The Material Life of Roman Slaves

Description

The Material Life of Roman Slaves is a major contribution to scholarly debates on the archaeology of Roman slavery. Rather than regard slaves as irretrievable in the ruins of ancient Roman cities and villas, the book takes the archaeological record as a key form of evidence for reconstructing slaves’ lives and experiences. Interweaving literature, law, and material evidence, the book searches for ways to see slaves in these various contexts – to make them visible where texts tell us they were in fact present. Part of this project involves understanding how slaves are often actively, if unwittingly, left out of guidebooks and scholarly literature. Individual chapters explore the dichotomy between visibility and invisibility and between appearance and disappearance in four physical and social locations – urban houses, city streets and neighborhoods, workshops, and villas. List of Illustrations page vi Preface xiii 1 Introduction 1 2 Slaves in the House 24 3 Slaves in the City Streets 87 4 Slaves in the Workshop 118 5 Slaves in the Villa 162 6 Conclusion 214 Notes 223 Bibliography 255 Index 271