HIST 384 - Ancient Slaveries

Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)

(Same as GRST 384) Slavery, in its many forms, was an oppressive and dehumanizing social institution that was widely practiced in the ancient Greek, Roman, and late Roman world. In this seminar, we examine various aspects of slavery as a historical and cultural phenomenon. We begin the semester by exploring what constitutes slavery in various human societies and critically reflecting on how we can responsibly approach the topic of slavery in history as citizen-scholars of a society with its own legacy of enslavement. From there, we closely examine ancient literary, documentary, archaeological, and art historical evidence in order to survey the legal and economic aspects of slavery in the ancient Mediterranean; the social lives of enslaved people during and after their enslavement; the connection between slavery and sexuality; the archaeological evidence for enslavement; and the relationship between slavery and religion in the Greek, Roman, and late Roman world. We conclude the course by considering what comparison with other slave systems (ancient and modern) can and cannot tell us about ancient slavery and how ancient forms of slavery impacted later slaving practices. Carl Rice.

Prerequisite(s): Previous work in Greek and Roman Studies, History, or Africana Studies or permission of the instructor.

Two 75-minute periods.

Course Format: CLS