Population Roman Alexandria

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American Philological Association

The Population of Roman AlexandriaAuthor(s): Diana DeliaSource: Transactions of the American Philological Association (1974-), Vol. 118 (1988), pp. 275-292Published by: The Johns Hopkins University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/284172 .

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TransactionsftheAmericanhilological ssociation 18 (1988)275-292

THE POPULATIONOF ROMAN ALEXANDRIADIANADELIATexas A&M University

The eminentArabhistorian,Abd ar-Rahman buZayd ibnKhald'un,nceobserved hat highly ositive orrelationxistsbetween he ize of a city'spopulation nd thedegreeof civilization nd prosperity hich t enjoys.'Accordingly, ne would expect theancienttestimonian Alexandria adAegyptum, cityoften ulogizedas a crossroads f thecivilizedworld, ngreatnessecond nly o Rome, oreveal hat tspopulation as considerablensize.Regrettably,he ources re both ew nd controversial.evertheless,nthebasis of these some scholarshave postulated opulation stimates orAlexandria.2o be sure, uch ndeavorsre credit othe edicatederseveranceofancient istorians; etpopulation stimatesre only s validas the ourcesonwhich hey re based and themethodologyy which hey rederived. hisstudy roposesoreassess he ncient vidence orAlexandrias well s modem

1 Al-MuqaddimahKitabal 'Ibar) II 236; cf.H 244.2 On thepraise of Alexandria, ee: Diodorus Siculus 17.52.5; Josephus,AJ4.656; Plutarch,Mor. 207a-b; Aelius Aristides,Or. 26; Dio Chrysostom, r.32.35-40 and 47; HA: Firmus 8.5; AmmianusMarcellinus 22.16.7; AchillesTatius5.1; cf. DiodorusSiculus 1.50.7, G 12.1561,andZPE 41 (1981) 71-83.Modern attempts o assess the populationof Alexandria: J. Beloch, DieBevoblkerunger griechisch-romischenelt Leipzig 1886) 259, followedbyW.L. Westermann,ConcerningUrbanism ndAnti-urbanismn Antiquity," aroukUniversity. ulletinof the Faculty of Arts 5 (1949) 87: 500,000; T. Walek-Czernecki,"La populationde l'tgypte ancienne,"Congres international e lapopulation, I: Demographiehistorique Paris 1937) = Actualite'scientifiques tindustrielles, no. 711 (Paris 1938) 12-13: 1,200,000 to 1,500,000; A. vonPremerstein,lexandrinischeneronten orKaiser Gaius: Ein neuesBruchstiickder soggennantenAlexandrinischenMartyrerakten, itt. Papyrussaml.Giess.Univ. 5 (Giessen 1939) 55: 600,000; J.C. Russell,"Late Ancient nd MedievalPopulations," TAPS 48 (1958) 66-67: populationdensityof 235 per hectare;Mostafael-Abbadi,TheAlexandriansrom heFoundation ftheCityto theArabConquest (Diss. CambridgeUniversity 960) 115-22: 500,000; P. A. Fraser,PtolemaicAlexandria Oxford1972) 11172: 1,000,000;P. Salmon,Population etdepopulationdans l'empireromain,Coll. Latomus137 (Bruxelles1974) 35; R.Duncan-Jones, The Economy of the Roman Empire: Quantitative tudies2(Cambridge1982) 276: population ensity f 326 to 420 perhectare;L. Koenen,on a special panel on ancientAlexandriaat the 1985 annual meetingof theAmericanPhilologicalAssociation n Washington, .C., in responseto an ear-lier versionof thispaper,3: 500,000 to 1,000,000. See also A. Segre, "Notesull' economiadell'egittoellenisticonell'eta tolemaica,"BSAA 29 (1934) 256-66.

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276 Diana Deliamethodologiesf estimatingopulations f ancient itiesand to suggestreasonable,maximumangefor he otal opulationfAlexandria uringheearly rincipate.

The risingwatertable, shoreline ubsidence, nd generalhumiditytAlexandria avedoomed ll papyri uriednsitu.Hence no census ecordsftax-payersndpropertywners or ven omprehensiveitizen egisterskin othosepreservedtOxyrhynchusrintheFayyum avesurvived. thappensthat n archive ontainingmore han hundredocuments fAugustan atewhichrelate o theprivate ndbusiness nterestsfAlexandrians as beenpreserved n theform f mummy artonnage t Abusir-el-Melek,n theHerakleopolite ome BGU IV 1050-1061 nd 1098-1129). However, heevaluation fthese ocumentss representativeftheAlexandrianopulationsa wholeoccasionsdifficulties,nsofars it is notclearthat hearchive ep-resents randomampling fdocumentsatherhan selection fdocumentspertainingnlytocertain roups fAlexandrians-forxample, hosewhoaddressed heir etitionsotheAlexandrian ureau upervisedyan E?ad oVicpt-rrlptoa,hosepreciseurisdictionndduties reunknown.3orthe amereasons, tatisticsasedonthedocumentsnthis rchivewouldnot ccuratelyreflectthnic atiosnAlexandriandshould otbeutilized s a basisonwhichtoproject opulationstimates.Relatively ew nscriptionsf RomandatehavesurvivedtAlexandria.Some remainburied under the moderncity; undoubtedly therswereincorporatedntoByzantineuildingsrconsignedothe imekilnbecauseoftheir emote ignificancerreminiscencef thepaganpast. A glanceat themajor orpus fAlexandriannscriptionsditedbyEvaristoBreccia n 1911indicates typicalrray: otive,epulchral,onorific,ndpublic.To date, hiscorpushasbeensupplementedyfewer han nehundredtones, utnoneofthese nscriptionsheds ny ightwhatsoevern the ize ofthepopulationntheRomanperiod; or o significantcity, he pigraphicemainsre ndeedmeagre.Hadmorenscriptionsurvived,heywouldnodoubt eflectnly hatsmallportion f thepopulationwhosemunicipal ervice nspired rwhoseaffluence adepossible he rectionf nscribed onuments.5

As inthe ase ofother itieswhich avebeencontinuouslynhabitedinceantiquity, ost fancient lexandriaemainsnexcavatedndunexplored.hefirstndonly omprehensivettemptomapthe rea ofthe ncientity nd tochart heplanof itsstreetswas conductedn 1866bytheroyal stronomer,3 D. Delia, RomanAlexandria:Studies in its Social HistoryDiss. ColumbiaUniversity983) 27, note3; cf.W. Schubart,Alexandrinischerkundenus derZeit des Augustus,"ArchP 5 (1913) 57-60, andel-Abbadi,Alexandrians above,note 2) 117-18. Von Premerstein,5, and Fraser,PA I 91-92, had excessiveconfidence n thefigures eriving rom hisarchive.4 Cataloguegene'ral es antiquites gyptiennesu Musee d'Alexandrie, os. 1-568: Iscrizionigrechee latine Cairo 1911); subsequently nearthednscriptionshave been sporadically ublishednBSAA.5 On the nherentlass bias in inscriptions,ee K. Hopkins, On theProbableAge Structuref theRomanPopulation," opulation tudies20 (1966)247.



