Conférence UTL MO : L'escalavage en Grèce ancienne

Athens in classical times is often presented as the first slave society in history. In fact, the demographic weight of the slave population was considerable. Slaves were present in all sectors of the economy. Athenian democracy itself owes its advent in part to the lightning rise of slavery. But what really counts is the centrality of the institution of slavery in the Athenian imagination. And if we consider that ancient Greece is twice our past - the very real past of a large part of Europe, and its dream past, that is, an inexhaustible source of inspiration always likely to be updated in the course of its history - then we must also be sensitive to the way in which the ancient slavery heritage continues to accompany some of its most admirable legacies to this day, like an absent limb.