Walter Scheidel

Walter Scheidel is a professor of Ancient History and an eminent scholar in the field of history-writing. He is best known for his books The Great Leveler: Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century, The Great Compression: The Economic and Political Origins of Our Time, and Escape From Rome: The Failure of Empire and the Road to Prosperity. He has also written numerous articles and papers in journals and books about the ancient world.

Born in Austria, Scheidel graduated in 1989 with a Doctor of Philosophy in Ancient History from the University of Vienna. He was then appointed a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University and later, in 2001, he became a full professor of Classics and History at Stanford. He is currently a Professor of Classics and History at Stanford.

Scheidel is a leading historian of the ancient world, especially the Roman Empire and its successors. His research focuses on the historical initiatives and development of social inequalities, with particular emphasis on their political and economic dimensions. He has written extensively on ancient decision making and population dynamics. He is especially known for his contributions to the history of inequality in the Western world, which has revived interest in the period of Ancient Roman history known as The Great Leveler.

In The Great Leveler, Scheidel examines the dynamics of inequality in the Western world from prehistory through the twentieth century. His research focuses on five episodes of drastic social change: the First Revolt, the First Era of Revolution, the Second Era of Revolution, the Third and Thirteenth Century Crisis, and the industrial revolution. He shows that in each episode the former privileged and powerful classes suffered greatly in the short-term due to war, famine, disease and the breakdown of social relations. In the long-term, this led to wealth and power being redistributed in society, thus resulting in more equal distribution of resources.

In The Great Compression, Scheidel examines the intertwined phenomenon of demographic and economic shifts in Western Europe during the long 18th century. His research demonstrates how social and economic stability during this period was attributable not just to the growth of population and agricultural productivity, but to an unprecedented degree of social cooperation and mobilization. This social cooperation made possible an increase in the quantity and quality of products, the growth of towns, of capital, and the emergence of modern forms of governance. The book also examines the ways in which these gains were eroded in the 19th century, eventually leading to increased conflict and disparity in the modern world.

Escape from Rome, Scheidel’s most recent book, focuses on the failure of the Roman Empire to achieve lasting economic and political stability. He argues that eventually, conditions for economic, military and fiscal collapse were set in train underneath the political edifice and that when given the opportunity, citizens chose to abandon the imperial system rather than remain under its increasingly oppressive yoke. He further shows how the creation of smaller, more flexible society structures helped to pre-empt conditions of warfare and famine which had gripped the Roman world in its later years.

Walter Scheidel is undoubtedly one of the most influential scholars in the field of ancient history today. His work has provided new insights into the emergence of inequality and the ways in which it has affected the development of Western civilization. He is widely regarded for his vivid description and for his original and thought-provoking thesis. His books and articles should be required reading by anyone wishing to gain a more thorough understanding of the history of social inequality in the West.