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The Role of Slave Markets in Migration from the Near East to Rome

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Published/Copyright: June 20, 2016
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Klio
From the journal Klio Volume 98 Issue 1

Summary

This paper begins with a brief review of evidence for migration to the relatively affluent city of Rome during the earlier Empire. Then it is suggested that most slaves coming to Rome at this time originated in the Greek East and that these slaves were volunteers not forcible captives. Slavery by contract made it possible for individuals to overcome credit constraints limiting their ability to borrow to finance training and migration. This view is tested by examining literary, epigraphic and archaeological evidence to decide whether slave markets in the Greek East (at Acmonia, Ephesus, Magnesia on Meander, Thyatira and Delos) and in Rome itself were suitable for processing „dangerous merchandise“ (= forcible captives). The totality of the evidence suggests they were not. Near Easterners conveyed through local and Roman slave markets were probably willing self-sellers seeking economic advancement. A new, positive, light is cast on the role of slave dealers who profited from reallocating labor power from less to more productive uses.

Keywords: Sr and O Isotopes; Self-sale; Credit Constraints; Slave Markets (Greek Stataria, Latin Venalicium); Edict of the Curule Aediles

Acknowledgments

Professor Emeritus of Economics, City College of the City University of New York. Thanks are due to Kristina Killgrove for answering my questions about isotope studies and to Mantha Zarmakoupi for enlightening me about slave and other markets in the Delian emporion. My thanks also to Rens Tacoma for helpful comments. The responsibility for remaining errors is mine alone. My research benefited greatly from the conscientious assistance of Evelyn Bodden and her staff in the Interlibrary Loan Department in the Cohen Library in the City College of New York.

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Published Online: 2016-6-20
Published in Print: 2016-6-1

© 2016 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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  1. Frontmatter
  2. Basileus, tyrannos and polis. The Dynamics of Monarchy in Early Greece
  3. Alcaeus and Antimenidas: Reassessing the Evidence for Greek Mercenaries in the Neo-Babylonian Army
  4. Negotiation and Reconciliation. A new interpretation of the Athenian introduction of the Asklepios cult
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https://doi.org/10.1515/klio-2016-0006
Keywords for this article
Sr and O Isotopes; Self-sale; Credit Constraints; Slave Markets (Greek Stataria, Latin Venalicium); Edict of the Curule Aediles

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Basileus, tyrannos and polis. The Dynamics of Monarchy in Early Greece
  3. Alcaeus and Antimenidas: Reassessing the Evidence for Greek Mercenaries in the Neo-Babylonian Army
  4. Negotiation and Reconciliation. A new interpretation of the Athenian introduction of the Asklepios cult
  5. Mégabyze de Zopyros et le roi Artoxerxès Ier
  6. Conectividad mediterránea en el marco del conflicto mitridático
  7. The Role of Slave Markets in Migration from the Near East to Rome
  8. The workings of public opinion in the Late Roman Republic: the case study of corruption
  9. L’usurpazione di Silvano tra costrizione e brama di potere
  10. Law, Heresy and Judges under the Thedosian Dinasty
  11. Symmachus und die Ortsgebundenheit der Götter Roms
  12. Literaturkritik
  13. Martin A. Guggisberg (Hg.), Grenzen in Ritual und Kult der Antike. Internationales Kolloquium, Basel, 5.–6. November 2009
  14. Christian Mann, Militär und Kriegführung in der Antike
  15. Alan H. Sommerstein – Andrew J. Bayliss, Oath and State in Ancient Greece. With contributions by Lynn A. Kozak and Isabelle C. Torrance
  16. David F. Elmer, The Poetics of Consent. Collective Decision Making in the „Iliad“
  17. Lynette G. Mitchell, The Heroic Rulers of Archaic and Classical Greece
  18. Matteo D’Acunto, Il mondo del vaso Chigi. Pittura, guerra e società a Corinto alla metà del VII secolo a. C.
  19. Susanne Froehlich, Handlungsmotive bei Herodot
  20. Mirko Canevaro, The Documents in the Attic Orators. Laws and Decrees in the Public Speeches of the Demosthenic Corpus
  21. John Ma, Statues and Cities. Honorific Portraits and Civic Identity in the Hellenistic World
  22. Federicomaria Muccioli, Gli epiteti ufficiali dei re ellenistici
  23. Fred C. Woudhuizen, The Liber Linteus. A Word for Word Commentary to and Translation of the Longest Etruscan Text
  24. Martin Jehne – Christoph Lundgreen (Hgg.), Gemeinsinn und Gemeinwohl in der römischen Antike
  25. Juan Santos Yanguas – Gonzalo Cruz Andreotti (Hgg.), Romanización, Fronteras y Etnias en la Roma Antigua. El Caso Hispano
  26. Yelena Baraz, A Written Republic. Cicero’s Philosophical Politics
  27. Bernard Andreae, Römische Kunst von Augustus bis Constantin
  28. Ursula Kunnert, Bürger unter sich. Phylen in den Städten des kaiserzeitlichen Ostens
  29. Marco Maiuro, Res Caesaris. Ricerche sulla proprietà imperiale nel Principato
  30. Johannes Griebel, Der Kaiser im Krieg. Die Bilder der Säule des Marc Aurel
  31. Peter Eich – Eike Faber (Hgg.), Religiöser Alltag in der Spätantike
  32. Anna Leone, The End of the Pagan City. Religion, Economy, and Urbanism in Late Antique North Africa
  33. Ulrich Gehn, Ehrenstatuen in der Spätantike. Chlamydati und Togati
  34. Manuela Studer-Karlen, Verstorbenendarstellungen auf frühchristlichen Sarkophagen
  35. Henning Börm, Westrom. Von Honorius bis Justinian
  36. Stefano Bocci, Ammiano Marcellino XXVIII e XXIX. Problemi storici e storiografici
  37. Sylvie Crogiez-Pétrequin – Pierre Jaillette (Hgg.), Société, économie, administration dans le Code Théodosien
  38. Richard Hingley, Hadrian’s Wall. A Life
  39. Florian Martin Müller (Hg.), Archäologische Universitätsmuseen und -sammlungen im Spannungsfeld von Forschung, Lehre und Öffentlichkeit
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