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Slavery in the Late Antique World, 150 – 700 CE

Slavery in the Late Antique World, 150 – 700 CE

Slavery in the Late Antique World, 150 – 700 CE

Chris L. de Wet, University of South Africa
Maijastina Kahlos, University of Helsinki
Ville Vuolanto, University of Tampere, Finland
January 2024
Available
Paperback
9781108699983

    Slavery in the Late Antique World, 150 – 700 CE investigates the ideological, moral, cultural, and symbolic aspects of slavery, as well the living conditions of slaves in the Mediterranean basin and Europe during a period of profound transformation. It focuses on socially marginal areas and individuals on an unprecedented scale. Written by an international team of scholars, the volume establishes that late ancient slavery is a complex and polymorphous phenomenon, one that was conditioned by culture and geography. Rejecting preconceived ideas about slavery as static and without regional variation, it offers focused case studies spanning the late ancient period. They provide in-depth analyses of authors and works, and consider a range of factors relevant to the practice of slavery in specific geographical locations. Using comparative and methodologically innovative approaches, this book revisits and questions established assumptions about late ancient slavery. It also enables fresh insights into one of humanity's most tragic institutions.

    • Provides complex and nuanced understanding of slavery in Late Antiquity
    • Analyses the different discourses of slavery (i.e. the use of metaphors, rhetoric, etc.)
    • Offers case studies of slavery in specific geographical, ethnic and religious contexts

    Product details

    January 2024
    Paperback
    9781108699983
    379 pages
    229 × 152 × 22 mm
    0.615kg
    Available

    Table of Contents

    • I. Moral and Symbolic Values of Slavery:
    • 1. Masters and slaves in early Christian discourse Peter J. J. Botha
    • 2. Slavery and religion in Late Antiquity: their relation to ascetism and justice in Christianity and Judaism Ilaria Ramelli
    • 3. (II) Legal freedom: Chris as liberator from satanic debt bondage in Greek literature of Late Antiquity Arkadiy Avdokhin
    • 4. Late Roman ideas of ethnicity and enslavement Maijastina Kahlos
    • II. Slavery, Cultural Discourses, and Identity:
    • 5. Slavery in Euphemia and the Goth Chris L. De Wet
    • 6. What was Jewish slavery in Late Antiquity? Catherine Hezser
    • 7. Divining slavery in Late Ancient Egypt: doulology in the monastic works of Paul of Tamma and Shenoute Christine Luckritz Marquis
    • 8. Rural slavery in Late Roman Gaul: literary genres, theoretical frames and narratives Uiran Gebara da Silva
    • III. Slavery, Social History, and the Papyrological and Epigraphical Sources:
    • 9. Slaves in the sixth century Palestine in the light of papyrological evidence Marja Vierros
    • 10. Child slaves in Roman Egypt: experiences from the papyri April Pudsey and Ville Vuolanto
    • 11. Late antique slavery in epigraphic evidence Mariana Bodnaruk
    • IV. Social and Religious Histories of Slavery on the Borders of the Empire and Beyond:
    • 12. Slavery among the Visigoths Noel Lenski
    • 13. Sinner, slave, bishop, saint: the social and religious vicissitudes of St. Patrick Judith Evans Grubbs
    • 14. Slave boys in paradise? The Evidence of the Quary and its later exegetes Ilkka Lindstedt.
      Contributors
    • Peter J. J. Botha, Ilaria Ramelli, Arkadiy Avdokhin, Maijastina Kahlos, Chris L. De Wet, Catherine Hezser, Christine Luckritz Marquis, Uiran Gebara da Silva, Marja Vierros, April Pudsey, Ville Vuolanto, Mariana Bodnaruk, Noel Lenski, Judith Evans Grubbs, Ilkka Lindstedt

    • Editors
    • Chris L. de Wet , University of South Africa

      Chris L. de Wet is Professor of New Testament and Early Christian Studies at the University of South Africa and Honorary Research Fellow at the Australian Lutheran College. He is the author of Preaching Bondage: John Chrysostom and the Discourse of Slavery in Early Christianity (2015) and The Unbound God: Slavery and the Formation of Early Christian Thought (2018).

    • Maijastina Kahlos , University of Helsinki

      Maijastina Kahlos is Research Fellow at the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies at the University of Helsinki. She is the author of Debate and Dialogue: Christian and Pagan Cultures, c. 360-430 (2007), Forbearance and Compulsion: The Rhetoric of Tolerance and Intolerance in Late Antiquity (2009), and Religious Dissent in Late Antiquity (2020).

    • Ville Vuolanto , University of Tampere, Finland

      Ville Vuolanto is Senior Lecturer in the Department of History at Tampere University. He has published extensively on children and family in the Roman and Late Antique periods. His publications include Children and Asceticism in Late Antiquity (2015) and Children and Everyday Life in the Roman and Late Antique World (ed. 2017, with C. Laes).