HistoryTwinsPodcast The Fate of Rome: Climate, Contagion, and Slavery in the Roman Empire
Sep 26, 2019
Kyle Harper, a historian of the late Roman Empire, explores how climate swings, waves of plague, and slavery shaped Rome's trajectory. He describes urban disease burdens and paleoclimate shifts. He traces major plagues, military and social strain, and why slavery changed unevenly across regions.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Don't Force Ancient Slavery Into Marxist Models
- Avoid reducing ancient slavery to deterministic Marxist stages; compare models to diverse evidence instead.
- Harper argues markets and labor mobility existed in Rome, so scholars should test models against papyri, inscriptions, and economic data.
Conquest Was One Of Several Slave Sources
- Military conquest supplied many Roman slaves but was not the sole nor always dominant source of slave supply.
- Harper stresses natural reproduction, trade imports, and abduction as major, often underappreciated components of slave supply.
Freedmen Visibility Distorts Manumission Rates
- Manumission was common in urban and skilled contexts but far less so in rural sectors; freedmen visibility skews impressions.
- Harper warns epigraphic records overrepresent urban freedmen, while many rural slaves likely remained unfreed.
