Greek and Roman Slaveries

Slavery was foundational to Greek and Roman societies, affecting nearly all of their economic, social, political, and cultural practices. Greek and Roman Slaveries offers a rich collection of literary, epigraphic, papyrological, and archaeological sources, including many unfamiliar ones. This sourcebook ranges chronologically from the archaic period to late antiquity, covering the whole of the Mediterranean, the Near East, and temperate Europe.

Readers will find an interactive and user-friendly engagement with past scholarship and new research agendas that focuses particularly on the agency of ancient slaves, the processes in which slavery was inscribed, the changing history of slavery in antiquity, and the comparative study of ancient slaveries.

Perfect for undergraduate and graduate students taking courses on ancient slavery, as well as courses on slavery more generally, this sourcebook’s questions, cross-references, and bibliographies encourage an analytical and interactive approach to the various economic, social, and political processes and contexts in which slavery was employed while acknowledging the agency of enslaved persons.

Eftychia Bathrellou is Researcher at the Centre for Classical Studies at the University of Lisbon (CEC-FLUL). She is the author of articles on Greek comedy, particularly the Athenian poet Menander, and on representations of slaves and slavery in Greek drama.

Kostas Vlassopoulos is Associate Professor of Ancient History at the University of Crete. His research is focused on the study of ancient slavery, ancient globalization, intercultural relations, political thought, historiography, and comparative history.

List of Figures and Maps ix

Note to the Reader xi

Acknowledgements xiii

Abbreviations xv

Introduction 1

1 What Is Slavery? 4

2 Studying Slavery: The Variety of Evidence and Its Interpretative Challenges 30

3 Living with Slavery and Its Consequences 56

4 Slaving Strategies 85

5 Masters and Slaves 116

6 Free and Slave 139

7 Enslaved Persons and Their Communities 162

8 Slavery and the Wider World 194

9 Experiencing and Resisting Enslavement 222

10 After Slavery: Manumission, Freedmen, and Freedwomen 250

11 Slavery and Historical Change 277

12 Comparing Ancient Slaveries 305

Bibliography 337

Index of Passages Cited 358

Index of Places and Peoples 364

Index of Names 368

Thematic Index 376

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