The mental health of slaves from the Republic to early Principate: How psychological approaches to ancient subjects can illuminate lived experience

Young, Jamie Austin Tyson (2024) The mental health of slaves from the Republic to early Principate: How psychological approaches to ancient subjects can illuminate lived experience. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

The conditions of Roman slavery were clearly, objectively, horrific. But how can we know what that actually felt like for the human individual who experienced such levels of extreme subjugation? Previously, scholars have relegated slavery to the ‘objectively terrible but subjectively unknowable’ pile of history. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of humans suffered and died because of the Roman slave trade, yet we know nothing about their first-hand experiences. Until now. By comparing what we now know about psychological responses to similar traumas in modern-day contexts with the ancient evidence, we can gain an insight into those lives that were so harsh, yet rarely documented. This thesis reveals the reality of life for those invisible slaves. It employs a new methodology for studying sources from antiquity; one which goes beyond basic psychological comparisons to delve into the deep, evolutionary and biological psychological processes of human beings; processes that unite us all. In doing so, the lived experience of so many undocumented slaves from antiquity is illuminated, and it is a sorry tale.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology; D History General and Old World > D History (General) > D051 Ancient History; D History General and Old World > DE The Mediterranean Region. The Greco-Roman World
• Colleges/Schools: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Humanities > Classics
• Supervisor's Name: Hau, Dr. Lisa and Fox, Professor Matthew
• Date of Award: 2024
• Depositing User: Theses Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:2024-84303
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 30 Apr 2024 09:35
• Last Modified: 08 May 2024 11:20
• Thesis DOI: 10.5525/gla.thesis.84303
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/84303