This lecture explores the multiple identities of enslaved persons in ancient societies. Ancient
masters and slaveholding societies often behaved as if the only identity that mattered for
enslaved persons was their classification as slaves. While slave classification had profound
implications it was not the only identity that mattered. Employing key conceptual tools from
the study of identities it analyses the diversity of the identities of enslaved persons around
six axes. The first axis concerns the imposed identity of slavery and its impact on the
self-understanding of enslaved persons. The second examines work and function and the extent to
which these led to the creation of identities. The third focuses on gender family and kinship:
male and female identities and the identities and roles of spouses partners parents children
siblings and relatives. The fourth explores ethnic and religious identities. The fifth concerns
time: the identities of freedpersons and of enslaved persons who had lived as free and how
these identities related to their past. Finally the sixth axis explores the entanglement
between the diverse identities of enslaved persons and the groupness of slave identities.
