Walter Scheidel

Professor in the Humanities, Classics and History, Stanford University

Walter Scheidel is Dickason Professor in the Humanities, Professor of Classics and History, and a Catherine R Kennedy and Daniel L Grossman Fellow in Human Biology at Stanford University in California. His latest book is The Great Leveler: Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century (2017).

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Written by Walter Scheidel

A painting depicting the chaotic destruction of an ancient city with fires, collapsing buildings and people fleeing or fighting.

essayNations and empires

The road from Rome

The fall of the Roman Empire wasn’t a tragedy for civilisation. It was a lucky break for humanity as a whole

Walter Scheidel

Black-and-white photo of a soldier kissing a woman, with a man and two children standing nearby, in front of a train.

essayPolitics and government

The bloodstained leveller

Throughout history, plagues and wars have left greater equality in their wake. Can we get there again without violence?

Walter Scheidel