November - 2024

Freed Persons in the Roman World: Status, Diversity, and Representation (Cambridge University Press, 2024, 308 pages, $110), edited by Sinclair W. Bell, Dorian Borbonus, and Rose Maclean, is a study of the integration and representation of freedmen in the Roman world. Drawing from literary, epigraphic, and archaeological sources, the authors seek to understand the experiences of freedmen in different periods and regions of the Roman Empire. Although freedmen shared some experiences with enslaved people, diverse social relationships and interactions could result from servitude and the process of obtaining manumission. Thus, the authors seek to emphasize how freedmen themselves chose to represent themselves, as well as to nuance the impacts of power asymmetries, the strategies used by these freedmen to navigate different social situations, and the different legal conditions imposed on them.

Greek Slavery (Walter de Gruyter, 2023, 147 pages, $29.99), by Deborah Kamen, is a study of Greek slavery. However, the author adopts a different approach from previous studies, considering Greek slavery as epichoric, that is, understanding it as a phenomenon that was different in each location, that developed in particular ways and that integrated in multiple forms. Using different epigraphic sources, the author seeks to understand the importance of slavery for the economy of Greek society, but emphasizing aspects of the social treatment of slaves, their agency, forms of resistance, and, mainly, the experience of enslaved women, whose experience differs exponentially from that of enslaved men. Finally, the author analyzes the representations of Greek slavery and its legacy in culture, both ancient and contemporary, pointing out transformations in interpretations and new areas of interest.