Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-24hb2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-27T16:06:50.573Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Greek slavery: from domination to property and back again

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 November 2011

Kostas Vlassopoulos
Affiliation:
University of Nottingham
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Modern historians of Greek slavery seem to agree, despite other differences, on an understanding of slavery as a relationship of property. This understanding of slavery essentially goes back to Aristotle's theory of natural slavery. An examination of the Greek vocabulary of slavery though shows that the vast majority of Greeks had a very different understanding of slavery as a relationship of domination. This article argues that this alternative Greek understanding of slavery can account for some serious conundrums in Greek attitudes and thought, and explains the reasons behind Aristotle's reformulation of slavery as a relationship of property. Finally, it is argued that seeing slavery as a relationship of domination has enormous potential for the modern study of slavery from a dynamic historical perspective.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 2011