Undergraduate Course: Roman Slavery (ANHI10011)
Course Outline
| School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | The course aims to be a general introduction to the topic of forced and slave labour in the ancient world. It covers major topical issues within slavery studies, such as enslavement processes, the role/s of slaves in society, law and slavery, male and female slave labour, slave resistance and rebellion, numbers of slaves, etc. Although the course specifically focuses on the Roman world, it will also cover other selected parts of the ancient world, e.g. Greece and the Ancient Near East. |
| Course description |
The course offers focussed study of slavery in the Roman world, covering a range of important topics that cover both thematic and conceptual issues, as well as questions concerning the source material.
A typical class schedule may look like this:
Class 1: Introduction: The Historiography of Ancient Slavery Studies
Class 2: The Evidence for Slavery
Class 3: The Sources of Slaves
Class 4: The Slave Mode of Production
Class 5: An Ideology of Slavery
Class 6: Slaves at work: student presentations
Class 7: Slave Resistance ...
Class 8: ... and Rebellion!
Class 9: Comparing Slaves in Greece and Rome ... and elsewhere!
Class 10: Manumission and Slavery
Class 11: Studying Slavery
In the course of the semester, the students should acquire familiarity with a) various types of slave labour exploited (e.g. agricultural, industrial and commercial), as well as the differences between public and private slavery; b) the various bodies of evidence available for the study of ancient slavery (i.e. archaeology, epigraphy, literary evidence and papyrology); and c) the various approaches taken by scholars towards the study of (ancient) slavery (e.g. comparatist, feminist, Marxist, quantitative).
Because of the significance of slave and forced labour in ancient societies, the topic offers itself as a valuable introduction to the study of the ancient world as a whole, as well as to issues of labour, labour rights and movements - or their absence. Likewise, the course is an ideal introduction to the study of slavery as a historical phenomenon, and the course is therefore explicitly comparatist.
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Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students should usually have at least 3 courses in Classics related subject matter (at least 2 of which should be in Ancient History) at grade B or above (or be predicted to obtain this) for entry to this course. We will only consider University/College level courses. |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- demonstrate in written examination, coursework and class discussion an understanding of the complexity of the topic and its interrelatedness with other important topics
- demonstrate in written examination, coursework and class discussion a knowledge of some important aspects of ancient slavery as a system of exploitation
- demonstrate in written examination, coursework and class discussion an ability to use critically a variety of different categories of material, epigraphic and literary evidence
- demonstrate in written examination, coursework and class discussion an understanding of some of the major historiographical issues relating to the study of slavery
- demonstrate in written examination, coursework and class discussion an awareness of some of the differences and similarities between ancient and modern slavery
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Reading List
K.R. Bradley, Slavery and Rebellion in the Roman World, 140BC-70BC (1998)
K.R. Bradley, Slavery and Society at Rome (1994)
K.R. Bradley, Slaves and Masters in the Roman Empire (1987)
N. Fisher, Slavery in Classical Greece (1993)
W. Fitzgerald, Slavery and the Roman literary imagination (2000)
K. Hopkins, Conquerors and Slaves (1978)
H. Mouritsen, The Freedman in the Roman World (2011)
D.W. Rathbone, ¿The development of agriculture in the ager Cosanus in the Republican period: problems of evidence and interpretation¿, JRS 71 (1981), 10-23
D.W. Rathbone, ¿The slave mode of production in Italy¿, JRS 73 (1983), 160-168
U. Roth (ed.), By the Sweat of your Brow. Roman Slavery in its Socio-Economic Setting (2010)
U. Roth, Thinking Tools. Agricultural Slavery between Evidence and Models (2007)
T.E.J. Wiedemann, Slavery (1997)
T.E.J. Wiedemann, Greek and Roman Slavery (1988)
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Special Arrangements |
In order for a student from outwith Classics to be enrolled, contact must be made with a Course Secretary on 50 3582/0 in order for approval to be obtained. |
| Keywords | Roman Slavery |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Juan Lewis
Tel:
Email: |
Course secretary | Mr Chris Giles
Tel: (0131 6)51 4423
Email: chris.giles@ed.ac.uk |
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