The essays collected here were originally presented as papers at an international conference at Royal Holloway and the British Library in December 2007, celebrating the anniversary of the
abolition of the slave trade. The essays are written by US and European experts representing different theoretical positions, reading practices, and interpretive strategies for understanding
poetic, dramatic, and pictorial representations of slavery in the ancient world. In an introduction, the editor examines the implications of this representational approach for the study of the
psychological and social impact of slavery. Specific topics include the ritual of domination and social death in Homeric society, Greek representations of the slave body, the place of empirical
analysis in Aristotle's account of natural slavery, and imperial Roman dream interpretation. B&w photos of artifacts are included. Alston teaches Roman history at Royal Holloway University
of London. The book is distributed in the US by International Publishers Marketing. Annotation 穢2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
