Re-posting for the afternoon crowd. Lots of fun and spots available if you in Cambridge

I'll be kicking off this term's IHR Earlier Middle Ages seminar with a paper on 'Gregory of Tours and Slavery', on 6 May. See you there! ~James

We are delighted to announce a one day conference on Manumission in the Medieval Islamicate World – happening on 22 April, at the University of Leicester – which the DoSSE project has co-organised with the Markfield Institute.

Email Erin etd4@leicester.ac.uk to register your free attendance.

Enslaved: Peoples of the Historical Slave Trade Explore or reconstruct the lives of individuals who were enslaved, owned slaves, or participated in the historical trade.

What are humanities and social sciences research good for? Consider Enslaved.org: putting names to as many of the people trafficked during the Atlantic slave trade as possible. Insisting on the dignity of every human being. #Talkabouthumanities #talkaboutsocialsciences

How did late medieval debates shape the understanding of slavery and employment?

Read up on Martin Schermaier's project here.

👉 buff.ly/n0dPpSF

For an overview of all research projects, see the new Dependent: buff.ly/gi1LMwh

@unibonn.bsky.social
@dfg.de

The first page of the journal article entitled "The Alexamenos Graffito as Christian Parody." Abstract: Against the near-universal consensus that it was created by a pagan (non-Christian) in order to satirise Christian worship, this article contends that the Alexamenos graffito can plausibly be read as a Christian self-parody, created by the enslaved Alexamenos himself. It is the first full-length treatment of the authorial origins of the Alexamenos graffito. The article first provides an overview of the visual and scholarly histories of the image since the nineteenth century. Then it addresses evidence for and against reading the text as non-Christian or Christian in origin, focusing on the apparent sexualisation of Jesus, early Christian receptions of satirical depictions of Jesus, the graffito's use of a titulus, the solidarity of the image with enslaved workers and the relevance of nearby Christian graf-fiti. Finally, it places the graffito in conversation with ancient self-parody practices from wider Greek, Roman and Christian sources. While it is impossible to argue definitively about the identity of the graffito's creator, this article contends that scholarship cannot exclude the possibility and potential likelihood that it may be Christian in origin.

Pleased to see that my latest article, entitled "The Alexamenos Graffito as Christian Self-Parody," is now out in NTS. In it I argue against the widely held view that this graffito is non-Christian in origin and that it could very well have been written by an enslaved Christian.

Congratulations to you all on this article. If I was teaching undergraduates about early medieval Britain or Europe, or about interdisciplinarity in general, this would be at the top of the reading list. ~James

Book Review | We Were Slaves In Egypt—and Slaveowners Slavery and the Jews of Medieval Egypt: A History By Craig Perry  Princeton University Press, 368 pp.   Each year at Passover, Jews gather around the

Just in time for Passover. Thanks to Moment Magazine and Jacob Wirtschafter for this review of my recent book from @princetonupress.bsky.social! momentmag.com/book-review-...

Fascinating new research on how we can identify the burial remains of female domestic servants in Qin dynasty China:

Finally, we discussed similarities between the slaveholding practices of churches with those of Zoroastrian fire temples, drawing on Nazanin Tamari's article

Students also explored references to slaves in Pope Gregory the Great's letters, via the www.papalpatrimonies.com/map created by Roy Flechner

They also searched for references to enslaved people in saints' lives using The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity database csla.history.ox.ac.uk/search.php

For this week on 'Slavery in Late Antiquity', students looked at the relationship of slavery with the Church, beginning with three excellent articles:
-@lisakaarenbailey.bsky.social on 'servi servorum Dei'
-Cassandra Casias on Augustine's sermons to slaveholders
-Justin Pigott on slave ordination

Bronze figurine of an enslaved person from Roman Britain on a conference poster advertising a conference next month in Toronto

Bluesky friends, I am happy to advertise a conference on ancient and medieval slave trading in the Mediterranean, co-organized by myself and Elizabeth Fentress, to be held in Toronto next month (April 15-17, 2026). Contact me via email (rather than here) or the email on the poster for more info!

