This course serves as an introduction both to the general history and to many particular issues and themes of slavery in the Roman world. As we engage the ancient Romans, some other questions of a broader dimension will be addressed in order to establish a philosophical or ideological framework, as it were, and to indicate the many implications associated with the theory, practice, and historiography of slavery. While the reading list is quite varied in scope and theme, I cannot emphasize enough the crucial need for students to familiarize themselves with the primary sources (i.e., Plautus and the texts in Wiedemann). It is imperative that we distinguish, as much as possible, what the ancients themselves practiced and thought of slavery from the interpretations of more modern investigators.