Conclusions

Abstract

Abstract This book investigates ancient Jewish slavery in the context of slavery in Graeco-Roman society to determine whether and in what regard Jews differed from Romans and early Christians in their discourse about and practice of slavery. The book examines whether ancient Jewish literary sources reveal different attitudes towards slaves and indicate a different treatment of slaves from Graeco-Roman sources. As pointed out at the outset, the socioeconomic conditions in which slavery develops tend to be similar in many societies, whereas the specific configuration of slavery varies from one society to the next. Slavery was an important aspect of the everyday life of Jews in both the land of Israel and the Diaspora in Hellenistic and Roman times: Jews owned slaves and Jews were employed as slaves by Jewish and non-Jewish owners.