Statistical time series?

[Titvs Statilivs Castvs]

Hello everyone,

I'm a student of History at Ghent University (Belgium) and I have an 'assignment' for a class named "Data management and statistics for historians". I know that this might be a stupid question as it isn't as simple for other (later) historical periods, but are there any time-series available for antiquity? By this I mean lists of numbers (of production, military strength, population, ...) per year or for every few years.
It's for a small statistical analysis, and I need two (to look if there's a connection between them).
They might come from databases or in articles. Even numbers of found artefacts per period are useful.

This could be demographic, economic, military, ... Everything is welcome. I hope you can help because I'd rather not do it about a post-middle-ages period. Thanks in advance!

[Epictetus]

Oh yes, there is information like that out there. In most cases it isn't the best quantity or quality, but it really depends what you are looking for. When I was in college I gathered a multitude of prices for a project, for instance. It might be easier to suggest information if you give an idea what you want to study.

[Titvs Statilivs Castvs]

The subject doesn't really matter, it's about the statistical analysis we're supposed to do. It's to show we can process and interpret time-series.

I need two time-series covering the same period, which might have something to do with each other. These I will then compare and look if there is any connection between the two, and look if it's statistically significant.

It doesn't need to be per year, it also can be for every 5 or 10 years, but I need time-series with about 30 to 50 values (e.g. the period 70-110 annually, or 1-300 per 10 years).


The problem is, I don't have the time for 'creating' these time series myself (and neither the professor wants us to do so). So I need relatively accessable material/tables. I can't, for example, look at all the coins that are found in a certain area and date them, to put them in a table afterwards.
So a little work on the material I have isn't a problem, but the meaning of the assignment is not to work days on it to get decent time series.

[Sean Manning]

You might look up numbers of shipwrecks, numbers of amphorae, and numbers of coins found (or the rather speculative estimates of numbers produced based on the coin dies reflected in surviving coins). Also have a look at Peter Brunt's book on the Roman censi (Italian Manpower) and Nathan Rosenstein's on military service in the late Republic, although I think we have too few census figures for your needs. The Cambridge Economic History of the Greco-Roman World may be helpful.

Edit: Also, have a look at the oldest and longest program of collecting price data: the Babylonian Astronomical Diaries. Dr. Robert van der Spek has an edition.

[Eleatic Guest]

This could be demographic, economic, military, ... Everything is welcome.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_economy

Drop me a PM for the original articles, I can send them along (never rely on WP alone unless you know you have fabricated the data yourself ).

[Titvs Statilivs Castvs]

Hi Sean and Stefan,

These are great! :-D The Babylonian file is very interesting, but I don't know if I can use it. It's very detailled though.

I'm going to take a look in "Ancient Shipwrecks of the Mediterranean and the Roman Provinces", which our university seems to have. I hope there might be more detailled information (not for every century, but maybe every half century).

When I have somewhat more time I'll take a closer look at the WP-article to see if there are any cited articles that might be of interest.

Thanks a lot for your help gentlemen!


Edit: I was wondering, does anyone know if there are any useful statistics in this work:
Scheidel, Walter; Morris, Ian; Saller, Richard, eds. (2007): The Cambridge Economic History of the Greco-Roman World, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-78053-7
?

It's checked out from the library and I'd like to know if it's worth waiting or not..

[Draconis]

I had an idea you might be able to find info on Roman Army pay ad inflation during the time of the empire. So Poking around I found this: Hopefully helpful but interesting anyway: http://dougsmith.ancients.info/worth.html