Roman Empire Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Health and disease=== {{further|Disease in Imperial Rome|Antonine plague|Plague of Cyprian}} [[Epidemics]] were common in the ancient world, and occasional [[pandemic]]s in the Empire killed millions. The Roman population was unhealthy. About 20 percent—a large percentage by ancient standards—lived in cities, Rome being the largest. The cities were a "demographic sink": the death rate exceeded the birth rate and constant immigration was necessary to maintain the population. Average lifespan is estimated at the mid-twenties, and perhaps more than half of children died before reaching adulthood. Dense urban populations and [[Sanitation in ancient Rome|poor sanitation]] contributed to disease. Land and sea connections facilitated and sped the transfer of infectious diseases across the empire's territories. The rich were not immune; only two of emperor Marcus Aurelius's fourteen children are known to have reached adulthood.<ref name="Harper">{{Cite book |last=Harper |first=Kyle |title=The Fate of Rome |date=2017 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-16683-4 |pages=10, 30–31, 67–91}}</ref> The importance of a good diet to health was recognized by medical writers such as [[Galen]] (2nd century). Views on nutrition were influenced by beliefs like [[humoral theory]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Grant |first=Mark |title=Galen on Food and Diet |date=2000 |publisher=Routledge |pages=7, 11}}</ref> A good indicator of nutrition and disease burden is average height: the average Roman was shorter in stature than the population of pre-Roman Italian societies and medieval Europe.<ref>{{Harvp|Harper|2017|pp=75–79}}; {{Cite journal |last1=Koepke |first1=Nikola |last2=Baten |first2=Joerg |date=1 April 2005 |title=The biological standard of living in Europe during the last two millennia |journal=European Review of Economic History |volume=9 |issue=1 |doi=10.1017/S1361491604001388 |hdl-access=free |pages=61–95 |hdl=10419/47594}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page