Enslaved People and the Demonic in the Sasanian Empire

Avigail Manekin-Bamberger*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

Studies of slavery in the Sasanian Empire have focused mainly on the legal status of slaves, based primarily on Middle Persian legal compilations. While these studies have advanced our understanding of Sasanian institutions of slavery, the social history and daily experiences of enslaved individuals remain largely unknown. An overlooked source for reconstructing the social history of enslaved individuals is magical texts and artifacts, in particular the Aramaic incantation bowls. This article therefore focuses on three analyses of the Aramaic bowl texts: occurrences of slaves in lists, magic spells to retrieve runaway slaves, and persistent textual and pictorial connections between slaves and demons. These analyses not only enrich our picture of slavery in the Sasanian Empire but also demonstrate the usefulness of studying magical artifacts for reconstructing the social and cultural history of societies in Late Antiquity.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)369-394
Number of pages26
JournalJournal of Late Antiquity
Volume17
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Sep 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 Johns Hopkins University Press.

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