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The Population fRomanAlexandria 277MahmoudBey el-Falaki. His results were distorted y indifferenceostratigraphy,ailure odistinguishmongPtolemaic, oman, ndByzantinemasonry,ndarbitraryssessmentfrelativemetricalquivalentsmongGreekanr&6toand Romanmilia nan attemptoreconcile iscrepanciesmong heliteraryources. Forlack ofsystematicxcavation,l-Falaki'splanhasbeenthe traditionaltarting oint fnearly very opographicaltudy f thecitypublished incehisday.6nviewof ts erioushortcomings,owever, isplanshould be abandoned.One can only hopethat heEgyptian epartmentfAntiquities illundertake uniformeries f trial xcavations n land and athoroughnvestigationfthe ubmergedastern arbor nd shoreline o thatthesemay erve s a scientificasis on which oreconstructlans fthe ncientcity.7Insofars the hysical imensionsfAlexandriare oncerned,he isparityamong iteraryources anprobablye reconciled nthebasis of nclusion rexclusion fvarious tpo&cY-rutx,r suburbs, y ancient uthors, nd byourawareness hat he ircuit f the itywas not onstant,utvariable,xpandingandshrinkingver he ourse f time.Burialpattemsndicate hat n the arlyPtolemaic eriod, he astern ity imitxtended oughlys far s CapeLochias(modernSilsileh) and, in keeping withGreek burial custom, emeteriescommencedustbeyond hiswall, t Chatbynd Hadra.By the nd of thefirstcentury .C., however, hese ld nekropoleis ad been abandoned n favor fcemeteriesocated urtherast t brahimiyandSportingnda new astemwallwas erected; he rea n between ppears radually o havebeen nhabitedndwould emainesidentialuringheRoman eriod.8

6 Memoiresur l'antique Alexandrie Copenhagen 1872); el-Falaki's plan isconveniently eproduced n A. Adriani,Repertorio d'arte dell'Egitto greco-romano,ser. C (Palermo1963-66), II, tav. 3. As earlyas 1894,D. G. Hogarthrejectedel-Falaki's plan: "Reporton the Prospectsof Research n Alexandria,"Egypt Exploration Fund Archaeological Report (1894-5) 17-18, note 1.Notwithstandingogarth'scriticism,G. Botti's Plan de la ville d'Alexandrie 'l'e'poque ptolemaique(Alexandria1898) was substantially ased on el-Falaki'swork.E. Breccia,Alexandria d AegyptumBergamo1922) 71-76, andFraser, AI 13-14, echoedHogarth's riticisms. owever,A. Adriani ndhis students avebeen inclined o returno el-Falaki'splan: "Saggio di una piantaarcheologicadiAlessandria,"Annuariodel Museo greco-romano1932-33, 53-57 andpassim,and RepertorioI 18 and 55-57. Most recently ee G. Caruso, "Alcuni aspettidell'urbanistica i Alessandria n et'aellenistica: l pianodi progettazione,"n N.Bonacasa andA. di Vita,edd.,Alessandria il mondo llenistico-romano.tudi nonoredi AchilleAdriani (Roma 1984) 43-53.7 H. Frost, Report nd Recommendationsn theSubmergedArchitecturendStatuesat theSite of theAncientPharos,FortKhaitBay, Alexandria," ubmittedto theMarine nformationenter,UNESCO (1968?); see also thesame author's"The Pharossite,Alexandria, gypt,"J.Naut.Arch.4 (1975) 126-30.8 On thePtolemaicnekropoleis,ee Adriani,Repertorio 21; Fraser, A 1 12-13; and my figure1, p. 292 below. On inhabitation f theChatby-Hadrareaduring the late Hellenistic and early Roman periods, see Neroutsos-Bey,L'ancienneAlexandrie:Etudearcheologique t topographiqueParis 1888) 80-83;



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278 DianaDeliaStrabo ctually esided nEgypt rom irca 25 to 19 B.C. His east-westestimate17.1.8 and 10) of 30 a 5tax from heCanopic gate borderingIbrahimiyan theeastto slightly eyond heMahmudiyaanal on thewest

compares avorably ith hemodemmeasurementfroughly.5 km.9 trabo'snorth-south easurementf 7 or 8 at6uta at the isthmoi, r narrowestdistances etween heMediterraneanea and LakeMaryut,s approximatelyequivalent o themodem1.5 km.distance longthewestern ranch f theMahmudiyaanalwhich mpties ut nto hewesternarbor.oday hedistancefromheMediterraneanoast atIbrahimiyaoLakeMaryutmeasures bout4km.Someof this reaappears ohave beennaturalandfillf the ld lakebedwhich riginally ayhaveextendeds farnorths the resentateral ourse ftheMahmudiya anal; accordingly,heancient anal was probably ituatedfartherorth s well.10 xcept forhismeasurementf theeasternsthmus,Strabo's estimate f thedimensions f theRomancity are neverthelesscorroboratedoth y the opographyf themodem ity ndbyarchaeologicalevidence fthecity imitsnthe ate firstentury .C in light ftraditionalburial ractices. elying nhisfigures, emay stimatehat he itywalls ofAlexandria uringhereign fAugustusnclosed n areameasuring .25 sq.km.or 825hectares.1"Fourcriteriaraditionallymployed oestimate rban opulation ensityare thearea of thecitywithin tswalledcircuit,he size of itssuburbs,heextent owhich hese reaswereoccupied byresidentialwellings,nd, nconnectionherewith,heratiooftown-housesoapartmentuildings1I2 eE. Breccia, "La necropolidi Sciatbi,"BSAA 8 (1905) 55-56, and Cataloguege'ne'raldes antiquite'sd'Egypte,nos. 1-624: La necropoli di Sciatbi (Cairo1912); A. H. Tubby et al., "An account of excavations at Chatby, brahamieh,and Hadra," BSAA 16 (1918) 79-90; A. Adriani, "Scoperte de tombe,"Annuariol 932-1933, 35-36, and "Vestiges de 1'6poque romainea Chatby,"Annuairedu Musee 1935-1939, 149-50.9 One (yta6tov is equivalent o 606.75 modemfeet, nd there re 5.4 Gt6a6aiper km. Modernmeasurementsre based on theEgyptianMinistry f Finance,Survey f Egypt, ocketAtlas ofAlexandriaGiza 1935),plates 5-7 and 11-13.10 In general, ee A. De Cosson,Mareotis London 1935).11 Cf. Beloch,Bevolkerung 58-59, followedby DuncanJones, conomy276,whoproposed n area of920 hectares.The east-westdimensionspreservedby Diodorus Siculus (17.52) of 40sat66a and by Steph. Byz., s.v. 'AXc.t6v6pltat IEXELt; (Meineke), of 34st6a6a probably ncludedsuburbs.JosephusBJ2.385) corroborated trabo'slateralmeasurementf 30 ast6ta. Cf. Pliny,NH 5.92: 15milia wide. North-southdimensions f 10 iar6aia preserved y Philo (in Flacc. 92) and Josephus(BJ 2.385) probably ncludedthecausewayand island of Pharos,to whichthenorthernwall extended:Bell. Alex. 17; cf. Steph.Byz. loc. cit.,for 8 Gta'utafromnorth o south.On theextent f thecircuit t thetimeof thecity's founda-tion, ee Q. CurtiusRufus4.8.2 and Steph.Byz. loc. cit.12 L. Homo, "Topographieet demographie ans la Rome imp6riale,"CRAI(1933) 298 and 304; R. Meiggs,Roman Ostia2 (Oxford1973) 532-34--cf. thestudiesby Packercited nnote 17 below;C. Clark,PopulationGrowth nd LandUse (New York 1967) 178-9; A. Lezine, "Sur la population es villes africaines,"



