WEEK
NINE
UNFREE
LABOUR and EUNUCHS
Sources: Wiedemann ch.
2; Cartledge 1979 (also rev. ed. 2001) Appendix 4; Dillon and Garland
Sourcebook 11.27-39; Hauken 1998 esp. nos. 1 and 3
On imperial eunuchs, see Claudian, Against Eutropius (In
Eutropium) (Loeb), with Long 1996
Questions to consider:
Look again at the definition of slavery &c from week 1. What are the main differences between chattel slavery and other forms of unfree labour? Are they terminological or substantive? In what ways did the Greek/Roman attitude differentiate between various forms of ‘unfree’ labour, if at all?
What are the main features of the status, treatment
and use of the Helots at
What are the main problems in dealing with the ancient sources for Helots?
Why are eunuchs so often despised and disliked? What accounts for their rôle in the late antique imperial court? What light does their nature and status throw upon ancient attitudes to gender, freedom, honour &c? How do they compare with imperial freedmen of the early empire (as in Week 8)?
Bibliography:
on archaic serfdom in general: van Wees 2003 in Luraghi
and Alcock 2003
van Wees 1999 (Solonian debt reform); with Morris in
Cartledge et al. 2002
Helots at
Luraghi and Alcock 2003 (varied selection of essays)
Engerman in Bush 1996 ch. 1; Garlan 1988 ch. 2
De Ste Croix 1981 ch. III.iv, and in Archer 1988 ch. 1
Cartledge 1979 (rev. 2001) ch. 10, and in Archer 1988 ch. 2
Finley, Ancient Economy ch. 4 (and
‘further thoughts’); Finley 1981 ch. 7-9
Hunt 1998 chs. 2 & 4; Alcock in Cartledge et al. (2002) ch. 13
Eunuchs:
Vermaseren 1977; Gleason 1995