Anthony Kaldellis

Anthony Kaldellis is a historian specializing in the Roman Empire. He is the author of "The New Roman Empire," which provides a comprehensive history of the Byzantine Empire (Eastern Roman Empire).

68 claims checked on air: 2 context 1 contradicted 1 overstated 46 supported 18 unverified 2 flagged

What they said on air - context

1:32:36needs contextmoderateThe Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empi

More surviving statues and busts exist from the Roman Empire depicting Hadrian's lover Antinous than of almost anyone else from antiquity except Hadrian himself.

"We have like more statues and busts of Antinous from all of these temples all over the empire than I think of anyone else except Hadrian." (said at 1:32:36)

The speaker's assertion highlights the extraordinary abundance of surviving portraits of Antinous across the Roman Empire, but omits the emperor Augustus. In classical archaeology and Roman sculpture scholarship (e.g., standard corpora by Clairmont and Meyer), Antinous is recognized as having one of the highest numbers of surviving sculptured portraits from antiquity (over 100 extant statues, busts, and reliefs), ranking third overall behind Augustus and Hadrian. While the claim correctly conveys that Antinous outnumbers almost every Roman emperor and historical figure in surviving sculpted portraits, Augustus also surpasses Antinous.

context: The Image of Antinous in Imperial Ideology (uO Research (University of Ottawa) 2019)
"By quantifying extant statues of Antinous based on provenance and iconography, summarizing Hadrian’s ideology, examining Hadrian’s own image, and considering the cult of Antinous, we can see that Antinous played an important role in Hadrian’s ideology. His cult was a social and religious unifier and helped bridge the gaps between communities and foster shared pride and community amongst adherents; the statues, often cultic objects, visually conveyed this purpose through various iconographic connections to other cults." (abstract, passage verified)
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context: The Image of Antinoös: Sexy Boy or Elder God? (UKnowledge (University of Kentucky) 2014)
"Building upon the discourse of Hadrian’s “Greekness” and sexuality in connection to the amount of images of Antinoös he had commissioned, this paper instead argues that the images of Antinoös were created in order to further a public and religious programme by Hadrian... The Delphi Antinoös is a well-documented example of numerous portraits of the youth, and it is this paper’s intention to depict the Pheidian inspiration sought after in the second century CE, at the time of Hadrian’s reign and Antinoös’s death, which illustrate the purpose of the images of Antinoös as religious and not as sexy." (abstract, passage verified)
openalex

1:53:10needs contextvery lowThe Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empi

Ancient cities suffered continuous negative natural population growth due to disease density, losing approximately 1% to 3% of their population annually.

"ancient cities we now know or suspect are what some historians call death traps. In other words, the density of disease is such that ancient cities probably are losing something like 1 to possibly 3% of their population per year. So just in order to stay with a stable population, they have to import people." (said at 1:53:10)

The speaker describes the 'urban graveyard' (or 'urban penalty') hypothesis widely discussed in historical demography and ancient history (notably applied to ancient Rome and pre-industrial cities by demographic historians such as Walter Scheidel and Keith Hopkins). This hypothesis posits that due to high pathogen density, poor sanitation, and crowded living conditions, urban deaths exceeded births (negative natural increase), requiring continuous immigration from rural areas to sustain city populations. Bioarchaeological studies in Roman Italy confirm higher physiological stress and earlier mortality in urban versus rural populations. However, the specific estimate of a continuous 1% to 3% annual net population loss is a theoretical demographic modeling parameter rather than an empirically documented rate across all ancient cities, and remains an active subject of debate among ancient demographers.

context: Urban vs rural lifestyle in Roman Italy: a bioarchaeological and paleopathological investi… (Journal of Archaeological Science Reports 2025) · cited 2x in the literature
"Differences are assessed between urban and rural contexts during Imperial era, Italy. • Qualitative differences were found in infectious conditions and stress markers. • Women died later in the rural setting but earlier in the urban context." (abstract, highlights, passage verified)
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Fact-checked episodes

The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire | Lex Fridman Podcast #498Lex Fridman · as guest

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