The IHR's guide to its Monumenta Germaniae Historica collections (@monumenta.bsky.social) is a superb introduction for students of medieval German and European history. #medievalsky

Education in Religious Contexts of Late Antiquity Cambridge Core - Religion: General Interest - Education in Religious Contexts of Late Antiquity

🧯Hot off the press: Education in Religious Contexts of Late Antiquity (Cambridge Element) > free download until April 8!

www.cambridge.org/core/element...

We are delighted to announce a one day conference on Manumission in the Medieval Islamicate World – happening on 22 April, at the University of Leicester – which the DoSSE project has co-organised with the Markfield Institute.

Email Erin etd4@leicester.ac.uk to register your free attendance.

Label text

Collar

Collar with hand.

The well-known Late Roman “Zoninus Collar”. To mark a slave. See J.Trimble’s article among others. My hand at similar depth from camera in attempt to illustrate (embody?) how small it is.

And another press release from @unibonn.bsky.social, this time on our new project funded by @volkswagenstiftung.de

The Nameless in History

...and in English

www.uni-bonn.de/en/news/048-...

@woodjamie.bsky.social

Any chance anyone has a PDF of Heinz Heinen, "Amtsärztliche Untersuchung eines toten Sklaven. Überlegungen zu P. Oxy. III 475", in A. Marcone (ed.), Medicina e società nel mondo antico. Atti del convegno di Udine (4-5 ottobre 2005), Studi Udinesi sul Mondo Antico 4 (2006), 194-202?

Students researching enslaved labour at the vineyard commented upon an article I'm preparing...

'Faithful slaves preserve our vintage in huge jugs
& rejoice in the press with pounding feet,
& the red blood of Bacchus colours their soles'
(Ennodius of Pavia)

Students researching weaving & slavery read ‘Identity and forced labour in the imperial textile workshops’ by Anna Kelley

tinyurl.com/4wsw7yzn

'The son of Licinianus... shall be bound in fetters & consigned to service in the imperial weaving establishment in Carthage.' (Constantine)

Students researching slaves who cooked and served food used Katherine M. Dunbabin's article on ‘The waiting servant in later Roman art’

www.jstor.org/stable/1562138

'Sosias, I must have lunch... taste and make sure—for they often play you false—that the seasoned dishes are well soused' (Ausonius)

Students researching scribes read ‘“Etched into the soul”: the education of shorthand-writers in Late Antiquity’ by Ella Kirsch @ellakirsh.bsky.social

tinyurl.com/mrxtbr6p

'You have felt letters branded, Pergamus, on your face, & those which your right hand neglected your brow endures' (Ausonius)

For Week 5 of Slavery in Late Antiquity, students researched and presented on different servile occupations: scribal and secretarial work; cooking and serving food; weaving and textile work; and viticultural labour.

Greatest honour of my career so far. As founding editor I'm proud to announce @edinburghup.bsky.social Studies in Late Roman History. The world's first book series exclusively dedicated to the core domain of Late Antiquity. Like to discuss proposals or manuscripts? Reach out!

tinyurl.com/dujjeuth

An exciting new book from friend-of the-project, @lisakaarenbailey.bsky.social , which we're all looking forward to reading

📣 The Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies (BCDSS), in collaboration with the International Institute of Social History (IISH), invites researchers to examine coercive labour regimes through the analytical lens of the household.
For more: buff.ly/tmQLUm3
@unibonn.bsky.social
@dfg.de

Slavery and the Shaping of the Premodern Muslim Family Slavery and the Shaping of the Muslim Family delves into the wide-ranging and complex subject of slavery within the familial sphere of Islamic societies. For too long, secondary literature has treated...

New #OpenAccess book from @degruyterbrill.bsky.social:

Slavery and the Shaping of the Premodern Muslim Family

A group of three people in front of a white historic residence

Kicking off our project on The Nameless in History with Pia Wiegmink and @woodjamie.bsky.social in the beautiful surroundings of Schloss Herrenhausen @volkswagenstiftung.de

Archives of Servitude in Post-Carolingian Francia

Our next seminar will be this Wednesday 4 March with Niall Ó Súilleabháin (King's College London), speaking on 'Archives of Servitude in Post-Carolingian Francia'. All welcome - please register here! IHR Wolfson NB02, 5.30pm.