‘Bitinna, I am a slave. Use me as you want!’ Thus enslaved Gastron to his free female mistress Bitinna (Herod. 5.6). Yet, in the same poem, Gastron insists ‘I'm human’ (5.27). In a condensed way, these two statements aptly summarise the tension involved in the use of fellow human beings as sexual objects. From the standpoint of universal human rights, this counts for all cultures of all time periods. So, one may ask about the purpose of compiling historical evidence about slaves used for the purposes of sexual gratification. Does it not always come down to that inescapable paradox? It is one of the great merits of both the editors and the contributors of this beautiful volume to have made clear that more should and could indeed be done.
The introduction by Deborah Kamen and C. W. Marshall offers all the readers could wish for, including references to much needed comparative evidence. In ch. 1, E. Wilson introduces us to slaves and sex in the Odyssey. The fact of a husband having intercourse with female slaves at least had the potential to disturb household and marriage (Od. 1.429–433). From the comparative point of view, there sadly is a ‘striking common ground’ in men's sexual desire towards captive women in times of war. In the engagingly written ch. 2, K. L. Gaca offers a long and sobering list of cases of rape and other violence during war. Yet she offers much more than case studies, by showing how freeborn wives often functioned as gatekeepers, deciding whether the master of the household could take sexual advantage of an enslaved person. Rather than ‘human rights’, it all was a matter of ‘household rights’. Pleasure in punishment, sandal spanking, the depiction of dwarfs and the ‘deformed’ slave Aesop are dealt with by K. L. Wrenhaven in her chapter on slaves and sex in classical Greek art. She raises the interesting point that viewers may have felt more sympathy for war captives because they realised such a fate could also befall them. In ch. 4, on the sexual agency of slaves in Classical Athens, J. D. Porter excludes the possibility of studying relationships between masters and slaves under this heading, as they would always fall in the category of domination and abuse. Yet this exclusion leaves ample ground for the exploration of fascinating cases of agency such as de facto freedom in work performed independently (with a beautiful parallel on pearl-diving slaves in the Arabian Gulf, 95–6) or slaves attending brothels (98–9). In his chapter on same-sex relations between free and slave in Athens, R. Matuszewski is prepared to accept the possibility of slave involvement, emotionally and psychologically, in relationships with free persons. This contribution also stands out for its enlightening and intriguing anecdotes and case studies, such as an episode from Lysias 3 Against Simon (where Simon is driven by erōs for a slave boy), or the telling observation that only one known slave society from the past banned sexual relations between masters and female slaves (the Gilyak of south-east Siberia, 104). Sex and desire in Lysias 4 are the topic of ch. 6 by C. W. Marshall. The oration contains intriguing and complicated evidence about an enslaved woman whom two men owned jointly, in which some fragments claim to represent the woman's affections (4.8: she wishes to be loved by both) and preferences (4.17: she places higher value on one of the two). In her treatment of Demosthenes 19.196–198 on an enslaved Olynthian (ch. 7), A. Glazebrook is much in line with K. L. Wrenhaven in ch. 4. Being enslaved by war did indeed make a difference, as the owners realised the same could happen to them.
K. P. D. Huemoeller's ch. 8 on Republican slave revolts centres on the concept of inverted order. Fugitive slaves raping Roman matrons and virgins (Sall., Hist. 3.98), household slaves staging a mock trial against their owners in the first Sicilian Slave War of 135 b.c.e. (Diod. Sic. 34/35.2.13–15) or a slaves’ rebellion which ended in installing new instutions in the city of Volsinii in 265 b.c.e. (Val. Max. 9.1. ext. 2) are particularly striking cases of agency which often included an element of sexual punishment and revenge. Silence is crucial in A. K. Strong's treatment of male slave rape and victim agency (ch. 9). In some instances, there seems to have existed a certain degree of recognition of the pudicitia of a slave (Dig. 47.10.9.4–10), though there were no legal consequences involved for owners abusing them. A very rare case of ‘honour killing’ is mentioned by Valerius Maximus (6.1.6), where a freed former male prostitute kills his own daughter for the disgrace she brought to the family by being engaged in illicit premarital sex. In her survey on sex and slavery in the Pompeian household (ch. 10), S. Levin-Richardson offers an extensive and illuminating list of instances of sexual use of slaves in both iconography of objects such as cups (the Warren Cup gets due attention) and in particular in mythological scenes on wall paintings. The gold armband with the inscription domnus ancillae suae (‘master to his own slave girl’) is viewed as ‘a tangible manifestation of the entanglement of slavery, power, sex, and affective bonds in the household’ (202–3). No chapter goes further in daring to speak out on behalf on the victims than the contribution by U. Roth (ch. 11) — a bold and daring piece which does not hesitate to describe Trimalchio as a slave victim of serial rape at age fourteen, with parallels of horrible cases mentioned in Thomas Thistlewood's diary of eighteenth-century Jamaica. Throughout her chapter on the difficult topic of child sexual abuse, Roth writes with nuance and due empathy. Following Keith Bradley's seminal work on Apuleius’ Metamorphoses as an account of slave owners’ fear of servile resistance and the condition of slavery in general, W. Owens’ subtle reading of the rather violent Amor and Psyche story (ch. 12) proposes considering this tale as containing elements of a story told by a real ancilla, inviting the audience to some form of sympathy. Authority, profit and resistance are at stake in the contribution by M. J. Perry (ch. 13), with again striking and revealing instances of owners resorting to ‘easily attainable sex’ with slaves (Hor., Sat. 1.2.114–119), role-reversal when a woman is transformed from slave to mistress (Mart. 6.71), resistance by slaves in the form of committing infanticide, or the difference between voluntary relationships between slaves and coerced and often violent ‘breeding’ efforts.
In the recurring discussion about emotion in a relationship with where one party is dominant (and the consequent possibility of a reversal of roles), not all contributors take the same stance. While E. Wilson and J. D. Pottter see such relationships as precluding the possibility of mutual affection, others such as R. Matuszewski and S. Levin-Richardson are prepared to consider the emotional involvement of the subjected party. Yet such minor disagreement only contributes to the wonderful richness of this volume. All chapters are engagingly written. They are examples of nuanced, thorough and outstanding scholarship, which is always prepared to view the ancient Graeco-Roman evidence within the broader comparative perspective. The impeccable editing and the beautiful and effective illustrations further add to the value of the book, which is due to become a classic in the prolific field of research on ancient slavery. I recommend it highly.
