In Greco-Roman society the typical labourer was a peasant, not a slave. Yet, while specialized studies of ancient slavery abound, the subject of free labour, its incidence, status and economic significance, has received little attention. This volume of essays provides a summary of the available evidence for non-slave labour in antiquity and a bibliographical guide, but in addition advances novel interpretations concerning, for example, the composition of the 'labouring class', the relation between slave and peasant systems of production, and the importance of free dependent labour in the Western Roman provinces.

A ground-breaking edited collection charting the rise and fall of forms of unfree labour in the ancient Mediterranean and in the modern Atlantic, employing the methodology of comparative history. The eleven chapters in the book deal with conceptual issues and different approaches to historical comparison, and include specific case-studies ranging from the ancient forms of slavery of classical Greece and of the Roman empire to the modern examples of slavery that characterised the Caribbean, Latin America and the United States. The results demonstrate both how much the modern world has inherited from the ancient in regard to ideology and practice of slavery; and also how many of the issues and problems related to the latter seem to have been fundamentally similar across time and space.

A lively and comprehensive overview of Roman slavery, ideal for introductory-level students of the ancient Mediterranean world.

"Graceo-Roman Slave Markets: Fact or Fiction? critically examines the existence and identification of purpose-built slave markets in the Graeco-Roman world from a cross-cultural perspective. It investigates whether certain ancient monuments were designed specifically for use as slave markets, and whether they required special furnishings and safety features that clearly distinguished them from other commercial buildings and marketplaces of the Graeco-Roman world. Selected early modern and modern parallels are analyzed, followed by a brief discussion of ancient written sources on slave markets. The main focus of the book is a critical re-examination of all eight ancient buildings that have thus far been identified as slave markets. The conclusion includes a short comparison of modern and alleged ancient slave markets and finally answers the question of whether ancient slave markets are an archaeological fact or fiction." --Book Jacket.