Why do you find it difficult to believe that humans two thousand years ago could clount? Eratosthenes calculated the axial tilt of the damn planet three hundred years prior.
They could count, but they also tended to enormously overestimate how many people died. See for example this Wikipedia article. There’s also this article which looks like it would be interesting but I can’t get the full text of it:
“I do not think anyone in his senses would accept that!” Remarks on Numbers of Fallen Soldiers in Roman Historiography and commentarii
I wonder if the numbers were exaggerated. I find it hard to believe they counted the bodies accurately.
Why do you find it difficult to believe that humans two thousand years ago could clount? Eratosthenes calculated the axial tilt of the damn planet three hundred years prior.
They could count, but they also tended to enormously overestimate how many people died. See for example this Wikipedia article. There’s also this article which looks like it would be interesting but I can’t get the full text of it: