Alba Regia. Annales Musei Stephani Regis. – Alba Regia. Az István Király Múzeum Évkönyve. 10. 1969 – Szent István Király Múzeum közleményei: C sorozat (1969)
Tanulmányok – Abhandlungen - Éry Kinga, K.: Investigations on the Demographic Source Value of Tomb Stones Originating from the Roman Period. – Vizsgálatok a római kori sírfeliratok demográfiai forrásértékéről. X, 1969. p. 51–67.
The ôrst and rather striking result of the investigation is that there appears a girl surplus instead of the boy excess in the age group 0—9 years in the majority of series. This is expecially true for Germania, Britannia, and Moesia, which means that commemorating inscriptions had been more frequently made at the death of infant girls in these territories. With the exception of the Noricum, the number of the female inscriptions is, as expected, higher in the age group 10—19 years in the entire region under discussion, also, their ratio is generally corresponding to the natural distributional proportion. Concerning those 20—29 years old, there appears again the expected female excess, except for the Noricum and Britannia, and the rate of their proportions generally agrees with the natural ratio of distribution. With regard to those 30—39 years old, there is again a female excess of inscriptions, usually corresponding to the expected one but in a slightly smaller ratio, excepting Italia, Dalmatia, and Germania, where a male excess appears. In the age group 40—49 years, the expected male excess shows in the majority of the series, except for the materials deriving from Hispánia, Dacia, and the Noricum. The frequency of the male tomb inscriptions is, however, generally higher in this age group than should be according to the natural distribution. Concerning the age group 50—59 years, there is again a male excess, corresponding to the expected one but rather smaller in ratio; on the other hand, a female excess appears in Hispánia, Gallia, Britannia and Moesia. The expected male excess in the group 60—69 years of age is observable in most provinces, except for the materials originating from Dalmatia, Germania and Dacia. Against the expected female excess in the group above 70 years, the tomb inscriptions show the very opposite frequency: a male excess appears in almost all provinces, except for Dalmatia and Germania. One may summarily state therefore that the trend of the sex pattern per age group and within the ages 10—69 years follows in general the regular mortality distributions but differs in its majority as to the rate of difference. The trend of deviation in the normal sex patterns of mortality appears in a female excess of inscriptions for the age group 0—9 years, and in a male one for those above 70 years. * As a last link in the chain of investigations, let us examne whether there is any difference, as regards the custom of commemorating inscriptions, between the early and the late periods. For this sake, I have plotted on a graph the temporal frequency distributions of some larger series and, in the case of Rome, the two special series already studied in the preceding chapters. As testified by Figure 8, there is no essential change between the chronological groups in the age group frequencies of the inscriptions, hence the prevailing usage of commemoration had not altered in the course of time. The single exception concerns the distribution in Pannónia and of the Greek and non-Greek inscriptions in Rome. It seems, according to the Figure, that the rather Hispánián type of distribution in the first and second centuries shifts towards the italian type of distribution during the third and fourth centuries in Pannónia,—perchance in connection with the expanding Romanization. With regard to the Greek insriptions in Rome, their distribution shows a definitely African type in the first and second centuries, but approaches the Italian type during the third and fourth centuries. A rather opposite process seems to be enacted in the case of the Latin inscriptions, wherein the very decided Italian type of distribution in the early period becomes modified in later times. This change can probably be attributed to the interaction of the two coexisting and locally adjacent groups, further substantiated by the fact that no such alteration can be observed in any one of the other Italian examples. * Summarizing the essence of the present study, one may state that whereas the regional, ethnic, social, sexual and other differences in the customs underlying the making of tomb inscriptions offer most valuable information to the knowledge of the era under discussion, the age data of the same inscriptions fail to submit reliable contributions with respect to the mortality conditions of the population. The acquiring of any factual knowledge concerning mortality conditions in the Roman era is to be expected therefore only from the demographic elaboration of the skeletal remains excavated from the cemeteries. * Until a suitable number of demographically evaluated skeletal series is available, Ulpianus's Table may perhaps be used as a source in studies concerning mortality or life expectancy in the Roman period. This Roman jurist, having lived on the turn of the second and third centuries, constructed a table which, for the calculation of a special annuity, gives the further life expectancy values for divers age groups between 20—60 years 27 . U 1 p i a n u s's data are generally considered unreliable in literature, indeed, some authors doubt whether his figures refer at all to life expectancy values. But even if his figures mean just thar, they cannot, in the opinion of a number of investigators, be considered values obtained by experience but rather arbitrary ones, hence mere estimates lacking any factual foundation. Experts also emphasize that U 1 p i a nus's data, even if possessing some factuality, refer only to the wealthier social stratum. In spite of all this, and as an experiment, I have aligned in Table 6 Ulpianus's figures and the life expectancy values calculated from the skeletal remains of the two series introduced in Fig.l. 28 The rows of data show the following features: U 1 p i a n u s estimates a life expectancy (?) of 2 years more for the ages 20 and 25 years old than was calculated from the skeletal remains, 4 years more for the 30, 35 and 40 years old, and again 2 years more for those 45 years old. On the other hand, U 1 p i a n u s's figures, given for the age groups 50,55, and 60 years, agree with the values calculated from the skeletal remains! A difference of 2 years may actually be neglected, and thus the deviation found between the rows of data exists in essence only with respect to those aged 30,35, and 40 years. 2' ULPIANUS, Digesta 35, 2, 68.; J. C. RÜSSEL, о. с. p. 24. г» Cf. И, 12 and 13. notes. 62
