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BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

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Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ideas, people and events that have shaped our world.

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Melvyn Bragg

Neville Morley

Ulrike Roth

Myles Lavan

Simon Tillotson

In Our Time: Roman Slavery

Roman Slavery

05/04/2018

BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, Roman Slavery

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the relationship between slavery and the power of Rome.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the impact that slaves had on the Roman Republic and Empire and the impact the Romans had on slaves, from the first conquests to the fall of Rome.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the role of slavery in the Roman world, from its early conquests to the fall of the Western Empire. 

The system became so entrenched that no-one appeared to question it, following Aristotle's view that slavery was a natural state. Whole populations could be marched into slavery after military conquests, and the freedom that Roman citizens prized for themselves, even in poverty, was partly defined by how it contrasted with enslavement. Slaves could be killed or tortured with impunity, yet they could be given great responsibility and, once freed, use their contacts to earn fortunes. The relationship between slave and master informed early Christian ideas of how the faithful related to God, informing debate for centuries.

With

Neville Morley
Professor of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Exeter

Ulrike Roth
Senior Lecturer in Ancient History at the University of Edinburgh

And

Myles Lavan
Senior lecturer in Ancient History at the University of St Andrews

Producer: Simon Tillotson.

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