Slavery and Society at Rome by Keith Bradley Review by: Walter Scheidel Phoenix, Vol. 50, No.

2 (Summer, 1996), pp. 174-176 Published by: Classical Association of Canada Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1192710 . Accessed: 30/12/2013 13:47
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174

PHOENIX

Chapters2 and 3 on the Hellenistic and the Roman Athenian bronze coins (24-165) are the core of the book. Six periods are distinguished,mid-fourthto mid-third century B.C.,229-ca 183, ca 160s-87/6, 86-10s, 120s to ca 175, 260s. Newfindings andhypotheses are presented for all six, based on over twenty years of study by three successiveAgora interestis Numismatists, Kroll, F. S. Kleiner(vii, 67, et alibi), and Walker. Of particular the enormous output of the last period, which exhaustedca 800 dies during the middle 260s, in the face of the Herulianinvasion(117, with Table 9). Further evidence and study may naturallylead to revisions, for example in the interpretationof denominations. Kroll sees five in the pre-Romanperiods (38): AE1, an coin worth 1 silverobol; AE2, a four-chalkous coin; AE3, a dichalkion; AE4, eight-chalkous a chalkous; and AE5, a half-chalkous coin. The weights of contemporary issuesdo not always with base-metaltoken supportthis scheme. No doubtweight is not everything,particularly coinage. The currentfad for gilt, as in the United Kingdompound coin and the Canadian "loonie,"helps suggest how irrationalwe may be-of course,we feel, a token should not have real bullion value, but of course it should seemvaluable. But Athenian irrationality mayprove more complex and more changeablethan has yet fully been seen. In Period 2 (cf. Table 2), Kroll has three groups of AE1 (64, 66, 68) with average weights of five or more better-preserved specimensthat themselvesaverage9.06 g., some AE2 and AE3, and four groups of AE4 (71, 75, 81, 85) the averagesof which average 1.72 g. The ratio seems not 8:1 but perhaps6:1. Krollsuggestsbecauseof the obversetype that the AE1 were issued as the equivalentnot of obols but of triobols(49). May they not ratherhave been three-quarter with three-obol types and perhapswith obols, six chalkoi, nominallytwelve-obol weights (for a grossly inflated or token ratio of bronze to silverof 16:1)?Other such questionsmaybe asked. Chapter4, "Non-AthenianCoins"(166-290), catalogues2,197 specimensfrom a wide range of places and from all periods up to the beginning of the fourth centuryA.D.;the mints are naturally those of some immediateneighbours-Megara, the better-represented Boiotian League, Chalkis, Corinth (but not Aigina)-and of Macedon, particularly issues of Antigonos Gonatas (166). There are two Appendices, a List of Deposits, nine Tables, two Concordances,and two Indexes,of which the second has five sub-divisions(291-376). The plates are excellent, and not least the last plate of coins (34), which by illustrating most of the obversesof a deposit shows how illegiblebronze excavationcoins normallyare and so helps suggest how greatthe work of recoveringinformationfrom them has been.
UNIVERSITY OFTORONTO M. B. WALLACE

SLAVERYAND SOCIETYAT ROME. By KEITH BRADLEY. Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press. 1994. Pp. xiv, 202.

IN HISTHIRD ANDMOST GENERAL BOOK ON SLAVERY, Bradley sets out to give us a feeling of

what it was like to be a slavein Roman society.In keepingwith the overallobjectiveof the in AncientHistoryseries,he providesa highly readabletext; footnotes are kept Key Themes to a minimum, and readersare referredto his earlierwork for in-depth coverageof issues he only touches upon.l After introducingus to the diversityof the slavery experienceand to
1K R. A Studyin SocialControl(Brussels1984 Bradley,Slavesand Mastersin the RomanEmpire: = Oxford 1987); id, Slaveryand Rebellion in the RomanWorld, 140 B.C.-70 B.C. (Indianapolis1989).

