Rachel Zelnick-Abramovitz | Tel Aviv University - Academia.edu

Not Wholly Free, 2005

Based on a thorough investigation of the literary and epigraphic sources, this comprehensive stud... more Based on a thorough investigation of the literary and epigraphic sources, this comprehensive study presents Greek manumission as a form of social relations, rooted in concepts of freedom and dependence and reflected by the terminology and the conditions of manumission.

Comparative and Global Framing of Enslavement, 2023

Citizenship in Antiquity: Civic Communities in the Ancient Mediterranean, 2023

Citizenship is usually defined less by what it is than by what it does, as it allows its holders ... more Citizenship is usually defined less by what it is than by what it does, as it allows its holders to enjoy privileges in a political community that others may experience only to a limited degree or not at all. It is sometimes conveniently labelled as political ‘membership’, but it clearly traverses the boundaries of being a member of an ‘organization of citizens’. As inherently a claim to privileges, it has commonly been a source of communal identity – if not ideology – of the entitled, emphasized by their being opposed to the excluded, nowadays more limited as an antithesis, since non-citizenship no longer tends to be hereditary. However, in modern post-Bodin, post-industrial states, citizenship may be considered secondary to a resident status in non-citizens’ common aspirations, with other legal statuses often being equally helpful in regulating one’s ability to work, trade, dwell, and obtain justice in the state, even if requiring some extra formalities. When it is considered essential, it is mostly through the convenience of its permanence, not relying on shifting political attitudes as other statuses often do. At times, this certainly could have also been the case in the ancient Mediterranean, with which this volume is primarily concerned, but, first, the distance between citizens and people of different statuses was larger, more solidified, and often binary, and, second, a large body of sources for this concept and its realities tends to emphasize the political over what we would call the social or simply human.

This collection presents 19 interconnected studies on the language, history, exegesis, and cultur... more This collection presents 19 interconnected studies on the language, history, exegesis, and cultural setting of Greek epic and dramatic poetic texts (“Text”) and their afterlives (“Intertext”) in Antiquity. Spanning texts from Hittite archives to Homer to Greek tragedy and comedy to Vergil to Celsus, the studies here were all written by friends and colleagues of Margalit Finkelberg who are experts in their particular fields, and who have all been influenced by her work. The papers offer close readings of individual lines and discussion of widespread cultural phenomena. Readers will encounter Hittite precedents to the Homeric poems, characters in ancient epic analyzed by modern cognitive theory, the use of Homer in Christian polemic, tragic themes of love and murder, a history of the Sphinx, and more. Text and Intertext in Greek Epic and Drama offers a selection of fascinating essays exploring Greek epic, drama, and their reception and adaptation by other ancient authors, and will be of interest to anyone working on Greek literature.

Between Orality and Literacy: Communication and Adaptation in Antiquity, 2014

This chapter discusses questions on epigraphic history, aiming at shedding some light on the oral... more This chapter discusses questions on epigraphic history, aiming at shedding some light on the oral side of historiography and its meaning, especially as a medium for transmitting historical texts, and the relation between the oral performance of the historical text and its inscribed version. The relation of oral performance to inscribed text can be likened to that of digital to printed texts. Like the ancient oral presentations, the internet too is a "shortcut to fame" and is the fastest medium to transmit texts, images, music and other performative acts to a wide audience. Like dynamic local history, the digital text too is often changed, transformed and adapted to various needs. Akin to the ancient compilations and 'cycles' of mythical, poetical and historical texts, the digital text too is often compiled from different sources and presented as new; an apparent example are the Wiki spaces. Keywords: historiography; inscribed text; oral performance

This article discusses the group of thirty-eight inscribed manumission documents, emanating from ... more This article discusses the group of thirty-eight inscribed manumission documents, emanating from the Kabeirion in north-east Lemnos. This corpus is of a great importance for the study of the island, its Athenian and other population, and the role of the sanctuary and the cult celebrated there, as well as to the study of manumission. While the work done by scholars who studied the inscriptions has shed light on this lesser-known site of manumission, thus adding valuable information to what is known on manumission practices and manumission documents in the Greek world, there are some important questions related to this corpus that still remain to be elucidated. In this article I will briefly review the main features of these manumission documents that emerge from previous studies and consider in greater detail the questions that remain unsolved, suggesting some answers where such can be given.

The Encyclopedia of Ancient History, 2018

Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, 2000

... A penalty clause follows, imposing fines on whoever does not adhere to Macon's d... more ... A penalty clause follows, imposing fines on whoever does not adhere to Macon's decision (lines17-19), and another provision for the publication of the decision in both the disputing poleis (lines 20-22). The word ... evS?KOi xuxo[uv rc?cp x?v "ArcXouva] 'EKaxou?iev ? ...

