"Slavery was a ubiquitous and fundamental phenomenon of Greek and Roman societies. Slaves constituted a substantial proportion of the population of ancient communities; they worked in practically all sectors of ancient economies, as agricultural workers, artisans, traders, servants, performers,...

Introducing students to current controversies over the nature of the ancient economy, this volume brings together twelve influential studies by leading experts in the field. In 1973, Moses Finley unveiled a comprehensive model of the economic underpinnings of classical civilisation. Since then,...