Ancient Mediterranean Incarceration (Open Access)

Journal of Ancient Near Eastern History, 2016

While the terms prison and prisoner are frequently used in translations and studies based on the texts from early Mesopotamia (ca. 3200–1595 B.C., according to Middle Chronology), 1 the contextual evidence relating to these terms has not been assembled and organized to determine the nature of the so-called prisons of the period, together with any points of continuity and discontinuity with the modern terminology. When done, it may be concluded that prisons in early Mesopotamia do not share a one-to-one correspondence with the various manifestations of prisons in the modern Western world. Although prisons in early Mesopotamia functioned in broader ways than modern examples, I argue that significant functional overlap also exists. These similarities directly relate to theoretical and definitional criteria employed in historical discussions about prisons, demonstrating that the Mesopotamian evidence belongs in a world history of prisons.

Slavery, broadly defined, was practiced across the ancient Mediterranean. In this graduate seminar we will compare the diverse forms it takes in different Mediterranean contexts, as well as the ways in which slaving as a social, economic, and legal phenomenon connected the region. Each student will be responsible for one particular iteration of slavery according to their research interests so that all leave with both a broad, cross-cultural understanding of ancient Mediterranean slavery and more narrow expertise in one particular time/place/source material. Given the framework of the seminar, we will also explore the challenges (and rewards!) of comparative methodologies.

This book is part of a series, in four volumes, that aims to draw a broad picture of the development of slavery from Antiquity to AD 2000. Comprising 22 chapters, written by leading scholars in their field, it is devoted to the societies of the ancient Near East, classical Greece, the Hellenistic world and Rome. Not only literary texts but also epigraphic and archaeological records are taken into account, and each chapter is followed by a bibliographic essay.

2012

he study of ancient slavery is, rightly, of enduring interest. From Wallon to Weber to Marx (Engels, really) to Finley and beyond, ancient slavery has never been neglected, either by ancient historians or by students of comparative slavery. Its study thrives not just because it is a subject where grand theory and tantalizing evidence intertwine; not just because the surviving sources do not allow slaves to speak for themselves, thus posing irresistible challenges to historians; not just because slaves made important economic contributions to their societies. It fascinates, above all, because ancient slavery as a system of human exploitation was a central institution of ancient life that endured for centuries despite the violence, and the instability of violence as a form of control, at its heart; and because, at some point and without voices challenging its existence or necessity, it declined. The recent books here under review are only components of the most recent wave of ancient slavery studies. One is the first of a four-part world history of slavery, The Cambridge World History of Slavery (CWHS), with twenty-two chapters by different authors; two are outstanding scholarly monographs, Harper's

2019

My thesis examines the legal status of slaves in the ancient world and provides a deeper understanding into the social position and economic role these individuals had in their respective societies. The analysis delves into the different roles and functions slaves had particularly in ancient Rome and the Near East. This paper centers on the function of a slave to their master as chattel and indenture, otherwise commonly known as debt-slavery. Chattel, known as the traditional form of slavery, is when an enslaved person is the personal property of the owner and treated like a commodity, capable of being exchanged or sold. Indenture is a form of bondage where people pledge themselves to pay off a loan. These constructions are determined and supported largely by the written legal codes of these periods. This includes records, literature, transactions or disputes, which refer to slaves in these ancient societies. Although these codes are often fragmentary and often lack supporting accou...

Studies in Late Antiquity, 2021

This article identifies a military prison (carcer castrensis) in the Roman legionary fortress at Lambaesis (Tazoult, Algeria), and contextualizes the space among North African carceral practices evidenced in epigraphic, papyrological, and literary sources of the first through fourth centuries CE. The identification is made on the basis of architectural comparanda and previously unnoticed inscriptional evidence which demonstrate that the space under the Sanctuary of the Standards in the principia was both built as a prison and that it was used that way in antiquity. The broader discussion aims to highlight the ubiquity of carceral spaces and practices in the ancient and late ancient Mediterranean, and to elucidate some of the underlying practices and ideologies of ancient incarceration.

Studies in Late Antiquity, 2019

I explore the landscape of carceral practices and geographies in late antique Roman North Africa by applying a comparative lens to carceral punishments of exile and condemnation to the mines. I situate the research within the field of carceral studies, using the concept of carceral practices and geographies (as opposed to the narrower concepts of prison and imprisonment). I first offer a contextualization of the punishments of exile and condemnation to the mines as carceral punishments, remaining especially sensitive to the legal, material, and spatial aspects of each punishment. I then consider how different North African Christians used their carceral punishments and geographies to negotiate issues of political and social power in the broader Roman Mediterranean, specifically the letter exchange between Cyprian and three other groups of Christians condemned to the mines (Ep. 76–79). I use the letter correspondence as a case study to explore the “real-and-imagined” aspects of carce...

Studies in Late Antiquity: A Journal, 2019

[If you would like a PDF of the whole article, please message me directly] I explore the landscape of carceral practices and geographies in late antique Roman North Africa by applying a comparative lens to carceral punishments of exile and condemnation to the mines. I situate the research within the field of carceral studies, using the concept of carceral practices and geographies (as opposed to the narrower concepts of prison and imprisonment). I first offer a contextualization of the punishments of exile and condemnation to the mines as carceral punishments, remaining especially sensitive to the legal, material, and spatial aspects of each punishment. I then consider how different North African Christians used their carceral punishments and geographies to negotiate issues of political and social power in the broader Roman Mediterranean, specifically the letter exchange between Cyprian and three other groups of Christians condemned to the mines (Ep. 76-79). I use the letter correspondence as a case study to explore the "real-and-imagined" aspects of carceral practices and geographies in Roman North Africa. The carceral punishments of exile and condemnation to the mines have legal, material, social, gendered, rhetorical, and lived-experience components, all of which are treated as distinct, yet also fluid and intersectional with each other. I conclude by gesturing to how the case study adds texture to our understanding of how carceral punishment worked in Late Antiquity.

Public Choice, 2009

Recent histories of Ancient Greece describe a transition from customary law to public criminal justice between 800 and 400 B.C. This narrative contains three pieces of evidence against the presumption that prisons are a public good and government must provide incarcerations. First, before the rise of a formal government, Ancient Greece had a functioning system of criminal law enforcement. Second, the timeline surrounding the rise of government institutions in Ancient Greece originated with Solon's penal reforms. Lastly, the rise of a government system was more the result of private rather than public interest.