Whither the Study of Ancient Mediterranean Slavery? On Joly and Knust’s Second Slavery

This commentary responds to the critique by Joly and Knust of M.I. Finley's binary concept of 'slave society' versus 'society with slaves', and to their 'new methodological alternative' of a first and second slavery. Whilst agreeing with much of the substance of their critique of Finley, and on the utility of a phasal model of a first and second slavery, this commentary underscores some potential pitfalls of this new alternative; it also highlights several intractable epistemological challenges to understanding slavery on a Mediterranean scale across the longue durée, and explores the role of regional histories in contributing to a history of slavery in the greater Mediterranean zone during antiquity.