The Encyclopedia of Ancient History, 2018

Not Wholly Free is a comprehensive study of manumission in the Greek world, based on a thorough a... more Not Wholly Free is a comprehensive study of manumission in the Greek world, based on a thorough appraisal of the extant evidence and on a careful examination of manumission terminology. R. Zelnick-Abramovitz investigates the phenomenon of manumission in all its aspects and features, by analyzing modes of manumission, its terminology, the group composition of manumittors and freed slaves, motivation, procedures and conditions of manumission, legal actions and laws concerning manumitted slaves, and the latter's legal status and position in society. A very important work for all those interested in social history of ancient Greece , slavery, and manumission, as well as ancient historians and classical philologists. Readership All those interested in social history of ancient Greece, slavery, and manumission, as well as ancient historians and classical philologists. For more information see brill.com

Not Wholly Free, 2005

Based on a thorough investigation of the literary and epigraphic sources, this comprehensive stud... more Based on a thorough investigation of the literary and epigraphic sources, this comprehensive study presents Greek manumission as a form of social relations, rooted in concepts of freedom and dependence and reflected by the terminology and the conditions of manumission.

The Oxford Handbook of Greek and Roman Slaveries, 2018

The Greeks had no single generic term for ‘slave’, but a variety of terms for diverse relations o... more The Greeks had no single generic term for ‘slave’, but a variety of terms for diverse relations of dependence and unfree people, many of which were also used to describe free people. Although much less complex, the Roman slave terms show similar features. Despite the ambiguity of the ancient terminology, we may make inferences about various aspects of unfreedom, about ambiguities in social and juridical distinctions, and about attitudes to menial work. This chapter examines Greek and Roman terminologies, aiming at detecting their semantic fields and pointing to a possible identical semantic process behind the adoption of the main slave terms in Greece, Rome, and the modern western world.

Not Wholly Free, 2005

Based on a thorough investigation of the literary and epigraphic sources, this comprehensive stud... more Based on a thorough investigation of the literary and epigraphic sources, this comprehensive study presents Greek manumission as a form of social relations, rooted in concepts of freedom and dependence and reflected by the terminology and the conditions of manumission.

Textus, 2010

"In this article I examine expressions from the context of the circumcision and ... more "In this article I examine expressions from the context of the circumcision and Passover laws in Genesis, Exodus and Leviticus, which suggest two kinds of slaves: “home-born” and “bought with silver”. These expressions, alongside the more common terminology of slavery, bear witness to the development of chattel slavery and slave trade in the land of Israel by the time these books were composed, and to the existence of precise distinctions between free persons and slaves, and between different kinds of slaves. However, the distinction between home-born and bought slaves was not legal but social. This raises the question of why this pair of expressions was used together in the context in which they appear. This is all the more important because “home-born” and “bought with silver” have perfect equivalents in Greek and Latin, in the translations of the Hebrew Bible as well as in Greek and Roman literary and epigraphic sources, but there is no evidence for such a combination of the two expressions in a legal context. Reviewing and analyzing the evidence for the use of these expressions I suggest that the need to be precise as to who was entitled to eat holy food was behind the exacting phrasing of the circumcision law: not only home-born slaves must be circumcised at the age of eight days, but even slaves purchased when they are much older."

Not Wholly Free, 2005

Based on a thorough investigation of the literary and epigraphic sources, this comprehensive stud... more Based on a thorough investigation of the literary and epigraphic sources, this comprehensive study presents Greek manumission as a form of social relations, rooted in concepts of freedom and dependence and reflected by the terminology and the conditions of manumission.

Zeitschrift Fur Papyrologie Und Epigraphik, 2005

Taxing Freedom in Thessalian Manumission Inscriptions, 2013

In Taxing Freedom Rachel Zelnick-Abramovitz examines the nature, the purpose, and the historical ... more In Taxing Freedom Rachel Zelnick-Abramovitz examines the nature, the purpose, and the historical and economic context of payments made to the polis by manumitted slaves, as recorded in manumission inscriptions from Hellenistic and Roman Thessaly.

Taxing Freedom in Thessalian Manumission Inscriptions, 2013

The Encyclopedia of Ancient History, 2012

Manumission was the termination of the state of slavery – of the total domination and confinement... more Manumission was the termination of the state of slavery – of the total domination and confinement of one person by another – and the annulment of his or her legal capacity as property. Being freed, the slave became a subject of rights, limited as they were. Keywords: slavery; social history

Not Wholly Free, 2005

Based on a thorough investigation of the literary and epigraphic sources, this comprehensive stud... more Based on a thorough investigation of the literary and epigraphic sources, this comprehensive study presents Greek manumission as a form of social relations, rooted in concepts of freedom and dependence and reflected by the terminology and the conditions of manumission.

