From the System to the Person: becoming a slave in a 'non-slaving zone'

This short article offers a commentary on Joly & Knust’s paper Ancient Slavery in Mediterranean Perspective: A Proposal of a Global Approach’. I applaud the authors’ plea for a diachronic, holistic approach to slavery in the ancient Mediterranean, but suggest that we would be unwise to dispe...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Webster, Jane
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2025
País:Brasil
Institución:Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC)
Repositorio:Esboços (Online)
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:periodicos.ufsc.br:article/103916
Acceso en línea:https://periodicos.ufsc.br/index.php/esbocos/article/view/103916
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Finley
Roman slavery
Natural reproduction
Escravidão romana
Reprodução natural
Descripción
Sumario:This short article offers a commentary on Joly & Knust’s paper Ancient Slavery in Mediterranean Perspective: A Proposal of a Global Approach’. I applaud the authors’ plea for a diachronic, holistic approach to slavery in the ancient Mediterranean, but suggest that we would be unwise to dispense entirely with Moses Finley’s notion of genuine ‘slave societies’. I argue the case for a greater focus, in all work on Roman slavery, on ‘natural reproduction’; that is, on the extent to which the slave ‘supply’ was replenished using children born to enslaved woman. I employ a monument from Roman Britain-the tombstone of Regina-to explore the nature of the ‘internal’ slave supply, and the lived experience of it.