Slavery and Unfreedom in Byzantine Thought on the Household

Neuausgabe 2025
ISBN: 978-1-80270-120-3
Verlag: Arc Humanities Press

Buch, Englisch, 320 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm

Slavery and family were deeply linked in Byzantine society. When Byzantine writers and theologians envisioned and contextualized both the realities and the idea of the household, they universally assumed the presence of enslaved people within it. Slavery was foundational in Byzantine conceptions of the family, as was the role of kinship and the family in their thinking about slavery. This study explores how the language, ideals, stereotypes, and literary tropes associated with enslaved people were deeply linked to Byzantine thought about the family and the household as a social unit. Drawing on a wide range of sources and modern theories like intersectionality and social death, this monograph seeks to demonstrate the numerous ways in which the long-term, widespread presence of enslaved people in Byzantine society influenced and even defined medieval Byzantine thought regarding the domestic space and its dynamics.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Leidholm, Nathan

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Alte Geschichte & Archäologie Vor- und Frühgeschichte, prähistorische Archäologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Kultur- und Ideengeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtswissenschaft Allgemein
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Geschichte der Sklaverei
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Mentalitäts- und Sozialgeschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Abbreviations

A Note on Terminology

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Chapter 1. (Un)Natural Partners: Marriage and Slavery

Chapter 2. Proper Authority: Parents and Masters

Chapter 3. (In)Gratitude: Children, Slaves, and Freed People

Chapter 4. Sexual Availability and the Other: Concubinage (Pallakeia)

Chapter 5. Useful Fear: Slavery’s Impact on Household Management

Conclusion

Select Bibliography

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Leidholm, Nathan
Nathan Leidholm is Assistant Professor at Bilkent University and earned his PhD from the University of Chicago. Author of Elite Byzantine Kinship, ca. 950–1204 (Arc Humanities, 2019), his research interests include family, slavery, identity, and historical memory in the medieval world.