Learning how to handle Ancient Roman slaves

 

I picked this book up years ago, probably in 2016. I’ve only just gotten around to it which is ridiculous, as I knew from the second that I picked it up in the shop that I would love it. This is the work of a lot of research by Jerry Toner, who has looked at the different practices across the times of the Roman Empire and written about them as Marcus Sidoneous Flax, an imaginary Roman slave owner who gives you advice on how to control your possessions. Jerry interrupts at the end of every section to talk about these bits of advice from a modern mindset.

This is incredibly interesting if you at all are interested in how slaves were treated in Ancient Rome, how they could become freedmen, and how they got into that situation. It’s a very quick read and I really enjoyed it throughout. I love the concept and the approach that Toner took to this book, which I think is really unique and I’d love to see it used for more historical situations to bring them into the modern mindset.

I definitely recommend this and I’d love to know if any more of you have read this!