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Scheidel’s
research focuses on ancient social and economic history, with particular emphasis
on historical demography, slavery, and agrarian history. More generally, he
is interested in comparative and interdisciplinary approaches to the study of
the ancient world, and is trying to build bridges between the humanities and
the life sciences. His most recent books include
Death
on the Nile: Disease and the Demography of Roman Egypt (Brill 2001) and,
as editor,
Debating Roman Demography (Brill
2001). He is currently preparing a general survey of ancient demography for
Cambridge University Press, and is co-editing
The
Dynamics of Ancient Empires with Ian Morris, and T
he
Cambridge Economic History of the Greco-Roman World with Morris and Richard
Saller. He is also planning a handbook on the ancient state for Oxford University
Press, and is co-organizing an international research initiative for the comparative
study of ancient Mediterranean and Chinese empires.
Walter
Scheidel
Professor of Classics
PhD Vienna 1993
Habilitation Graz 1998
