Del i serien Edinburgh Studies in Ancient Slavery

Diverse Slaveries

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Slaving Strategies and Experiences of Slavery in Classical Athens

Häftad, Engelska, 2026

AvJason Douglas Porter

309 kr

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Classical Athenian slavery is often discussed as a single phenomenon and Athens’ enslaved as a unitary group. Yet the single legal status that the enslaved shared often obscures the very different characteristics of slavery evident in our evidence. This book provides a nuanced picture of Athenian slavery and its consequences from the perspective of slaveholding strategies, evidencing the varying ways in which Athenian slave owners employed their enslaved and the different methods of social control they utilised to do so. This approach, drawn from the work of historian Joseph Miller, eschews static definitions of ‘the institution of slavery’, in favour of a more dynamic progression of varied, though interrelated, phenomena.Applying this methodology to classical Athenian evidence sheds light on the complexity of the city state's slave system and explicates the wide variations in the lives of Athenian slaves. Jason Douglas Porter furthers academic understanding of the complex relationships between slavery, Athenian society and economy through recognising the diverse motivations and contexts that drove these varied forms of exploitation.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2026-09-30
Mått156 x 234 x undefined mm
FormatHäftad
SpråkEngelska
SerieEdinburgh Studies in Ancient Slavery
Antal sidor248
FörlagEdinburgh University Press
ISBN9781399526753

Tillhör följande kategorier

Forntidens historia inom Historia och arkeologi
Slaveri inom Historia och arkeologi

Jason Douglas Porter is the holder of a Leverhulme Early-Career fellowship at the University of Edinburgh. He previously held a postdoctoral position at the University College Dublin, after completing his doctoral thesis at the University of Nottingham. His PhD and following research has focused on historic slavery, predominantly in classical Athens, and he has published several articles, books chapters, and book reviews in this area.

Series Editors’ PrefaceList of TablesAcknowledgementsList of AbbreviationsIntroductionPart I. Divergent Slaving Strategies1. The Motivations behind Different Slaving Strategies2. The Development of Diverse Slaving Strategies in Relation to the Work of Enslaved Persons3. The Diversity of Slaving Strategies within IndustriesPart II. The Slaving Strategies of Athenian Households: Two Case Studies4. Xenophon’s Ideal Household: Direct Management and Increasing Wealth Through Slavery in the Oikonomikos5. The Real Household of Demosthenes: Rentier Strategies and the Building of a Political CareerPart III. Diverse Experiences of Slavery6. Slaving Strategies and the Lives of Athens’ EnslavedConclusionAppendix: Athenian Wealth Distribution and the Feasibility of Widespread Slave OwnershipBibliographyIndex

An enviable achievement, Porter’s book recognises slavery as a legal institution and, at the same time, eschews a monolithic picture of what slavery entailed from the point of view of both exploiter and exploited. This book should be consulted by anyone who desires to know what slavery at Athens was in the period of history we can best document, how it functioned, and how it shaped the economy. Methodologically rigorous and evidence-based, it shows, like Lewis’s, that slavery was not monolithic and that its forms varied considerably. Porter is never doctrinaire and is ready to nuance his discussion as and when the state of the evidence does not permit definitive conclusions, or where the picture that emerges is not always clear-cut. His book is a welcome addition to the Edinburgh Studies in Ancient Slavery series.