Eftychia Bathrellou - Greek and Roman Slaveries

How does the author describe the condition of slaves at Athens?

How does he explain the peculiar condition of Athenian slaves?

Do you find his explanation credible? What is the author’s agenda?

Why would a Spartan helot fear a free man who is not his master more than an Athenian slave would?

Can we say that Spartan helots behaved more slavishly than Athenian slaves?

Can we say that some Athenian slaves worked and lived as independently as most Spartan helots?

In the light of this and the above passages, does it make sense to posit a single categorical distinction between helots and chattel slaves?

Civil law was the law applying to Roman citizens; the law of nations refers to rules common to all human communities; natural law was law according to nature. On the Digest, see 1.2.

Literature: Buckland 1908: 397–418; Wieling 1999: 1–30; Bodel 2017.

1.11.a Digest , 50.17.32: Collection of Latin Juristic Texts (Sixth Century CE)

Ulpian, On Sabinus , Book 43: As far as the civil law is concerned, slaves are regarded as nobodies. However, this is not the case with natural law because as far as natural law is concerned, all human beings are equal.

1.11.b Digest , 50.17.209: Collection of Latin Juristic Texts (Sixth Century CE)

Ulpian, On the Lex Iulia et Papia , Book 4: We compare slavery closely with death.

1.11.c Paul’s Views (Pauli Sententiae), 4.10.2: Latin Juristic Text (Third Century CE)

For the senatus consultum Claudianum (SCC), see 11.22. According to this law, a free woman who entered a union with a slave could lose her free status and become a slave.

Under the senatus consultum Claudianum , a daughter who is a slave or a freedwoman cannot inherit her mother’s estate if the latter dies intestate. For neither slaves nor freedpersons are acknowledged as having a mother who is a Roman citizen.

What does Ulpian compare slavery with? Why?

What are the rights of slaves according to civil law?

Does Roman law recognize slave kinship?

How do these passages use the distinction between natural law, civil law, and the law of nations with regard to slavery?

Literature: Wolff 1966; Straus 2004a: 14–15.

[…] when […] were about to become consuls [for the third time], on the eighth day before the Ides of December, on the 9th day of the month Choiak.

When Firmus came forward and presented Patricius, the advocate, Clematius said: “Firmus, who came forward, has a slave called Patricius. Firmus has brought him here so that he be questioned on his status.”

The officials 18said to Patricius, “Are you slave or free?” He responded: “Slave.”

The officials said to him, “Whose slave?”

He replied, “Firmus’s.”

The officials said to him, “From which place did he acquire you?”

He replied, “From Reskoupos.”

The officials said to him, “From whom?”

He responded, “From Nikostratos.”

The officials said to him, “Is your mother a slave?”

He replied, “Yes.”

The officials said to him, “What is her name?”

He replied, “Hesychion.”

The officials said to him, “Do you have siblings?”

He replied, “Yes, one. His name is Eutychios.”

The officials said to him, “Is he a slave, too?”

He replied, “Yes.”

What kind of questions do the officials ask to establish the identity of the slave?

What questions do they ask concerning his family? What does this imply?

What question concerning his family do they not ask? What does this imply about natal alienation?

Ammianus here delineates the persecution in Rome of members of the senatorial rank through trials under the emperor Valentinian I. Fausiana was a widow of senatorial rank, accused of adultery with two men of the same rank, Abienus and Eumenius. Anepsia was also a widow of senatorial rank. Simplicius of Emona was at the time ( ca . 374–5 CE) in charge of the persecution.

Literature: Harper 2011: 69–78, esp. 72.

But after Fausiana was convicted, they (i.e. Abienus and Eumenius) were enlisted among the accused and summoned with edicts to appear in court. They took themselves off into deeper concealment. Of the two, Abienus was hiding for a long time in the house of Anepsia. However, as unexpected events often aggravate pitiable misfortunes, a man called Sapaudulus, a slave of Anepsia, stricken by pain because his spouse ( coniunx ) had received a beating, denounced the matter to Simplicius, after reaching him in the night. Public attendants were sent and, when they were pointed out to them, the attendants dragged them away from their hiding place.

Why did Sapaudulus reveal the secret of his mistress?

What political conditions allowed Sapaudulus to take his revenge? What are the implications of this for the exercise of slave agency?

What were the consequences of slave family for this particular mistress?

What can we learn from this story about the significance of kinship for slaves?

Literature: Golden 1985; Klees 2005.

I also state that children should be guided toward honorable practices through admonitions and reasoning – not, by God, through beatings and blows. For these measures seem rather more fitting to slaves rather than to the free. Children end up dull and shudder at hard work, partly from the pain of the blows, partly from the outrage they suffer. It is, instead, praise and rebuke that are most beneficial for the free – praise because it urges toward what is good, rebuke because it keeps one away from what is disgraceful.

By what means should free children be trained? How should slaves be trained?

How can we explain the different treatment of free and slave?

In the ancient world, the privilege of sitting in the first row at the theater was a major indication of honor, reserved for magistrates, priests, and benefactors of the community and bestowed on prominent foreigners. The theater of Dionysus in Athens had inscriptions on the marble seats, reserving them for particular categories of people. Ancient cities possessed public slaves who performed many important tasks as civil servants.

Literature: Kamen 2013: 19–31; Ismard 2017: 57–79.

(Seat) of the (slave) assistants of the Council.

To what people does this inscription refer?

Why do you think the Athenians conferred this honor on these slaves?

Can we learn something about slavery from this inscription?

This funerary text uses the language of honorific inscriptions, a common feature of epitaphs from Roman Lydia. All the names recorded are Greek. Because the style is largely elliptical, we have added the assumed words in round brackets, to assist comprehension.

Literature: Martin 2003; Zoumbaki 2005.

In the year 154, on the eighth day of the last third of the month Artemisios.

Elikonis honored Amerimnos, her husband […]; Amerimnos (honored) his father; Terpousa (honored) her own son; his grandmother Nikopolis (honored him); Alexandros and Demetria and Terpousa (honored) their brother; Aigialos, his foster father, (honored him); Gamos (honored) his in-law. All his kinsmen and fellow slaves honored Amerimnos.