Greek and Roman Slaveries

2 Studying Slavery The Variety of Evidence and Its Interpretative Challenges

This chapter focuses on the methodological and evidentiary problems that scholars face when they use the various forms of evidence for ancient slavery. One major problem is that of identifying slaves in our sources. In many cases, there is no explicit labeling, and it is necessary to debate the criteria we use to identify slaves or former slaves (2.1–4). In other cases, the evidence is ambiguous and can be interpreted in various ways (2.4–5, 2.9–10); occasionally, we also get explicit identification of individuals as if they were still slaves, although there are reasons to doubt such labels (2.7). Sources can also use concurrently different terms for slaves, thus creating significant problems of interpretation (2.6).

The study of the material and visual culture of slavery has become a burgeoning field in recent years. But identifying slaves in the material and visual record presents problems of its own. What criteria should we use to make such identifications? What role does the depiction of slaves play in ancient objects (2.10, 2.12)? Sometimes epigraphic evidence makes it easy to identify ancient objects as made by or for slaves; consequently, such objects are extremely helpful for understanding the identities, values, and life histories of ancient slaves or former slaves (2.11). In other cases, epigraphic evidence is ambiguous, and the visual evidence becomes crucial for making identifications (2.13). ...