Roman Slavery: Retrospect and Prospect.

This paper is the result of an invitation made to the author to assess his own contribution to the history of Roman slavery for presentation at a conference held at the University of Edinburgh in 2007. It describes the circumstances under which he began the study of Roman slavery (with special attention to the influence of contemporary studies of New World slavery), indicates the principal questions asked and answers proposed, and points to areas for further investigation. A key theme is the emphasis on the need to study the history of Roman slavery from a comparative point of view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]