Challenging traditional interpretations of Greek history that focus solely on the polis, this 2007 book advocates for a more expansive perspective. It explores alternative narratives and contexts, encouraging readers to consider the multifaceted influences that shaped ancient Greece beyond the city-state model. Through this broader lens, the work aims to enrich understanding of Greek civilization and its complexities.
The book explores the diverse interactions between Greeks and non-Greeks throughout the Archaic to Hellenistic periods, focusing on political, social, economic, and cultural exchanges. It delves into how these interactions shaped identities, influenced power dynamics, and fostered cross-cultural relationships, providing a comprehensive understanding of the complexities of ancient Mediterranean societies.
The lecture delves into the complex identities of enslaved individuals in ancient societies, highlighting that their classification as slaves was just one aspect of their identity. It examines six key axes: the imposed identity of slavery, the role of work and function, gender and kinship dynamics, ethnic and religious identities, the influence of time on identities of freedpersons and former slaves, and the interplay between diverse personal identities and collective slave identities. This multifaceted analysis reveals the richness of enslaved persons' experiences beyond mere classification.
Informed by the global history of slavery, Kostas Vlassopoulos avoids traditional approaches to slavery as a static institution and instead explores the diverse strategies and various contexts in which it was employed. In doing so he offers a new historicist approach to the study of slave identity and the various networks and communities that slaves created or participated in. Instead of seeing slaves merely as passive objects of exploitation and domination, his focus is on slave agency and the various ways in which they played an active role in the history of ancient societies. Vlassopoulos examines slavery not only as an economic and social phenomenon, but also in its political, religious and cultural ramifications. A comparative framework emerges as he examines Greek and Roman slaveries alongside other slaving systems in the Near East, the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.