Sex and Slavery in the Roman World

Abstract

In this dissertation I consider the intersection of sex, reproduction, and slavery during the high point of the Roman slave system, from approximately 200 BCE to 200 CE. Although it has long been assumed that enslaved men and women were vulnerable to sexual abuse by their owners, my project is the first to articulate the nature of sexual exploitation and its implications. By drawing together all of the ways in which owners sought to manipulate slaves’ private lives—from compulsory abstinence, to arranged marital relationships, to physical alteration—I identify sexual, reproductive, and conjugal control as part of slaves’ daily experience. My research demonstrates the significance of the sexual and reproductive dimension of slavery for constructing both the lived experience of the enslaved and attitudes towards gender, sexuality, and intimacy in the Roman world. Over the course of four chapters, I place legal and documentary sources next to the more familiar literary evidence to analyze slave-owners’ articulation of the sexual and reproductive value of their slaves, as well as the relationship of this value to age, labor, and, especially gender.