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BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS

175

the problemsand the potentialof ancientand comparative sources(1-9), he demonstrates why and in what respectsRome of the "central period"(ca 200 B.C. to ca A.D. 200) can be definedas a "slavesociety"(10-30). In the chapter on the Roman slave supply he argues for the importance both of natural reproduction priorto the Principateand of wartimeenslavementafterthe Republic operatingin conjunctionwith a steady independentslave trade drawingon sourcesfrom within and outside the empire (31-56).2 In this, Bradley highlights often neglected facets of the slave supply such as the sexual dimension of slave breeding and especially the grim realityof the slave market,of what it must have meant to be moved, assessed, and sold like any other merchandise. The section on slave labour (57-80) provides an overview, admirablyrich and nuanced despite its briefness, not only of the slaves' activities but also of how they and their work could be appreciatedby themselves and by their masters. Bradley then considers the quality of life of the unfree (81-106), paying special attention to their provisioningwith food and cothes, and offers a reading of the novel Daphnis and Chloeas a text meant to capturethe anxiety of slaves in the face of an absentee master'svisit (102-105). In "ResistingSlavery" (107-131), Bradley focuses on the day-to-day dealings with a truly troublesome property, again utilizing comparativeevidence in his interpretationof the recurrentcomplaints of the masters as powerful testimony of the striving of slaves to assert themselves through a defiant refusalto cooperate: a particularmoral economy made what seemed to the owners like sloth and petty crimes an expediencyor necessity for the slaves. Bradleyalso comments on the concerns of the masters for their own safety, which in a way complemented the apprehensionsof the slaves discussed in the previous section, and on the plight of runaways. Under the heading of "Changeand Continuity"(132-153), Bradley-rightly in my view-by and large discounts the idea of a mitigating influence of either pagan philosophy (Stoicism) or Christianityon the lot of the bulk of slaves, thereby putting the occasionalmoralisingsentiment and the earlychurch'sencouragingof submissiveness into the proper perspective. (Comparativeevidence from the Americas, missing from this chapter,could again have providedilluminatingparallels.)He subsequently turns to manumissionand reveals the gulf between the Roman and a modern understandingof with referenceto judicial savagery directedat slaves(154-173).3 Scanningthe "humanity" of the former slave for writings Epictetus fragmentsof an authenticvision of bondage, Bradley poses once more the question of what it was like to be a slave of the Romans and forcefully argues the significance of a full appraisalof this category of alienated human beings for our understandingof Roman society as a whole (174-182). A concise students and a "bibliography-lite" conclude bibliographical essay aimed at undergraduate the book.4 2As I willshowelsewhere, therecanbe no doubtthatduring theearly natural however, empire, wasseveral timesasimportant as allothersources of slaves combined. reproduction 3 is straightforward andcompelling: 'To assume Bradley's summing upof theselasttwochapters andto lookforprogress of a modern kindin thehistory of slavery at Romeis, therefore, to liberalising in anachronism. of theRomans Thementality wasa steady-state indulge concerning slavery mentality, entrenched andunchangeable viewsof a social thatwasimpervious dependent upondeeply hierarchy to change" (173). 4 Reference andSlaving in World mighthavebeenmadeto the richesof J. C. Miller,Slavery A Bibliography 1900-1991(Millwood, N.Y.1993;10,344entries History: orthat including antiquity), of 1985. work's predecessor