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The PopulationfRomanAlexandria 279havealready stimatedhe reaofthe ity roperohavebeen 825 hectaresnthe Augustanperiod. The names and approximate ocationsof severalipoaca'rta are known ut t s uncertainow far xtramuros hesesuburbsextendeda similar roblems encounteredhen neattemptsodetermineherelationship f the ager RomanustoRome); nor s itknownwhether heirinhabitantsere ncludedn thepopulationstimatesorAlexandriareservedbyclassical uthors.13Since,for hemost art, lexandria as remainednexcavated,he atio fpublicbuildings, alaces, ndparks oshops ndhousingnboth heurbanndsuburban reasalso remainswholly nknown.Moreover,verthecourseoftime, heproportions ould havevaried. trabo laimed hat n hisday, theBovX-ci, orroyal uarter,omprisedne-quarteroone-thirdf the otal reaofthe ity 17.18.). Threegenerationsater, he lderPliny llotted nlyone-fifthf thetotal rea totheroyal uarterNH 3.9.62). Moreover, lthoughliteraryources ttest othe xistence f many ublicbuildings tAlexandria,includingbaths,theatres, ouleuteria, ymnasia,hippodromes,nd am-phitheaters,heir reciseocationsndrelativeroportionsreunknown.ndeed,the nlypublic tructureshat avebeenunearthedtAlexandriarethe deonand baths tKomel-Dikka; heformer,riginally uilt n thefourthenturyA.D., wastwice econstructedhereafterith eatingapacity or pproximatelyone thousandpectators,nd thebaths reByzantinendate.14However, hecapacity of public buildings n a citywhichattracted isitorsfrom hecountrysidesnot reliable eflectionf the izeof the rban opulation.15Ant.Afr.3 (1969) passim; and J.C. Russell, "The Populationand Mortality tPompeii," Bulletinof the International ommission n UrgentAnthropologicaland EthnologicalResearch19 (1977) 109.13 On the difficultiesncountered n distinguishinghecityproperfrom tsown territory,r Chora, see A. di Vita,"L'urbanistica iiu nticadella coloniediMagna Grecia e di Sicilia: Problemi riflessioni," SAtene59 (1981) 66-71. OntheAlexandrianChora see A. Jahne, lexandreia n Agypten: ie Erhebung urptolemaischeMetropole,die chora derStadt.Diss. HumboldtUniversity, erlin(1980); and "Die 'AX4av5p?ov Xcopa,"Klio 63 (1981) 63-103.14 A. Calderini, izionariodei nomigeografici topografici ell'Egittogreco-romano1.1 Cairo 1935), "Alexandreia," assim; see also Adriani,Repertorio I201ff. (Glossario di topografia). For totals of baths, taverns,porticoes andtemples, ee below,note 17.On theodeon at Kom el-Dikka, ee Fawzi el-Fakharani,The odeonof Komel Dick," Cahiers d'Alexandrie 4 (1966) 32-36; cf. his "Les decouvertesarcheologiquesd'Alexandrie," bid. 18-27, and E. Makowiecka, The Numberingof theSeatingPlaces at theRomanTheatre fKomel Dikka,"ActaConventusXIEirene (1968) 479-83. Recently,J.-C. Balty suggested that this buildingfunctioneds a bouleutarion:Le bouleuterion e l'Alexandrie everienne,"tudeset Travaux13 (1983) 8-12.The fundamentalnd mostrecent tudyof thebaths s by M. Rodziewicz,"Thermesromainspres de la gare centraled'Alexandrie,"Etudeset Travaux11(1979) 108-38.l5 Russell (1977) 108.



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280 DianaDeliaCuriously,the only housingremains of Roman date discoveredatAlexandria elong o villas;twoof thesewerebuiltwithin he arly tolemaiccity imitsndonewas constructedtChatby.16 re we thereforeo nfer hat

Alexandria eveloped n themodelof PompeiiratherhanOstiaand Rome?Surely ucha conclusionwouldbe an absurdity,or na city fAlexandria'scommercial mportance,t would certainly e reasonable to assume theexistence f numerousmultiple wellings-thosenotorious nsulae whoseprecise efinitionas generatedndless ispute.17 oreover,ven fremains fpre-Byzantine ultiple wellings erediscoveredtAlexandria, owaccuratewouldmodem stimates e, based as they re on thedirectionnwhich tairspresumably an on storeysno longer xtant nd therelative hickness ffoundation alls?Also conjecturals the estorationf upper toreys ased onground torey r mezzanine lans. At best, hese re educated uesses.18 huswe would be unable to arrive t a realistic pproximationf the number fhouseholds n a building ven f we could estimate henumber f apartment16 On the"House of theBirds,"a Roman villa built n themiddle of the firstcenturynd destroyedy theend of the third entury .D. at Kom el-Dikka, eeM. Rodziewicz, Un quartier 'habitation reco-romainKomel-Dikka," tudesetTravaux 9 (1976) 175-92. For the remains of a Roman villa at Chatby,seeabove, note 8. Concerning heremains f a privateRoman bath whichbelongedto a villa datingto the first r second centuryA.D. at Kom el-Dikka,see K.Kolodziejczyk, PrivateRomanBath at Kom el-Dikka in Alexandria," tudes etTravaux 2 (1968) 144-54; cf. J. Lipinska, Polish Excavations t Kom el-Dikkain Alexandria,"Etudes et Travaux 1 (1966) 184-85. On Byzantinehouses ex-cavated in the centerof the city, see M. Rodziewicz, Alexandrie III: Leshabitations omaines ardivesd'Alexandrie i la lumieredes fouillespolonaises aKomel-Dikka Warsaw 1984).17 For theexistence f insulae anddomus in RomanAlexandria, ee MichaelBar Elias, Chronic. 5.3, ed. and tr.J.-B. Chabot Orfa 1899-1910), I 113-115,andP. A. Fraser, A SyriacnotitiaurbisAlexandrinae," EA37 (1951) 107,note7. Fraserastutely bservedthat he absenceof Christian uildings nd inclusion

of the Serapeum,destroyedn A.D. 391, suggestthatMichael's source forthenotitia predated he"triumphf Christianity"n thefourthentury .D. Similarfourth-centuryists surviveforthecityof Rome: see Codice topograficodellacittadi Roma,edd. Valentini nd ZuchettiRome 1940), andG. Hermansen,ThePopulationof ImperialRome: The Regionaries,"Historia 27 (1978) 129-68; cf.fragmentsf theSeveranplan: G. Carettonit al., La pianta marmoriadi Romaantica (Rome 1960).At Ostia, two-thirds f whichhas been excavated,the ratio of multipledwellings to privatevillas was an overwhelming 84:22. See J. E. Packer,"HousingandPopulationn ImperialOstia andRome,"JRS57 (1967) 83-86, and"UrbanLife and Society n ImperialOstia and Rome,"MAAR 31 (1971) 66 and80. Packerdrew nferencesrom heOstianevidenceforRome,as hadvonGerkanearlier: Die Einwohnerzahl oms in derKaiserzeit,"MDAI:R 55 (1940) 149-95,and "Weiteres ur Einwohnerzahl oms in der Kaiserzeit,"MDAI:R 58 (1943)213-43.18 Packer,JRS (1969) 84-87, and MAAR 1971) 66-68. See also B. W. Frier,Landlords nd Tenants nImperialRome Princeton 980) 3-20.



