Enslaved People and the Demonic in the Sasanian Empire

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.