(Re)producing Slaves: Demand, Supply, and Demography

Abstract

Abstract This chapter offers a broad survey of the range of social and economic variables that shaped the dynamics of the demography of the slave population of the ancient Greek and Roman worlds. As such, it covers a vast extent of time and space but in the process attempts to establish general trends while also focusing on particular points of significance and interest. Emphasis is placed on the relative roles of reproduction and of external supply; the latter includes capture in warfare, kidnapping, enslavement through taxes and debt, penal aspects, and child exposure and sale, as well as self-enslavement. Consideration is also given throughout to questions such as the ethnic origin of slaves, the significance of manumission, and the role of slave traders. The challenges presented by the range of extant evidence for slave demography in antiquity are also discussed.