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  • From: Rick Strelan <rick.strelan AT mailbox.uq.edu.au>
  • To: "Corpus-paul" <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: populations of Ephesus
  • Date: Thu, 7 Oct 1999 15:20:26 +1000


>Rick Strelan wrote:
>
>> The population of Ephesus in the second/third centuries CE is usually put
>> at ca 200-225,000. I think it's important for students to recognise the
>> difference between 'population' and 'citizens'. Of the latter, in Ephesus
>> there were probably only about 40,000.
>
>Rick, just wondering how you got to these figures.

Koester's book on Ephesos includes an article by Michael White who talks
about the demographics of Ephesus and ends up with 200,000 by 150CE. And
that has been the accepted figure traditionally, calculated by guys like
T.R.S. Broughton.If you read that article you will see, as Edgar suggests,
that this is all guesswork really.
White also refers to the 40,000 citizens figure which is based on a
reference to Aurelius Barenius who fed that many [!] in the third century
and to a comparable figure mentioned by Galen for Pergamon [Koester,
Ephesos:41]. You might also see the article by Bagnall & Warden in
Classical Philology 83 [1988] 220-223.

Hope that helps,

Rick

Dr Rick Strelan
Studies in Religion
University of Queensland
Brisbane, Australia 4072






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