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ThePopulationfRomanAlexandria 281buildings n Roman Alexandria.n sum,theevidenceat presentmakes timpossible oestimate hepopulationensityf this ity.Moreover,ackofdocumentationrom lexandriarecludeshe ossibilityofestimatinghe verage rban ousehold izeand no evidence ffoundationssurvives nwhich n estimate f thenumber f familiesan bemade.19 o besure, he andmarktudies f censusdeclarationsromheOxyrhynchitendArsinoite nomes by Calderini, Hombertand Preaux illuminate ourunderstandingf themeanfamily izeinEgyptianillages.However,tatisticsderived romural illages renotvalidmodels n which obase a profilefthepopulation f an urbanmetropolisnd provincial apital.20 aluable datacontributingoourunderstandingfthe verage amilyizesuch s male:femaleratios ndmortalityouldhavebeengleaned romhe tudy fskeletal emains,especially hosefrom hethree-storiedatacombutilized rom he ate firstthroughhe arly ourthenturies .D at Komel-SchoqafanAlexandria, utthese keletons erenot xamined ndno datawas preserved.2loreover, hatis a reasonable estimatefor theproportionf slaves to freepersons nantiquity's igcities?22 inally, he ttemptsoattributeoRomanAlexandriapopulation stimates ased on analogies withmodempopulationsre botharbitraryndunconvincing;ow doesone go about hoosing reasand dateswhichpresent easonableparallels? 3 In short, o base an estimate f the

19 Forexample, ee R. P. Duncan-Jones,HumanNumbersnTowns and TownOrganizationsf theRomanempire:The Evidence of Gifts,"Historia 13 (1961)205-8.20 A. Calderini, La composizione della famiglia secondo le schede dicensimentodell'Egitto romano (Milano 1923) 54; M. Hombert nd C. Preaux,Recherches ur le recensementans l'Egypte omaine, ap. Lugd.Batav. 5 (Leiden1952) 154-55 and 163.21 See W. W. Howells,"Estimating opulationNumbers hrough rchaeologicaland Skeletal Remains," and H. V. Vallois, "Vital Statistics in PrehistoricPopulation s Determined romArchaeologicalData," in R. F. Heizer and S. F.Cook, edd., TheApplication fQuantitativeMethods nArchaeologyNew York1960) 158-85 and 186-222,respectively.22 W. L. Westermann's stimateof 25 to 30 percentfor the proportion fslaves to the total population of a large ancientmetropolismay be high:"Slavery," Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences 14 (1934) 76; see also his"Urbanismand Anti-urbanism"above, note2) 87 note6. Beloch's estimate orthe slave populationof Roman Alexandriawas based on thatof Pergamum:Bevblkerung, 259. Conversely,F. G. Meier concludedthat t is impossibletodeterminehenumber f slaves even in an ancientcityas well documented sRome: "RomischeBevolkerungsgeschichtend Inschriftenstatistik,"istoria 2(1953-54) 336-44.23 Boak's sources for the male:femaleratio in Roman Egypt were earlytwentiethentury ensusreports romChina,India, and Egypt:"The Populationof RomanandByzantineKaranis,"Historia4 (1955) 159; see also Duncan-Jones,Economy above,note 1) 276-77, andA. R. Burn, Hic brevevivitur:A Studyofthe Expectation f Life in theRomanEmpire,"P&P 4 (1953). For objectionsagainst relyingon population densityfiguresfromthe Moslem period, see



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282 DianaDeliapopulation fRoman Alexandria n anyof theforegoing ouldbe toplaceone's trustna housebuilt fcards.Whenoneturns othe iteraryources, ne is confrontedythe oberingpronouncementfA. H. M. Jones: it s unlikelyhat shallbe abletoconcealthe gnominiousruth,hat here reno ancient tatistics."24 ones stutelyobserved hat ncientiteraryourceswere ndifferentofiguresf economicsignificance;s a result,ata rescant ndso diversentermsfdate hat heyare scarcely omparable. [ioreover,notedJones,manuscriptopyistsweremost ikely o err n thetask fcopying igures. nexcellentxample fthisis thenotitia rbisAlexandrinaereservedntheSyriac hroniclefMichaelBar Elias which ontainswosetsoffigures:hefirst roup reentries fthenumber fparticularypes fbuildings neach of thefiveregions furbanAlexandriandthe econd roup onsists ftotals or he ntire ity ybuildingtypeswhich, owever, onot quatewith he ums fthe ndividualntriesp-pearingnthe irstet.25One considerationssential o the valuation fancientiteraryources sthereliability f theevidenceon whichtheirfigures est. For example,Josephus elates hat he totalpopulation fEgyptwas seven and one-halfmillionexcludingthepopulation f Alexandria, 0) EvcEvtvEic 'rf0; CxO'EIc6cvrriv ]cEpcaXiv Eio(pop&; tEictpcaoOct (BJ2.16.4). Evenwere we toassumefromhis tatementhat osephus adaccess tothe omplicatedecordsof theXcoypwpit, or poll tax, to whichonlyadultmales were subject,Lezine, 78-79. I would not be so rash as to rule out moderndemographicparallelsif an adequate samplingof vital statistics romRomanAlexandriahadsurvived. n thatcase, reasonableapproximations f life expectancymightbegleanedfrom ables n A. J.Coale and P. Demeny,Regional Model Life Tablesand StablePopulations Princeton 966). See, forexample,B. Frier, RomanLifeExpectancy:the PannonianEvidence,"Phoenix37 (1983) 328-44, and "RomanLife Expectancy: Ulpian's Evidence" HSCP 86 (1982) 213-51. See also K.Hopkins, Death and Renewal (Cambridge 1983) 69-107; R. ttienne,"Demographicet epigraphie,"Proceedingsof the II International ongressofGreekandLatinEpigraphyRome 1957) 415-24, and I. Kajanto,On theProblemoftheAverageDurationofLife in theRomanEmpire.AnnalesAcad. ScientiarumFennicae, ser. B, 153.2 (Helsinki 1968). An essentialprecondition ordemo-graphic nvestigation ited by G. Acsadi and J. Nemeskeri s completeness fevidenceor, in theeventthatthis is lacking, random ampling: Methods ofPaleodemographicstudies," in Historyof Human Life Span and Mortality(Budapest 1970) 57-58. See also N. Keyfitz nd W. Flieger,Population: Factsand Methods of Demography (San Francisco 1971) 567-92, and P. Cox,Demography5Cambridge1976) 20-45.24 Ancient conomicHistory. naugural ecturedelivered t University ollege,London 1948) 3. See also M. I. Finley, Le documentt l'histoire conomique el'antiquit6,"Annales.E.S.C. 37 (1982) 697-713 = AncientHistory:EvidenceandModels (New York 1987) 27-46.25 See above,note 17. In connectionwith imilarfourth-centuryalliesforthecity of Rome, Hermansen 1978) 159 suggestedthatthe awe and admirationinspired y that ity nflatedhefigures. he same suggestionmaybe entertainedin connectionwith henotitiaurbisAlexandrinae.



