Overview
My research focuses on understandings of slavery, freedom, and ownership in Roman legal, literary, and philosophical texts. My book, The Mind of the Slave: The Limits of Ownership in Roman Law and Society, considers the double nature of slaves as property and human beings under the law in the Roman world. My primary focus at the moment is a monograph-length project on "letters of enslavement," as well as longer-term projects on trust and the construction of legal personhood.
Research Focus
- slavery and freedom studies
- Roman law and society
- Latin letters
- Seneca the Younger
Publications
The Mind of the Slave: The Limits of Ownership in Roman Law and Society, Michigan 2026.
“Two Ex-Slaves of Cicero: Tiro and Chrysippus Beyond Reach,” D. Meticic and J. Rogers (eds.), Working Lives in Ancient Rome, Palgrave MacMillan, 2024.
“The Cost of Ingratitude: Freedmen, Patrons, and Re-enslavement,” R. MacLean, S. Bell, and D. Borbonus (eds.), Freed Persons in the Roman World: Integration, Diversity, and Representation, Cambridge, 2024.
“¿Honor entre esclavos?: desigualdad frente a la ley en el Imperio romano,” M. Campagno, J. Gallego, C. García, and R. Payne (eds.), Desigualdades Antiguas. Economía, Cultura y Sociedad en el Oriente Medio y el Mediterráneo, Miño y Dávila Editores, 2023.
“Between Slave Catchers and Slave Harborers: Trust on a Roman Road,” C. Moatti and E. Chevreau (eds.), L'expérience de la mobilité de l'Antiquité à nos jours, entre précarité et confiance, Bordeaux: Éditions Ausonius, 2021.
“Free in Fact? Legal Status and State in the Suits for Freedom,” C. Ando and W. Sullivan (eds.), The Discovery of the Fact, Michigan, 2020.
“The Freedom to Give: The Legal Basis of Seneca’s Treatment of Slaves in De Beneficiis,” Classical Philology 114.1, January 2019.
