Webster Lecturer Workshop: Enslaved women

Enslaved women are perhaps some of the most invisible people in the source record of the ancient Greek world so how should we, as historians, assess their lives? This workshop aims to explore the questions we can raise and the contributions and limitations of different methodological approaches with regard to this group (should we even conceptualize them as a group?). Some potential pathways/questions: how do we account for enslaved women within ancient economies? Are enslaved women different from enslaved men? Do slaves have gender? What communities and networks did enslaved women belong to? (How) should we view the agency of enslaved women? etc.

Claire Taylor is Associate Professor and John W. & Jeanne M. Rowe Chair of Ancient Greek History at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She specializes in the social, political and economic history of fifth and fourth century Athens, with a focus on the lived experience of marginalized peoples and the evidence they left behind. Her most recent book, Poverty, Wealth, and Well-Being: Experiencing Penia in Democratic Athens (Oxford University Press, 2017), examines not only the discourses surrounding poverty in ancient Athens, but also the well-being of those categorized as poor and their experiences of poverty. She has also published work on ancient graffiti, political participation and female friendship.