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The PopulationfRomanAlexandria 283numerous ocumentsndicate hatmanymales throughoutgyptenjoyedpriviligedtatuswhichwholly rpartiallyxemptedhem romiabilityopaythis ax. Hencethe eliabilityfJosephus'stimate ecessitatesishaving adaccess tofigures or ll of these ategoriess wellas the ummariesffamilysizes andhousehold taffseclared n individualensus eturnsvery ourteenyears.26 helikelihood hat ll ofthese ourceswere onsultedyJosephussremote.Anotherase athand s Diodorus iculus' (1.31.8) estimate fsevenmillion or hepopulationfEgyptnPharaonic imes nd threemillionnhisownday, irca60 B.C. Dindorfxpungedhe econd igurenhisedition fthetext; ubsequentditors astdoubt ybracketingt, o that hepassagereads:,roi E cIt71CVTo; Xaob To REVnLUakataov (past YE OvEvaLt lEpt En'T?ootaR)putc 0;, Kiot Kax'C g&E; OK iX&ttoU; tvat [Tptocxoctcov], thusmaking hepassagecompatible ith he stimate fJosephus. nfortunately,Diodorus oesnotdisclose he ource fhis nformation,lthough isaccountmayhave erved s oneofJosephus'ources.27HeedingJones' cautionthatclassical authorswere indifferento thestatisticalamificationsftheir igures, e shouldnotread nto heirhoiceofterms deliberate ttempt t technical ccuracy.Hence Walek-Czerneckiprobably oes toofar ncontrastingeka-the totalpopulationnclusive ffemalesndchildren, ith Fjgo;-whichhewould imit oadultmale itizens.To be sure, heformers a general erm,nlimitedygenderndage, butthelattermay be no more exclusive thanthe termoi noXitTat, which certainlyincludedwomen, espite heirackofpublicvisibilityndexercise ffranchiseinHellenic ities.28Ouronlykeyfigure or hepopulation fRomanAlexandrias preservedbyDiodorusSiculus,whoclaimedthatn hisownday,circa60 B.C., morethan hree undredhousandkXE0Epotesidedhere17.52.6).Diodorus ites shis source o't x'r; &vwypup&; EXovTE; 'Trv xToticoivTOv, but both the

26 S. L. Wallace, Taxation in EgyptfromAugustusto Diocletian (Princeton1938) 116-34. See also A. C. Johnson, oman Egypt Baltimore1936) 531-36,who assumedthat fJosephus ad access torevenue igures e mayalso havehadaccess to census records. Frankly, am astonished that Jones (1948) 10consideredJosephus'estimate o be thesole reliablefigure urvivingn literarysourcesforthetotalpopulation f an ancient ociety.27 Beloch, Bevolkerung 257, interpreted oaO' ipg&; as referring ot toDiodorus'owndaybutrathero thedateofhisprincipal ourceforthepharaonicperiod,Hekataiosof Abdera;however,Walek-Czernecki,above, note 2) 10-11,has demonstratedhatthis nterpretations untenable.DiodorusSiculus' sourcesfor this passage are discussed by A. Burton,Diodorus Siculus, Book I: ACommentaryLeiden 1972) 6-9.

Wilcken rgued n support f thetextual mendation:ee O.Wilck. 487. Fora hypothetical ssessmentof the demographicdevelopmentof Egypt frompharaonicthroughslamic timesbased on theamount f cultivable and, see K.W. Butzer,EarlyHydraulicCivilizationsn Egypt:A Study n CulturalEcology(Chicago 1976).28 See note 2 above, 10-11; cf.Delia, RomanAle-xandria1-23.



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284 DianaDelianature fthese egistersnd the copeof the ermX&OFpot reuncertain.29'EXFviOFpotannot ossibly ignifynlyfreemalecitizens, incewerewe totreble his igureo allowfor ne wife nd a minimumf one childpercitizenfamily,hetotalfree itizen opulationwouldamount onearly nemillion,withoutventakingnto ccount he xtensive oreign esidentopulationrslaves. On theotherhand, f theterm ignifies ll freemales residing tAlexandriaegardlessfcivicstatus,hen minimumotal opulationf morethan ne million esidents ould stillresult fter llowingfor ne wife ndchild achas wellas slaves.Both ums reexcessive or citywhose reawasonly six-tenths he size of third-centuryome.30Accordingly, 00,000FXEciOcpotmostprobably epresentsn approximate otalforAlexandriancitizens fbothgenders ndall ages,althoughtis uncertain hetherll oftheseactuallyresidedwithin hecity imitsor weremerely egisteredtAlexandriandresided hroughoutgypt rabroad.31naddition,he ourcesreveal thatforeign esidentswerenumeroust Alexandria hroughouthePtolemaic ndRoman rasbut t s impossibleoestimateheir umbers; orcanproportionsfEgyptiansndslaves nthe ity eadvancedwithnydegreeofaccuracy.Nevertheless,wouldbe very urprisedfthe otal opulationfRomanAlexandriaver xceeded he ange f500,000 o600,000 ersons.32Ina paperdelivered ttheXVIII Internationalongress fPapyrologists,Mostafa l-Abbadi aliantlyttemptedoestimatehe opulationfAlexandriaduring he atefirst entury .C. and thesixth entury .D. He interpretedDiodorus' figure s signifyinghefreeresident opulation f Alexandriainclusive fcitizen ndforeignmen,women ndchildren.33n themodel fWestermann,34l-Abbadi ddedan extra 5 to 30 percent fthisfigure orslaves,arriving ta totalpopulationfAlexandria irca60 B.C. that angedbetween 50,000 nd375,000persons. owever,his otal oesnot ompare tall favorablywithel-Abbadi's estimateof 525,000 o 600,000 persons forthepopulationfAlexandrianthe ixth entury .D., while he atterlsoderivesfrom enuous ssumptionshat esult rom ombiningourcesfrom emotechronologicalontexts.29 Nor has a search for XFVOcpo; in thehistory nd fragments f DiodorusSiculus n theTLG elucidatedDiodorus'use of this erm.30 Meier (above, note22) 329.31 Diodorus' estimateof theAlexandrian itizenpopulationwouldhave beenfacilitated y thefactthat itizensof theGreekcitiesin Egyptwererequired oreport irths f their hildren. ee Delia, Roman Alexandria47 and83, and H. I.Bell, "DiplomaticaAntinoitica," egyptus 3 (1933) 518-22.32 Strabo (16.2.5) characterizedSeleucia on the Tigris and Alexandria ascomparable in termsof v6cvagt; (strength,.e. of manpower)and p.&yeOo;(magnitude, hysicalsize). The elderPlinysubsequentlyelatedthat n his day,circa A.D. 60, the populationof Seleucia reportedly umbered 00,000 (NH6.30.122). See also Beloch,Bevolkerung, 79.33 "The GrainSupply of Alexandriaand its Population n ByzantineTimes,"(Athens1986).34 See above,note22.



