Historicising Ancient Slavery

Kostas Vlassopoulos offers a new historicist approach to the study of slave identity and networks, exploring diverse strategies and contexts in which slavery was employed, challenging the traditional view of slaves as passive objects of exploitation.

Format: Hardback
Length: 272 pages
Publication date: 30 April 2021
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

Kostas Vlassopoulos takes a fresh approach to the study of slavery by challenging traditional perspectives that view it as a static institution. Instead, he explores the diverse strategies and contexts in which slavery was employed, offering a new historicist perspective on slave identity and the networks and communities slaves created or participated in. Vlassopoulos moves beyond the traditional view of slaves as passive objects of exploitation and domination, focusing instead on their agency and the ways in which they played an active role in the history of ancient societies. He examines slavery not only as an economic and social phenomenon but also in its political, religious, and cultural ramifications. By comparing Greek and Roman slaveries with other slaving systems in the Near East, the Mediterranean, and the Black Sea, Vlassopoulos establishes a comparative framework that sheds light on the diverse practices and dynamics of slavery across different regions and time periods.

Weight: 562g
Dimension: 162 x 241 x 22 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781474487214