Words and Numbers: A New Approach to Writing Ancient History

The various forms of disciplinary training that historians receive can lead to different epistemologies and thus complicate attempts to advance interdisciplinary history. For example, the epistemologies of ancient and economic historians affect both their mode of research and their style of presenting results. The testing of hypotheses through the use of simple, small-sample regressions has distinct advantages, but this approach, as well as other tools, creates not only opportunities for progress in ancient history but also obstacles for interdisciplinary history.