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ThePopulationfRomanAlexandria 285El-Abbadi ssumed hat he womillionmedimnifgrain xtortedytheprefectfEgypt romheAlexandrianrain ole inA.D. 546 representedheentire ole,althoughhetext fProcopiusHA26.41-3)does not mply hat

thiswas thewholebutmerely elatesthat wo millionmedimniwas theamount f grainwhichtheprefect, ephaestus, ocketed.El-Abbadinextadvancedtheargumenthat totalgraindole of twomillionmedimniwasdistributednthe ixth enturyt the ne artabaperperson ate ocumentednA.D. II/III, o that herewere300,000recipientsfthegrain ole.Finally, l-Abbadi assumedthatthedole was distributedmongall adultresidents,regardlessfgender rcivicstatus, yextendinghegeneric hrase tXfOo;oiKiyUopcovfEusebiusHE 7.21.9 tooi tE acpcxKovoTrxat Kou. gc?Xpt T6OVLF36oPi8jKovtcaf thesentencewhichfollows, lthough he atter robablysignifiedxclusivelymalerecipientsf theRomangrain ole inA.D. 261. Inconclusion,l-Abbadi rojected total opulationange f525,000 o600,000persons tAlexandria uring he ixth entury .D. basedon the ssumptionthatmales and femaleswereevenly epresentedn thedole,whichyielded150,000adultmales, ndbyadopting uncan-Jones'atio fadultmales =28.6% ofthefree opulation.35onetheless,twouldbemost nusual or hepopulationfAlexandria,educed yendemic acialhostilitiesndwarsduringtheRomanprincipate,o havedoubledbythesixth entury.Recently,heassumptionhat fter warornatural isaster asreduced population,t willreplenishtself o tsformerize,providedhat onewcatastropheccurshasbeen hallenged.nly conservativerowthate anbedemonstrated.36Figures or hepopulationfAlexandriatthe ime ftheArab onquest(A.D. 642) arepreservednthe ccounts fseveralArabsources.TheFutuhMisrof Abdal-Hakam elates hat ccording oone source,AmrreportedoOmar that he had found40,000 Jewsat Alexandriapayingtaxes.37Theschematic equenceof 4,000 baths, 0,000Jews nd 400 royalpavillions,however,autions neagainst lacing xcessive rustnthese igures.Abdal-Hakamgoesontorelate hat therources aidthat 0,000Jews tAlexandriawere pprehensive,ndthat herewere 00,000Byzantineliterally,"Roman")men,30,000ofwhom longwith heir amilies ndpossessions bandonedAlexandria. inally,Abdal-Hakam elates hat 00,000malesatAlexandriawere ubject othe apitationax.With espectothe ax,TheKhitab l Khitatofal-Makrizi otes hatAmr evied taxonallJews tthe ate f 2 dinars erhead, xemptingnly lderlymen, hildren hohadnotreachedmaturity,ndwomen;38utwhat fChristians,howere equiredopaythis ax s well?Al-Baladhuri elated hat tthetime f Amr'sconquest, he apitationaxfrom

35 Economy,264 note4.36 M. Hansen,"DemographicReflectionsn theNumber f AthenianCitizens,451-309 B.C.," AJAH7 (1982) 173-76.37 TheHistory ftheConquestofEgypt,NorthAfrica nd Spain known s theFutuh Misr of Ibn 'Abd al-Hakam, ed. C. C. Torrey.Yale Oriental Series,ResearchesII (New Haven1922) 82 (Torrey).38 MIFAO 3 (1906) 126-28, tr.P. Casanova.



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286 DianaDeliaAlexandriamountedo180,000 inars, hich uggestshat 0,000hadrefusedto embrace slam.39 To be sure, hefigures reservedn these ources recontradictory,nd those fgreatermagnitude aywellexcite uspicionnthegrounds hat heglorious raditionf theArabconquest f Alexandriawouldhavebeen nhanced yexaggeratinghe ize of ts aptive opulation.40OnefragmentfthenotoriousctaAlexandrinorumarrantsonsiderationinconnection ith urdiscussion fthe opulationfRomanAlexandria.nP.Giss. Univ.V 46, thefigure 80,000appears n the ine whichfollows hementionf 173elders.VonPremersteinestoredhe ext fcolumn toread:

'O 6i? ov yova6'covU]Toi a&xap?vo;ETiE(V)."AKoucyov au, Kac]cap. 'AXiEXav6p"o)v O6ijO; ?ORtUg, p? ax7oKp6p, to-Xitdt;i 7cpoAxCY]a&i'6 so7 Yc-pO[Vrct']V,0&11 ?V AV6&p 6]ocKx KatxiCOt gpui&x[;7E?ptEXO1U-1 tX?po1CV] N.4

Recently,. Koenen ranscribedhe ext s follows:'O &% yovov CU4]oi aya'vos; EtRE(V).Kcalrq7OpCO,CUpt Kai]'ap. 9AXc?Xav6ptwvo?. i ?rj. c]pl? cxroKpaircp lzo-p?0Opx0a( ?) jtki; a9LboP-j ?yp0[V'rO]V,RtXo; jO; tp61 PKX~6? toM&4CiKc c clvat 'r] 2tX0iO, 'r6& itnV]42

Notwithstandinghedifficultiesncounteredn attemptingorestoreobadlydamaged text,t besthypotheticalueto the bsence fparallels, othvonPremersteinndKoenenhaveargued hat ]?KicaKi OKtro gopup&a[; canonly elate othepopulationfAlexandria,resumablyt the lose ofTiberius'reign nd theaccession ofGaius inA.D. 37.43To be sure, ]t?xa icKa 0ic'rh39 KitabFutuh l Buldan,tr.P. Hitti Bierut1966).40 In general, ee A.J.Butler,The ArabConquestofEgypt nd the Last ThirtyYears of theRomanDominion2Oxford1978) 310-27 and 368-400. The extantremainsof Arab walls in the Shalalat Gardensand southof theKom el-Dikkafortressndicatethattheseenclosed an area considerablymallerthan n Romantimes.41 P. Giss. Univ. V 46, ed. A. von Premerstein,ee note 2 above; thisdocumenthas been re-edited s P. Yale II 107. Von Premerstein'seconstructionof thetexthas earnedbothpraiseand censure:H. I. Bell, CR 54 (1940) 48-49;H. A. Musurillo, heActsofthePagan MartyrsOxford1954) 106; H. C. Youtie,

CW 54 (1943) 163-65 = Scriptunculae (Amsterdam 973) II 863-67. On thegerousia at Alexandria, ee M. el-Abbadi, The Gerousia n RomanEgypt,"JEA50 (1964) 164-69.42 See above,note2.43 Von Premersteinelievedthat heTiberius, eferredo in columns andII ofthisdocument,was Gemellus and accordingly ated thefirst udienceprior to



