They had a higher than modern infant mortality. Life expectancy prabably wasn't that far off the modern valley, perhaps it was ten or so years lower. The most common kind of doctor in the Roman Empire was the eye doctor, probably due to staying indoors (hmm...) and the use of various burning things for lighting (lots of crud in the air). Food supply was great, Roman famine wasn't common at all.
Famine. I’ll defer to you. :)
I guess when who and where. I read a story about a man who was supposed to be a gladiator in some fashion. I remember that he was short in stature, 5 ft tall, and had several broken bones that had healed. He was a strong individual based on his frame — larger bones and short, I guess. A nasty person if you ever met him in an alley.
They were able to look at his teeth and conclude that he had several periods in his life where food was in limited supply. Especially while he was a child. They implied and even mentioned that this was common.
As long as the grain ships from Egypt arrived.
One of Vespasian's first moves on his way to becoming Emperor was to secure the grain supply in Egypt.
There were a couple of hiccups with the grain delivery in his reign I seem to recall but I am too lazy to go look them up right now.
Sorry for the double post:
How much our lives have improved in 100 years. I guess the previous thousand or millions depending on your belief system, was “h e double toothpicks!”
Probably made our ancestors hearty and stronger. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Not a fun time to live in and all the more reason why we should appreciate how far that we have come!