The papers in this volume grew from a conference on the demography of the late Roman Republic held at the University of Leiden. Northwood and de Ligt, both classicists at Leiden, have selected
essays that represent a number of different views on the population of the Republic, especially the number of rural dwellers. The first section gives a survey of earlier work followed by
discussions of rural and urban populations. The second examines the trustworthiness of Roman census figures, with differing conclusions. The next five studies are from archaeological
information with reference to how it relates to written records. Three more papers deal with Roman population and migration followed by three more on the debate over the Gracchian land reforms
which hinge to some extent on whether the population was growing or declining. The final two papers discuss demographics and the end of the Republic. This is a thorough and provocative series
of papers that will give scholars of the Republic much to consider. Annotation 穢2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
