I heard in a podcast that Rome was assumed to have anywhere between 2 and 3 million people at its height with cities like Syracuse and Athens having similarly wild numbers compared to anything after the fall of Rome up until the 1700s, which to me seems like an incredibly long time.
Did I make a mistake? If not, why were European cities really that much smaller for a millenium? What were the reasons for this disparity?
Thanks in advance :)
You are not wrong there actually was a population decline in the high middle age. It lasted more or less until the year 1000 then population start rising again. There are many causes : wars, the plague, famine. Italy in the 6th century was devastated at the same time by the Gothic war (Goths against Byzantium) and the Plague. This had a devastating effect on the peninsula and it took centuries to get again to the level of the Roman empire. There was also a change of landscape in late antiquity with a gradual change from the urbanization of the empire by the first roman emperors to the rising importance of the landowners and the emigration of part of the population towards the countryside. Cities however smaller never actually lost their importance as many medieval cities were controlled by its bishop who extended his influenced in the near countryside. If you're interested in late antiquity historian Peter Brown has written various books about it :) it's a very fascinating period and I'm reading about it just now.