Scheidel's research focuses on ancient social and economic history, with particular emphasis on historical demography, slavery, and state formation.
More generally, he is interested in comparative and interdisciplinary approaches to the study of the ancient world, and is trying to build bridges between the humanities and the life sciences.
His most recent books include The Cambridge Economic History of the Greco-Roman World (2007, co-edited with Ian Morris and Richard Saller), and The Dynamics of Ancient Empires (in press, co-edited with Ian Morris). He is currently preparing a monograph on ancient empires for Oxford University Press and on a general survey of ancient demography for Cambridge University Press, and is editing Rome and China: Comparative Perspectives on Ancient World Empires, The Oxford Handbook of Roman Studies (with Alessandro Barchiesi), and The Oxford Handbook of the Ancient State (with Peter Bang). He is also working on a brief introduction to ancient history (with Ian Morris) for Polity Press, and has launched an international research initiative for the comparative study of ancient Mediterranean and Chinese empires.
