Confronting Slavery in the Classical World

Slavery was widespread across the ancient Mediterranean, and although the form and extent varied from period to period and place to place, the practice remained fundamental to many, if not all, aspects of ancient life. Slavery was especially prominent – though not exclusively so – in Classical Athens (5th-4th centuries BCE) and imperial Rome (from the 1st century BCE). Estimates suggest that in Athens between 450 and 320 BCE, 80 to 100,000 people may have been enslaved, amounting to one in four inhabitants; and that by the late first century BCE in Italy alone, 1 to 1.5 million people were enslaved, representing 15 to 25 percent of the population. Both societies practiced chattel slavery, a form of absolute servitude in which enslaved persons were owned as property and could be subjected to physical violence, sexual exploitation, torture, and death with impunity. Neither Athens nor Rome enslaved people based on ethnicity or skin color but they did discriminate by enslaving non-citizen foreigners, a majority of whom were captured during war or sold by slave-traders. Children born to enslaved parents were also enslaved.

Several objects on display in the Greek and Roman galleries depict enslaved people. Others commemorate the lives of freedmen, and many were likely made by enslaved or formerly enslaved craftsmen. These works demonstrate how deeply embedded slavery was in the Greek and Roman worlds and reveal the vital - though often invisible - contributions made by enslaved people to these ancient societies. Labels exploring these connections were written with Emory students as part of a recent undergraduate course on classical slavery. These can be read by scanning the associated QR codes in the galleries. Printed versions are available at Reception. View the exhibition's website for additional details.

This digital exhibition was held in conjunction with Emory's Symposium: In the Wake of Slavery and Dispossession.