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The title of this book, Enslaved Leadership, might sound to some like a contradiction in terms. How could enslaved persons of antiquity possibly occupy positions of leadership, authority, and indeed, mastery? But Katherine Shaner's illuminating monograph furthers slavery studies by demonstrating, quite convincingly, that ancient slavery is not at all a simple matter. The reality of social status distinctions in antiquity were probably more ambiguous, paradoxical, and just plain messy. The introductory chapter of Shaner's book explains the theoretical and methodological presuppositions and frameworks of the study. In this regard, Shaner's book ticks all the right boxes. Following in the path of feministic hermeneutics—sensitive to matters such as kyriarchy and intersectionality—the reader is reminded that "materials about enslaved persons do not provide windows into reality; rather, they advance arguments that reinforce certain social hierarchies" (xiv).
The first chapter of Enslaved Leadership examines the presence and absence of slaves in the archaeological record and studies of three sites in ancient Ephesus, namely the harbor, marketplace, and Terrace Houses. The chapter aptly demonstrates the dis/appearance of slaves in archaeological evidence but more importantly, the power dynamics at play in the dis/appearance of the enslaved. Here Shaner reminds readers that an archaeological site like Ephesus is no mere museum, but it too is a text, and like the literary record, the archaeological record exhibits various strategies in the regulation and performance of slavery. The analysis of these three spaces in Ephesus betrays an important fact: slaves participated in complex ways in the social and commercial life of the city. Sadly, the map of ancient Ephesus on page 2 has such small print that it is basically illegible.
Chapter Two uses the first-century c.e. Persicus inscription, which was already mentioned in Chapter One, as a lens to analyze the ways in which Roman public (and religious) policies attempted...