From the System to the Person: becoming a slave in a 'non-slaving zone'
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5007/2175-7976.2024.e103916Keywords:
Finley, Roman slavery, Natural reproductionAbstract
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.
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