Talk:Roman Carthage

Population
Serious sources are careful in stating numerical estimates. Most serious sources I have seen agree that the city was the largest in Africa, and probably the fourth in the empire following Rome, Alexandria and Antioch (or the Syrian tetrapolis) during the 3rd century or so. At some point between the 4th and 5th century, it would have been surpassed by Constantinople too, becoming the 5th largest, but several cities in Asia minor were of comparable size (Pergamum, Ephesus, Smyrna), and we cannot reliably rate these cities by population. We can still state with confidence that it would have been in the top ten, with a population in the six figures.

Actual numerical estimates appear in print, but these are mostly less-than-serious estimates, intended to give only the rough ballpark (varying estimates will disagree by 50% or more). The "500,000" estimate appears in print here (in 2009), but this is not a serious source, and for all we know the figure might have been lifted off Wikipedia. --dab (𒁳) 08:57, 24 July 2016 (UTC)