword From Violence to Blessing: Symbols and Rituals in Ancient Rome
9 Slavery in Classical Antiquity
Afterword Slavery in Classical Antiquity
Introduction: Detail, Density and Growth
Literacy as Product and Producer of Changes in the Roman State
The Birth and Growth of Coptic
More Details: Literacy in Village and Town
(1) Bi-partite Receipts, and (2) Authenticators and Signatories
(4) Guild-Rules and Secretaries
(5) Tax Statistics in the Village
Afterword Conquest by Book
11 Novel Evidence for Roman Slavery
Afterword Novel Evidence for Roman Slavery
12 Christian Number and its implications
The Limitations of Induction
Absolute Numbers, Proportions and Persecutions
Communities: Number, Size and Dispersion
Age, Sex and the Role of Women
Literacy and Stratification
On the Social Production of Religious Ideology
The Implications of Mass Conversion
Afterword Christian Number and its Implications
13 The Political Economy of the Roman Empire
4 Taxation and the Central Government
6 Configurations of Power
6.1 Emperors and Aristocrats
Afterword The Political Economy of the Roman Empire
14 How to Be a Roman Emperor: An Autobiography
An Introduction to Heaven
Afterword How to Be a Roman Emperor: An Autobiography
Original Publication Details
Sociological Studies in Roman History
( Cambridge Classical Studies )
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