Capitalizing on the rich historical record of late antiquity, and employing sophisticated methodologies from social and economic history, this book reinterprets the end of Roman slavery. Kyle Harper challenges traditional interpretations of a transition from antiquity to the Middle Ages, arguing instead that a deep divide runs through 'late antiquity', separating the Roman slave system from its early medieval successors. In the process, he covers the economic, social and institutional dimensions of ancient slavery and presents the most comprehensive analytical treatment of a pre-modern slave system now available. By scouring the late antique record, he has uncovered a wealth of new material, providing fresh insights into the ancient slave system, including slavery's role in agriculture and textile production, its relation to sexual exploitation, and the dynamics of social honor. By demonstrating the vitality of slavery into the later Roman empire, the author shows that Christianity triumphed amidst a genuine slave society.
This ground-breaking book is the first to show how the institution of slavery, one of the most characteristic and enduring features of Roman imperial society, was maintained over time and how, at the practical level, the lives of slaves in the Roman world were directly controlled by their masters. The author demonstrates, first, how the tensions generated between slaves and masters can be perceived in the ancient sources, and, second, how those tensions were dealt with, as masters treated their slaves with varying forms of generosity and punishment in order to elicit obedience from them. Special attention is given to the slaves' family lives, to their acquisition of freedom through manumission, and to the climate of violence that surrounded them. Emphasizing the harsh realities of Roman slavery in a new way, this important book will stir intense debate among scholars and students.
This book studies a crucial phase in the history of Roman slavery, beginning with the transition to chattel slavery in the third century bce and ending with antiquity’s first large-scale slave rebellion in the 130s bce. Slavery is a relationship of power, and to study slavery – and not simply masters or slaves – we need to see the interactions of individuals who speak to each other, a rare kind of evidence from the ancient world. Plautus’ comedies could be our most reliable source for reconstructing the lives of slaves in ancient Rome. By reading literature alongside the historical record, we can conjure a thickly contextualized picture of slavery in the late third and early second centuries bce, the earliest period for which we have such evidence. The book discusses how slaves were captured and sold; their treatment by the master and the community; the growth of the conception of the slave as “other than human,” and as chattel; and the problem of freedom for both slaves and society.
This book is about the life of the slave in classical Roman society and the importance of the institution of slavery in Roman civilization generally. Its main purpose is to communicate, particularly to an undergraduate audience, the harshness of the institution, and to convey what the experience of being a slave at Rome was like from a slave's point of view. The book's importance lies in the fact that it deals with a subject of great interest and is the only comprehensive treatment of Roman slavery currently available.
Thanks to its exceptional size and duration, the Roman Empire offers one of the best opportunities to study economic development in the context of an agrarian world empire. This volume, which is organised thematically, provides a sophisticated introduction to and assessment of all aspects of its economic life.
Enormous numbers of slaves were absorbed into Roman society from the third century B.C. onwards. Mainly enslaved prisoners of war, they transformed the quality of life in the Roman Empire beyond recognition. In this anthology the author offers a complete collection of Greek and Latin sources in an English translation which deal with the great slave rebellions in the second and first centuries B.C. In a postscript Zvi Yavetz surveys the controversy on slaves and slavery from the French Revolution to our own days, with an emphasis on the debate between Marxists and non-Marxists. The book is intended for specialists and generalists alike, including those who have had no previous classical education, but could after delving in sources concern themselves with one of the most intriguing problems in world history. Zvi Yavetz holds the Lessing Chair of Roman History at Tel Aviv University, Israel, and is distinguished visiting professor at Queens College of the City University of New York. He is the author of many books in Hebrew, French and German on Roman history among which are Julius Caesar and His Public Image and Plebs and Princips.
Bradley's study carefully analyses and describes the 3 major slave rebellions and uprisings that occurred during the period 140 B.C. to 70 B.C. His analysis examines the conditions that led the slaves to resist and how they maintained the rebellion.