The Position of Roman Slaves Social Realities and Legal Differences

"The Position of Roman Slaves: Social Realities and Legal Differences [...] is a pathbreaking exploration of the phenomenon of slaves (servi) who lived a "privileged" life, a tiny elite of affluent unfree persons sometimes controlling vast assets. In PRS, seven legal historians of deservedly high repute, all professors at European law faculties, have authored nine essays that, appearing at a transitional moment in scholarly analysis of Roman servitude, undertake to fill a previously cavernous epistemological lacuna-the interrelationship between the "social realities" and the "legal differences" affecting Roman servitude. Through an accessible-generally clear and interesting-use of legal materials and analyses to illuminate historical (and sometimes even philological) problems, [the volume] provides a much-needed antidote to the academic segregation that has long separated (and impaired) the study of Roman law and of Roman history." (p. 283)
"PRS deals with intricate, specialized, and (sometimes) arcane subjects through discussions generally easily intelligible even to economic historians, literary scholars, and other non-lawyers. Essays originally written in German have been translated for publication into an English almost always clear and sometimes even elegant." (p. 291)
Edward E. Cohen, in: Classical Philology 120.2 (2025)

"Individual chapters confront major topics in the study of slavery. All are informative; some provocative." Roberta Stewart, in: H-Soz-Kult, 23.09.2024

Martin Schermaier , University of Bonn, Germany.