Lucretia as Ideal Woman and Ideal Slaver in First Century BCE Rome
By Katherine Huemoeller, University of British Columbia
In Roman mythology, Lucretia represents the archetypal Roman matron, embodying the linked values of castitas (chastity) and pudicitia (sexual virtue) (Langlands). This paper identifies an additional, and closely associated, dimension to Lucretia’s exemplarity: her behavior as a slaver.
Theodora’s Little Child: Enslaved Motherhood in Classical and Hellenistic Greece
By Sarah Breitenfeld, Davidson College
Greco-Roman motherhood has received recent scholarly attention (Petersen and Salzman-Mitchell 2012; Sharrock and Keith 2020), but studies of non-citizen mothers in Classical and Hellenistic Greece are more limited (though, see Hong 2016). One notable exception is Strong 2012, which provides an examination of mother-daughter bonds among prostitutes. Nevertheless, Strong exclusively mothers who were free(d) at the time of their respective stories (though some ‘daughters’ were enslaved, e.g., [Dem.] 59.19).
The mass enslavement of populations in the Classical Greek world: between suffering and solidarity
By James Hua, University of Oxford
The systematic expulsion of an entire population from its polis in the Classical Greek world was a remarkably frequent, yet understudied, reality. One common form of these uprootings was the mass enslavement of the population. From my compilation of all cases in the Classical Greek world, this amounts to over thirty instances of civic andrapodismos, committed by hegemonies, tyrants, and empires from Persia to Philip II.
Enslaved Labor in the Ancient Schoolroom
By Nikola Golubovic, Reed College
Most discussions of enslaved labor in ancient education do not go far beyond noting that some teachers were formerly or even currently enslaved (Wrenhaven). The figures of the paedagogus and the wet-nurse are recurrent points of interest: the enslaved female who looked after infants and toddlers and the enslaved male who accompanied boys to school and sometimes provided basic instruction are taken as emblematic of the contributions of enslaved people to Greek and Roman education (Young, Aly).
Forced Entry: Slavery and Declamation in Amores 2.2-3
By Katherine Dennis, University of Wisconsin
As scholars like James and Bonandini have shown, Ovid’s elegies reformulate elegiac tropes in a way that exposes the social realities those tropes tend to conceal. Amores 1.6, for example, reimagines a paraclausithyron, a lament before the closed door of the beloved. Whereas Tibullus 1.2 is dedicated to the door itself, Ovid’s speaker confronts the enslaved ianitor who monitors the entrance to his beloved’s house.
Enslaved Virgins: Slavery, Sexuality, and Asceticism in Late Antiquity
By Brittany Joyce, University of Michigan
This paper considers how enslaved women in Late Antiquity were expected to conform to the Christian ascetic practices of their households through consecrated virginity. Enslaved people did not have control over their sexual practices and were often exposed to abuse. This paper argues that ascetic practices and dedication to virginity were another way to control enslaved women’s sexual choices.