Ideas of Slavery from Aristotle to Augustine

This study, unique of its kind, asks how slavery was viewed by the leading spokesmen of Greece and Rome. There was no movement for abolition in these societies, nor a vigorous debate, such as occurred in antebellum America, but this does not imply that slavery was accepted without question. Dr Garnsey draws on a wide range of sources, pagan, Jewish and Christian, over ten centuries, to challenge the common assumption of passive acquiescence in slavery, and the associated view that, Aristotle apart, there was no systematic thought on slavery. The work contains both a typology of attitudes to slavery ranging from critiques to justifications, and paired case-studies of leading theorists of slavery, Aristotle and the Stoics, Philo and Paul, Ambrose and Augustine. A final chapter considers the use of slavery as a metaphor in the Church Fathers.

• Slave-theory and not slave practice: this unique study provides a comprehensive survey and analytic account of attitudes to slavery • Wide-ranging source material in accessible form: this study is notable for the range and spread of the source material on which it draws • Originality of argument: fresh interpretations are offered of well-known attitudes, and new light thrown on the less familiar

Introduction: 1. Slavery and slave theory in antiquity; Part I. Attitudes to Slavery: 2. Slavery accepted; 3. Justifications of slavery; 4. Slave-systems criticized; 5. Fair words; 6. Slavery criticized; 7. Slavery eased; Part II. Theories of Slavery: 1. Classical, Hellenistic and Roman Philosophers: 8. Aristotle; 9. The Stoics; 2. Early theologicians: 10. Philo; 11. Paul; 3. Church Fathers: 12. Ambrose; 13. Augustine; 14. Slavery as metaphor; Conclusion.