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ThePopulationfRomanAlexandria 287opii6ca[; is intimatelyonnectedwith he ubjectunder ppeal. f 180,000drachmai theequivalent f 30 talants)were nquestion,we are at a loss toappreciate he ignificancefthis um; likewise, hefigure robably idnot

refer oartabai of graindistributedn connectionwith local alimentaryscheme, incethe arliestvidence f mperialnterventionn suchmattersinItaly,nottheprovinces) atestothereigns f Nerva ndTrajan. fthis igureindeed efersopersons, ho anthey e?Von Premersteinnd Koenen rgued hat ythis ate nwnerus lausus f180,000malecitizens adbeenestablishedt Alexandria nd that hisfigureshould be associated withthe tribal chema of P. Hib. I 28 (265 B.C.);44accordingly,heyprojected stimates or he totalpopulation fAlexandriaduringhereign fGaius.Nevertheless,hevery oncept fa numeruslaususofcitizens s unacceptable, ecause t s groundedn the ssumptionhat henumber fcitizens emained ixed egardlessfwhetherhe itizen opulationactuallyxperiencedemographicrowthrdecline. donotknow f a singleparallel mongGreek ities ntheRoman mpire.45oreover,s I have rguedelsewhere,. Hib. I 28maywellrefer othe ribalrganizationtPtolemais rNaukratisuringhe hirdentury.C., andnot oAlexandria.46One possibilityithertoot onsidereds that ]Eicc ca tK OWpt&&x[;representshenumberfJews esidenttAlexandriand ts mmediatenvirons.ForJosephus elated hat 0,000 butbynomeans ll) of theJewshad beenmassacredn theDeltadistrictfAlexandrianA.D. 61,pursuanto the rdersofthe refectiberiusuliusAlexanderBJ494-98).Onegenerationarlier, heAlexandrianhilohadclaimed hat nemillion ews esided nEgypt inFlacc.43).47 To be sure, he ccuracy fPhilo'sestimate s an absolute igure,ikethat fJosephus or he otal opulationfEgypt iscussed arlier,s subject odoubt; hesemay,however,uggest hat ews tood napproximately1:7ratiotothetotalpopulation fEgypt.Moreover, newould xpect hat he argestconcentrationfJews ccurrednthe ity fAlexandria.It is undoubtedlyrue hatJewish nd Alexandrian olemic mayhaveexaggeratedhe ccounts fthe ndemicivil trife hich ook laceduring hereigns fGaius andClaudiusbetweenAlexandriansndJews esidentn thiscity. Philo's in FlaccumandLegatio ad Gaium,thehistorical countsofJosephus,nd the mperor laudius'response reserveds P. Lond. VI 1912.Gemellus' suicide towards heend ofA.D. 37. However, t is indeed ikelythattheemperor iberiuswas meant, hefirst udiencehaving akenplace beforehimat Capri and thesecondaudienceoccurring eforeGaius at Rome after iberius'death nMarchA.D. 37. See thediscussion nP. Yale II 107,p. 86.44 Von Premerstein,6-47; Koenen,2. See also Fraser, A I 39-40.45 To be sure,SEG IX 1 (Cyrene,reignof Ptolemy) preserves hetextof aconstitutionmposed on Cyrenewhich establisheda politeuma limitedto tenthousand itizens;thisconstitution ayhave been imposedas earlyas 321 B.C.,but it is uncertainhow long it remained n effect.The Cyrenaeanedicts ofAugustus SEG IX 8-9, Cyrene, /6a)do notmention closed bodyof citizens,butfocus nstead n thedistinctionsetweenRomancitizens ndHellenes.46 Delia, RomanAlexandria80-82.47 Cf.Leg. 124, 256 and 350.



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288 DianaDelia(Philadelphia, .D. 41) relate hatAlexandrianitizens ndresident ewshadrepeatedlyome toblowsover heir espective ightsndprivilegesn the ityandthat,n several ccasions, hese ssueswere he ubject fappealsdirectedto the mperor.Accordingly,t s ustpossible hat imilar ircumstancesedto the mbassy escribednP. Giss. Univ.V 46, preservedor osteritys oneepisode nthe rdentlyationalisticndanti-RomanctaAlexandrinorum;twas intended o inflameAlexandrian assionsand solidarity y means ofdenouncinghat riticserceivedsRome'sphilojudaicroclivities.With he otal opulation f Alexandriarobably angingetween 00,000and600,000persons uringheRomanprincipate,80,000Jewswouldhaverepresented 0 to 36 percent f the whole. If one acceptsthis figure, nextraordinarilyargeproportionfJews esided t Alexandria, hichwouldexplainwhythiscityexperienced epeatedviolentoutbreaks etween tsHellenic nd Jewish actions.48lternatively,nemight lsodismiss hefigureof180,000 ews s suspect,f ndeed temanated romropagandaesigned oexaggeratenallegedJewishhreatocitizensfAlexandria.In termsof manpower, asualty and captive figures n theBellumAlexandrinumre nothelpful,nsofar s a general evyhadbeenconductedthroughoutgypt omeet hedemands f thewar Bell. Alex.2). Nor doesthissource isclose he mount f food equired ofeed heAlexandrianopulationundersiege, however nflated ts numbersmay have been as a resultofrecruitmentn theDeltaand Upper gypt.49

There ppears ohavebeen nannona tAlexandria uringhe hirdenturyA.D., the nstitutionfwhichmayhave coincidedwith hefirstppearance fcUiOivt6pXt. ive innumberoneper ity istrict),hesemagistrateseplacedtheformerin rij;ciOiivt&; ndwereresponsible or heregulationfprices

48 For a ratioof 70,000 Jews to 200,000 Byzantinespresumably ll males) atAlexandria t thetimeof theArabconquestnote thediscussion bove.49 The classic studywhichtried o estimate population ased on the totalfoodsupplyof a city s that fW. J.Oates: "The Population f Rome," CP 26 (1934)101-16. Oates presupposed hat hefoodconsumptionf a human ndividualhasa constant verage,regardless f geographic ituation r thecaloricdemandsofvariousprofessions.Moreover,he disregarded he significant ifferencen theamounts f monthlyations itedby ancient uthorities, hichvaryfrom to 5modiiper month, r 20 to 20%. He ignored hedisparity f occupations f theintendedrecipients nd also did not take into consideration he fact thattheweightsof variousgrainsconsiderably iffer. f. A. Jarde, es cereales dansl'antiquite grecque (Paris 1925) 128-44; Packer, "Housing and Population"(above, note 17), 87-89; C. ClarkandM. Haswell,"Food Consumption,"n TheEconomics of Subsistence Agriculture4London 1970) 1-26; and G. D. R.Sanders, "Reassessing AncientPopulations,"ABSA 79 (1984) 251-62. For anordinaryrainallowanceof one artaba (= 4 modii) perslave or laborern RomanEgypt, ee Johnson, oman Egypt above,note26) 301 and thedocuments itedtherein. The total food consumption f Roman Alexandria is in any caseunknown.



