“Documenting Freedom in Ancient Greece, and a Bronze Inscription in Oxford, MS”

Freedom in the ancient Mediterranean could be tenuous. In some parts of the Greek world, you could find people setting up public declarations of the freeing of slaves. A small bronze inscription, now at the University Museum in Oxford, MS, documents the freeing of a woman named Philista in the early 2nd century BC. Was this her personal, portable copy, her ancient “free papers”? Dr. Cook’s talk will address that question as he reconstructs the life story of this palm-sized bronze plaque.

Public reception at 6:30 and talk at 7:00 in Bryant 209.