Buried Coins May Hold Key To Solving Mystery Of Ancient Roman Population

Intro:

Using a mathematical model to predict population trends based on ancient coin hoards, a biologist and a historian have concluded that the population of ancient Rome was smaller than sometimes suggested. Although the first century BC in Italy has been extensively studied, and much is known about the great figures of the era, including Cicero, Caesar, Virgil, and Horace, some basic facts — such as the approximate population size of the late Roman Republic — remain the subject of intense debate.