Slavery and Dependence in Ancient Egypt: Sources in Translation

Ancient Egypt offers rich sources of documentary evidence for the study of the experiences of dependent people, particularly enslaved persons, and how they changed over almost four millennia from the Old Kingdom to the early Islamic period. This volume, the work of a team of scholars spanning the full range of disciplines and languages involved, provides nearly three hundred primary sources in translation, arranged both chronologically and thematically, and is aimed principally at students, instructors and general readers. The documents reveal how people became slaves and ceased to be slaves and how they were traded and exchanged in different periods. They also detail the various kinds of work slaves undertook, whether in the household, in agriculture or in mines and quarries. Introductions explain and contextualise the sources, and particularly address the problems of varying terminology in several different languages. The book shows Egypt's place in the world history of slavery.

Table of Contents:
1. Introduction Jane Rowlandson and Roger S. Bagnall; 2. Pharaonic Egypt Christopher J. Eyre; 3. The late period Brian P. Muhs and Christopher J. Tuplin; 4. Jewish perspectives on slavery in Egypt Sarah J. Pearce; 5. Ptolemaic Egypt Dorothy J. Thompson and Brian P. Muhs; 6. Roman Egypt W. Graham Claytor; 7. Byzantine and Umayyad Egypt Jane Rowlandson, Roger S. Bagnall, Jennifer Cromwell and Jelle Bruning.

About the Author :
JANE L. ROWLANDSON was a Reader in Ancient History at King's College London. She was the author and editor of several monumental publications, including Landowners and Tenants in Roman Egypt (1996) and Women and Society in Greek and Roman Egypt (Cambridge, 1998). This current sourcebook was one of her remaining projects, and it is now dedicated to her memory. Roger S. Bagnall is Professor Emeritus of Ancient History and founding Leon Levy Director Emeritus of the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University. His publications include numerous books on the documents and social and economic history of Roman and Late Antique Egypt. He is President of the American Philosophical Society. DOROTHY J. THOMPSON is a Life Fellow of Girton College, Cambridge, a Fellow of the British Academy and Honorary President of the International Association of Papyrologists. Her books include Kerkeosiris: An Egyptian Village in the Ptolemaic Period (Cambridge, 1971), Memphis under the Ptolemies (2nd edition, 2012), and (joint with Willy Clarysse) Counting the People in Hellenistic Egypt (Cambridge, 2006).

Review :
'An impressive achievement that will undoubtedly pave the way for future studies of Egyptian enslavement as well as comparative studies of ancient slavery more broadly.' Ella Karev, Journal of Near Eastern Studies