Sociological Studies in Roman History

Collected essays by Cambridge sociologist Keith Hopkins - one of the most radical, innovative and influential Roman historians of his generation.

Keith Hopkins (Author), Christopher Kelly (Edited by)

9781009353786, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 2 February 2023

640 pages, 19 b/w illus. 10 tables
21.6 x 14 x 3.3 cm, 0.783 kg

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.

Introduction: Keith Hopkins: sighting shots Christopher Kelly
1. Contraception in the Roman Empire
2. A textual emendation in a fragment of Musonius Rufus: a note on contraception
Afterword Caroline Vout
3. On the probable age structure of the Roman population
4. Graveyards for historians
Afterword Walter Scheidel
5. Economic growths and towns in antiquity
Afterword Neville Morley
6. Taxes and trade in the Roman empire (200 BC–AD 400)
Afterword Willem M. Jongman
7. Models, ships and staples
Afterword Peter Fibiger Bang and Mamoru Ikeguchi
8. From violence to blessing: symbols and rituals in ancient Rome
Afterword Ja? Elsner
9. Slavery in classical antiquity
Afterword Keith Bradley
10. Conquest by book
Afterword William Harris
11. Novel evidence for Roman slavery
Afterword Catharine Edwards
12. Christian number and its implications
Afterword Kate Cooper
13. The political economy of the Roman empire
Afterword Greg Woolf
14. How to be a Roman emperor: an autobiography
Afterword Mary Beard.

Subject Areas: Social & cultural history [HBTB], Ancient history: to c 500 CE [HBLA]