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ThePopulation fRomanAlexandria 289and thefoodsupply.50irca A.D. 261,afterhe cclamationf theEgyptianpraefectM. JuliusAemilianus ytheAlexandrianopulace nd theEmperorGallienus'measures ocaptureheusurperndrecoverhe rovince, lexandriawas aidwaste. usebius urportedlyreserveshe ccount fBishopDionysiosofAlexandriawhichdescribes heslaughterndresultingestilenceH.E.7.21.9).Inthese ire ircumstances,ll malesbetweenhe gesof fourteenndeighty earswere ligible or heAlexandrianrain ole;butnofiguresrepre-served or he otal umberfrecipients.5'Anotherpproachwhich ashithertoeenunexplored ight e basedon acorrelationfthewater torage apacitywith hedevelopmentntheRomanperiod f thevastnetworkf canalsand cistemswhich nderminehe ncientcity fAlexandria.tneverthelessppears mpossibleo estimate he verageamount fwater onsumed y an individualn light f theextensive se ofwater or ublic ndprivateaths, ousehold eeds, ndfor easts fburdenndlivestock.Moreover, lthough heearlynetwork f canals andcisternswasprobably esigned oanticipateutureeeds,we maynever e sure bout heextentowhich ubsequentdditionsatisfied rsurpassedhe equirementsfthe uffentopulation.52Finally,the modernhistorian ften fails to appreciatethe factthatpopulationfigures re, after ll, onlyroughestimates.Numerousfactorsconstantly odifiedhese igures;mong hemwere ocalconditions,lectivepopulationontrols,ndemigrationfAlexandriansnto heEgyptian horaandabroad.Conversely,nviewof the plendidibraries ndMuseum, finereputation ortrainingnphilosophical,medical, nd,eventually, hristianstudies,nd tsdistinctommercialdvantages, lexandriattractedcores fforeignmmigrantss well. Moreover,we mustnotforget hepatternf

50 Delia, Roman Alexandria 158-59; cf. Breccia, IGA 71 (Alexandria,A.D.158). Note Johnson's uggestionabove, note26, p. 19) that 6Onvt6apXatmayhavebeen appointed o regulate hemarketndfoodsupply n timesof scarcity51 A minimum igure ortheByzantinennona is preserved y Procopius,whorelatesthatduring hereignof Justinian,heAlexandriansweredeprivedof asmany as two million measures of grain fromtheirannona allotmentby adishonestgovernor (H. A. 26). Whatproportionhisrepresentedf thewholeannona andhow manypeople therationwas intendedo subsidizeare unknown;see above,283. On theuse offrumentationesndcongiariato estimate hepopu-lationof Rome,see Hopkins 1978) 97.52 On thenetworkf subterraneananals andcisterns edby theNile, see Bell.Alex. 5 andIGRR I 1055; cf. G. Botti, "Les citernesd'Alexandrie,"BSAA 2(1899) 15-26, and L. Dabrowski,"La citerne a eau sous le mosquee de NabiDaniel," AlexandriaUniversity,ull. FacultyofArts12 (1958) 40-48. The hugeel-Nabeh cisternon Sultan Hussein Streetwhere the Shalalat Gardensbeginappears to be Roman in origin, with considerable Byzantine renovation.However,R. P. Duncan-Jones as arguedthatthere s no way of estimatingheamountof waterused per person:"CityPopulation n RomanAfrica,"JRS53(1963) 85.



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290 Diana Delia&vaXcprjGt;which welled heEgyptian omponentf the itypopulation.53Other actors hich nfluencedopulationizewere heoccurrencef naturaldisasters uch s famine, specially hose ccasioned y ow Nile inundations,pestilence,the recurrent iots and reprisalsby Hellenes and Jewsalikethroughouthefirst hree enturiesf theprincipate,heJewish evolt f A.D.115-16, hemassacre f Alexandrian ouths ytheEmperor aracalla n A.D.215, and thedevastationf the ity oth t thehands f Gallienus' rmy ircaA.D. 261 and again in A.D. 268 pursuant o the Palmyrene nvasion ndoccupation.54 Hence the maximum stimate orthe population f RomanAlexandriauggestederein-500,000-600,OOO-s a mere pproximationfa

53 On the average age at death in Roman Egypt,see M. Hombert nd C.Preaux,CdE 20 (1945) 139-45. See also F. A. Hooper,"Data fromKom AbouBillou on theLengthof Life in Greco-RomanEgypt,"CdE 31 (1956) 332-340;A. el-Sawy,J.Bouzek andL. Vidman,New Stelaefrom heTerenouthisemeteryin Egypt,"ArchivOrientalni 8 (1980) 330-55; and Abd el-Hafeezabd el-Al, J.C. Grenier nd G. Wagner, telesfune'rairese Kom Abu Bellou (Paris 1985). Onthe reasons for a highmortalityevel in cities of the Roman empire,see A.Scobie, "Slums, Sanitation nd Mortalityn theRomanWorld,"Klio 68 (1986)399-433.On ancientmodes of family imitation,ee K. Hopkins,"Contraceptionnthe RomanEmpire,"PSSH (1965) 124-51; cf. P. A. Brunt,talian Manpower:225 B.C.-A.D. 14 (Oxford1971) 146-54.On Alexandriansn theChora, see el-Abbadi,Alexandrians above, note2)539-41 and557-60. Undoubtedlyumerous lexandrianswentabroad to serve ntheRomanarmy r navy,as itinerantrofessionalsathletes,musicians, hetors),or in connectionwith bankingand commerce:see Seneca, Ep. 77.1, Strabo2.5.12, 14.5.13, and 17.1.13. For Alexandriaas an educationalcenter, onsultidem andAmmianusMarcellinus 2.16.16-19; cf. Dio Chrysostom,r. 32.40 onthecosmopolitan haracterf theAlexandrian opulace.As at Athens, mmigrantso Alexandriamightacquire citizenshiponly byspecial decree; hence the flow of immigrantsnto the citydid not offset heemigrationf Alexandrian itizens:Hansen (1982) 177. On avaX(prIcTt see R.P. Duncan-Jones,Demographic hangeand EconomicProgress,"n Tecnologia,economiae societanelmondoromano Como 1980) 74.54 Pliny,Paneg. 31-32, refers o a faminen Egyptduring hereignofTrajan.On theunpredictable loodingof theNile, see: IGRR I.1290 (the Elephantinenilometer), nd P. Oxy. HI 486.31-33 (A.D. 131). See also Pliny,NH 5.10.58,and D. Bonneau,La crueduNil: divinite''gyptienneParis 1964). Forpestilence,see HA: Verus8.1 and Euseb. HE 7.21.9. See also G. Casanova, "La pestenelladocumentazione reca d'Egitto,"ProceedingsXVII International apyrologicalCongress (Naples 1983) 949-56, and "Epideme e famenella documentazionegreca d'Egitto,"Aegyptus 4 (1984) 174-75. On theJewish evolt, ee A. Fuks,"The JewishRevolt in Egypt (A.D. 115-117) in the Light of the Papyri,"Aegyptus33 (1953) 131-58, and "'Aspectsof theJewishrevolt n A.D. 115-117," JRS51 (1961) 98-104; and M. Pucci, "La rivolta braica in Egitto 115-117 d.C.) nella storiografiantica,"Aegyptus 2 (1982) 195-217.



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The PopulationfRomanAlexandria 291variablewhichwould wax and wane nthecourseof thenextfour enturiesunder oman ule.55

55 I am indebted o RogerBagnall,WilliamV. Harris, udwigKoenen,Mostafael-Abbadi,RuthScodel and thereferees f TAPA fortheir areful eading f themanuscriptand their stimulating omments.My sincere thanks also go toJeanetteWakin, Edward Kamal and Mahmoud Helmi for theirassistance intranslatinghetext f 'Abd al-Hakam'sFutuhMisr.A 1983-1984fellowship romthe AmericanResearch Center in Egypt enabled me to studyfirst-hand hetopographyndmonumentsf ancientAlexandria.



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292 DianaDeliaFigure

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Population Roman Alexandria

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