Population and Economy in Classical Athens

Systematically explores the changing size and structure of the population of classical Athens and the implications for economic history.

Ben Akrigg (Author)

9781107027091, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 28 March 2019

282 pages, 3 tables
22.2 x 14.5 x 1.9 cm, 0.47 kg

'Akrigg's work is the latest and among the best … This is [a] first-rate book by an able scholar.' J. A. S. Evans, Choice

This is the first comprehensive account of the population of classical Athens for almost a century. The methodology of earlier scholars has been criticised in general terms but their conclusions have not been seriously challenged. Ben Akrigg reviews and assesses those methodologies and conclusions for the first time and thereby sets the historical demography of Athens on a firm footing. The main focus is on the economic impact of that demography, but new conclusions are presented which have profound implications for our understanding of Athenian society and culture. The book establishes that the Athenian population grew very large in the fifth century BC, before falling dramatically in the final three decades of that century. These changes had important immediate consequences but the city of the fourth century was shaped in fundamental ways by the demographic upheavals of its past.

1. Introduction
2. Population structures
3. Population size 1: citizens
4. Population size 2: non-citizens
5. Population changes
6. Immediate implications of population change: war and food
7. Beyond food and fuel
8. Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Ancient history: to c 500 CE [HBLA], History: earliest times to present day [HBL], European history [HBJD], General & world history [HBG], History [HB], Humanities [H]