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176

PHOENIX

Constraintsof space prevent an adequatediscussionof a study so limited in size and yet so wide in scope and rich in detail; for that, readers may be referredto the much more extensiveand generallyveryfavourable review by W. H. Owens in BMCR 6 (1995) 675-681, with whom I find myself in broad agreement. One salient featurethat needs emphasizing is Bradley'sexemplaryhandling of the evidence. Exploiting a wide variety of sourcesencompassinghistoricaland legal writings,poetry, novels, and mantictexts, he seems able to producethe most strikingpassageto illustratehis everypoint and repeatedly evidence tracesconsistenttrendsand motifs in diversebits of sourcematerial.Comparative from more recent slave systemsis skilfullyintroducedto bridgeover the more glaringgaps in the ancientdocumentation.It deservesattentionthat Bradleyputs greaterweight on the materialfrom Brazil(with particular emphasison one studyof slaveryin a moderncity that in this respectmaywell come as dose to imperialRome as we can hope for, M. C. Karasch, Slave Life in Rio deJaneiro1808-1850 [Princeton 1987], cited twenty times) than on the justifiedby differences overwhelmingbody of evidence from North America,a preference between these two systems in the frequencyof manumission,the relativeimportanceof urbanlife, and the impact of racism.One might regret,however,that furthercomparative fell a victim to the rigid word count of the publisher.Without any doubt there is appraisals room for more explicitlycomparativestudies of ancient and modernslavery,5 Bradley-as in his earlierSlavery and Rebellion-again shows the way and would be superblyequipped to expandthis approachin futurecontributions. This is an excellentintroductionto Roman slaveryand the best textbook-stylework on the subjectcurrentlyavailable.Obtaining the rights for translationsinto other languages shouldbe high on the agendaof attentiveacademicpublishersworldwide.
CAMBRIDGE DARWIN COLLEGE, SCHEIDEL WALTER

im 5These havebeen rareandareoften not readilyaccessible: e.g., A. Loria,"Die Sclavenwirtschaft Social-und Wirtschaftsgeschichte modemen Amerika und im europiischenAlterthume,"Zeitschriftfar 4 (1896) 67-118; L. Oppenheim, 'The Law of Slaves: A ComparativeStudy of the Roman and LouisianaSystems,"TulaneLawReview14 (1940) 384-406; C. A. Yeo, 'The Developmentof Roman and American Slavery," Finanzarchiv13 (1951/52) 445-485, and id., "The Rise of Plantations in Ancient Italy and Modem America," CJ 51 (1955) 391-395; R. Martin, "Du Nouveau Monde au monde antique: quelques problemesd'esclavagerural,"Ktema5 (1980) 161-175; J. E. Skydsgaard, over Paul Noerlund, E. D. Genovese og Moses I. Finley," in Slaveri og awikling "Betragtninger i et komparativt perspektiv(Trondheim 1983) 19-31; J. Annequin, "Comparatisme/comparaisons: et hdtdrogndite des formesd'exploitationexcavagistes,"DHA (1985) 639-672; P. A. Ressemblances Cartledge,"Rebelsand 'Sambos'in ClassicalGreece:A ComparativeView,"in id. and F. D. Harvey (eds.), Crux(London 1985) 16-46; B. A. Crouch,"'BootyCapitalism'and Capitalism'sBooty: Slaves and Slaveryin Ancient Rome and the American South,"SlaveryandAbolition6 (1985) 3-24; R. A. Austen, "How Unique is the New World Plantation?,"in S. Daget (ed.), Dc la traite l'esclavage (Nantes and Paris 1988) 1.55-71; I. Biezunska Malowist and M. Malowist, "L'Esclavage antique et moderne: Les Possibilites de recherchescomparees,"in M.-M. Mactoux and E. Geny (eds.), et socite (Paris 1989) 17-31; I. Weiler, "Schenkdem Altemden 2: Anthropoligie MElanges LEv*que in Graz (Graz 1990) 127-135; Freiheit, mein Sohn ...," in H. Ebner et al. (eds.), Geschichtsforschung Alabama J. R. LeBlanc, "The Context of Manumission:ImperialRome and Antebellum Alabama," Review 46 (1993) 266-287; V. J. Rosivach, "Agricultural Slaveryin the Northern Colonies and in Classical Athens: Some Comparisons,"CSSH 35 (1993) 551-567; W. Scheidel, "Reflectionson the Differential Valuation of Slaves in Diocletian's Price Edict and in the United States,"MBAH (forthcoming).

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