Slavery and Rebellion in Second-Century BC Sicily - (Edinburgh Studies in Ancient Slavery) by Peter Morton

About the Book

Offers a radical reassessment of slave revolts and their function in ancient historiography

Book Synopsis

This is the first book-length study in English dedicated to an exploration of the events traditionally known as the two Sicilian Slave Wars. The second-century BC revolts are commonly included among the largest slave uprisings in world history and are considered key milestones in the timeline of Roman slavery. This book offers a re-examination of the so-called Slave Wars from the perspectives of the rebels and argues that these occurrences should be understood not as slave revolts but as rebellions ignited by the socio-economic and political difficulties caused by the Roman-backed status quo on Sicily.
Analysing a diverse range of sources and material evidence, the book champions the perspectives of the rebels over those of the Graeco-Roman elite expressed in much later configurations of the events and provides radically new assessments of these elite histories while focusing on their status as slave-owner narratives. Opening a new window into the Sicilian rebellions, this book enables the contextualisation of these ancient revolts through uprisings in more recent times in the USA, Brazil and the Caribbean and offers a unique opportunity not only to study how the Roman Empire was formed and challenged but also to reconfigure our modern understanding of rebellions involving the enslaved.

Review Quotes

[Slavery and Rebellion in Second-Century BC Sicily] is based on some clear and important working assumptions, which are of interest to any student of the Roman Republican period. [...] The case it puts forward on the Sicilian revolts is compelling, and redefines the terms of the debate on a crisis that has for way too long been explained away as a marginal instance of servile disorder. It is to be hoped that this book is read and discussed well beyond the confines of the history of antiquity.--Daniel Vazquez, Mary Immaculate College "Greece & Rome"

[Morton] is to be praised for his thorough research, his clear writing, his bold thesis and for forcing historians to justify explicitly long-held and assumed positions.--Peter Hunt, University of Colorado Boulder "The Classical Review"

A compelling exploration of the revolts that broke out in Sicily in the late second century BCE. Morton combines a thorough scrutiny of the ancient evidence with an unprecedentedly robust engagement with the historiography on slave resistance. The debate on these conflicts and their role in late Republican history is placed on a new footing.--Federico Santangelo, University of Newcastle

About the Author

Peter Morton is a teacher of Social Studies and Latin at William Penn Charter School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. His research areas include Roman slavery, the history of slave revolts, and ancient historiography, especially Diodorus Siculus' Bibliotheke.