Presentation

The 35th conference of the « Groupe de Recherche sur l’Esclavage dans l’Antiquité » (GIREA) will take place in Madrid (28-30 November, 2012), at the CCHS (CSIC), under the title "Spaces of slavery and dependence in Antiquity". The GIREA is an international work group, coordinated by the ISTA of the Université de Franche-Comté, whose activity entails the regular conferences centred on different aspects of dependency in Antiquity.

The theme chosen for the 35th converence is « Spaces of slavery and dependence in Antiquity ». The intention of the meeting is to approach social inequality through its spatial dimension (landscape and territory; domestic, working, religioous space...). Space is an active historical factor in conforming social relations, particularly in creating and dissolving forms of dependence. Because of this commonality, it is possible to compare different scenarios of servitude which are central in configuring Ancient societies, such as the duality between domestic and public spheres, urban vs. rural, colonized or conquered territories vs. the metropolis, as well as the study of religious space in configuring social dendence. Since the conference will take place in Madrid, it will also serve to focus particularly on societies from the Iberian peninsula, immediately before, during and after Roman domination. Also, this theme will gravitate towards archaeological approaches which are key in understanding this spatial dimension. This will be a challenge which responds directly to the questions posed by GIREA, but which has been little explored in previous editions.

The 35th GIREA conference will pursue, therefore, two overall objectives:

  1. Stimulate scientific discussion on the spatial factors present both in configuring forms of social dependence, as well as approaches and methodologies suitable for their study.
  2. Honor Prof. Domingo Plácido, one of the researchers of the classical world which has had most impact on the history of the GIREA.