Classical Athenian slavery is often discussed as a single phenomenon and Athens' enslaved as a unitary group. Yet the single legal status that the enslaved shared often obscures the very different characteristics of slavery evident in our evidence. This book provides a nuanced picture of Athenian slavery and its consequences from the perspective of slaveholding strategies, evidencing the varying ways in which Athenian slave owners employed their enslaved and the different methods of social control they utilised to do so. This approach, drawn from the work of historian Joseph Miller, eschews static definitions of 'the institution of slavery', in favour of a more dynamic progression of varied, though interrelated, phenomena.

Applying this methodology to classical Athenian evidence sheds light on the complexity of the city state's slave system and explicates the wide variations in the lives of Athenian slaves. Jason Douglas Porter furthers academic understanding of the complex relationships between slavery, Athenian society and economy through recognising the diverse motivations and contexts that drove these varied forms of exploitation.