Startseite Religionswissenschaft, Bibelwissenschaft und Theologie Beyond Slavery and Freedom in Ancient Mesopotamia
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Beyond Slavery and Freedom in Ancient Mesopotamia

  • Vitali Bartash ORCID logo EMAIL logo und Andrew Pottorf ORCID logo EMAIL logo
Veröffentlicht/Copyright: 23. Mai 2025

Abstract

This special issue aims to move beyond the traditional binary of slavery and freedom in the study of ancient Mesopotamian societies. Legal texts have long shaped our understanding of social status in this region, but a broader approach incorporating diverse textual genres and diachronic comparison reveals a far more nuanced social landscape. The articles collected here argue that ethnic, legal, political, religious, and socioeconomic factors continually shaped groups with ambiguous statuses who were neither clearly citizens nor enslaved individuals. Rather than locating a fixed “third” legal category of “serfs,” the contributors emphasize distinctions such as citizens versus noncitizens or emancipated versus dependent household members – both free and enslaved. The volume refines the binary legal model, reaffirming that ancient Mesopotamia recognized only two legal statuses – free and unfree – but complicates how these were lived and perceived. Six key insights emerge, including the legal and social diversity within both categories, the importance of household structures, and the precarious positions of groups like muškēnū (“those who prostrate themselves”), un -il 2 (“menials”), temple dependents, war captives, freed slaves, and detained persons. Collectively, these studies challenge static interpretations and reveal the dynamic and context-dependent nature of social identity in ancient Mesopotamia.


Corresponding authors: Vitali Bartash, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Bonn, Germany, E-mail: ; and Andrew Pottorf, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK, E-mail:

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Published Online: 2025-05-23
Published in Print: 2025-05-26

© 2025 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Heruntergeladen am 17.1.2026 von https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/janeh-2025-0008/html?lang=de
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