Comparative and Global Framing of Enslavement, 2023

Citizenship in Antiquity: Civic Communities in the Ancient Mediterranean, 2023

Citizenship is usually defined less by what it is than by what it does, as it allows its holders ... more Citizenship is usually defined less by what it is than by what it does, as it allows its holders to enjoy privileges in a political community that others may experience only to a limited degree or not at all. It is sometimes conveniently labelled as political ‘membership’, but it clearly traverses the boundaries of being a member of an ‘organization of citizens’. As inherently a claim to privileges, it has commonly been a source of communal identity – if not ideology – of the entitled, emphasized by their being opposed to the excluded, nowadays more limited as an antithesis, since non-citizenship no longer tends to be hereditary. However, in modern post-Bodin, post-industrial states, citizenship may be considered secondary to a resident status in non-citizens’ common aspirations, with other legal statuses often being equally helpful in regulating one’s ability to work, trade, dwell, and obtain justice in the state, even if requiring some extra formalities. When it is considered essential, it is mostly through the convenience of its permanence, not relying on shifting political attitudes as other statuses often do. At times, this certainly could have also been the case in the ancient Mediterranean, with which this volume is primarily concerned, but, first, the distance between citizens and people of different statuses was larger, more solidified, and often binary, and, second, a large body of sources for this concept and its realities tends to emphasize the political over what we would call the social or simply human.

This collection presents 19 interconnected studies on the language, history, exegesis, and cultur... more This collection presents 19 interconnected studies on the language, history, exegesis, and cultural setting of Greek epic and dramatic poetic texts (“Text”) and their afterlives (“Intertext”) in Antiquity. Spanning texts from Hittite archives to Homer to Greek tragedy and comedy to Vergil to Celsus, the studies here were all written by friends and colleagues of Margalit Finkelberg who are experts in their particular fields, and who have all been influenced by her work. The papers offer close readings of individual lines and discussion of widespread cultural phenomena. Readers will encounter Hittite precedents to the Homeric poems, characters in ancient epic analyzed by modern cognitive theory, the use of Homer in Christian polemic, tragic themes of love and murder, a history of the Sphinx, and more. Text and Intertext in Greek Epic and Drama offers a selection of fascinating essays exploring Greek epic, drama, and their reception and adaptation by other ancient authors, and will be of interest to anyone working on Greek literature.

Between Orality and Literacy: Communication and Adaptation in Antiquity, 2014

This chapter discusses questions on epigraphic history, aiming at shedding some light on the oral... more This chapter discusses questions on epigraphic history, aiming at shedding some light on the oral side of historiography and its meaning, especially as a medium for transmitting historical texts, and the relation between the oral performance of the historical text and its inscribed version. The relation of oral performance to inscribed text can be likened to that of digital to printed texts. Like the ancient oral presentations, the internet too is a "shortcut to fame" and is the fastest medium to transmit texts, images, music and other performative acts to a wide audience. Like dynamic local history, the digital text too is often changed, transformed and adapted to various needs. Akin to the ancient compilations and 'cycles' of mythical, poetical and historical texts, the digital text too is often compiled from different sources and presented as new; an apparent example are the Wiki spaces. Keywords: historiography; inscribed text; oral performance

This article discusses the group of thirty-eight inscribed manumission documents, emanating from ... more This article discusses the group of thirty-eight inscribed manumission documents, emanating from the Kabeirion in north-east Lemnos. This corpus is of a great importance for the study of the island, its Athenian and other population, and the role of the sanctuary and the cult celebrated there, as well as to the study of manumission. While the work done by scholars who studied the inscriptions has shed light on this lesser-known site of manumission, thus adding valuable information to what is known on manumission practices and manumission documents in the Greek world, there are some important questions related to this corpus that still remain to be elucidated. In this article I will briefly review the main features of these manumission documents that emerge from previous studies and consider in greater detail the questions that remain unsolved, suggesting some answers where such can be given.

The Encyclopedia of Ancient History, 2018

Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, 2000

... A penalty clause follows, imposing fines on whoever does not adhere to Macon's d... more ... A penalty clause follows, imposing fines on whoever does not adhere to Macon's decision (lines17-19), and another provision for the publication of the decision in both the disputing poleis (lines 20-22). The word ... evS?KOi xuxo[uv rc?cp x?v "ArcXouva] 'EKaxou?iev ? ...

The Encyclopedia of Ancient History, 2018

Not Wholly Free is a comprehensive study of manumission in the Greek world, based on a thorough a... more Not Wholly Free is a comprehensive study of manumission in the Greek world, based on a thorough appraisal of the extant evidence and on a careful examination of manumission terminology. R. Zelnick-Abramovitz investigates the phenomenon of manumission in all its aspects and features, by analyzing modes of manumission, its terminology, the group composition of manumittors and freed slaves, motivation, procedures and conditions of manumission, legal actions and laws concerning manumitted slaves, and the latter's legal status and position in society. A very important work for all those interested in social history of ancient Greece , slavery, and manumission, as well as ancient historians and classical philologists. Readership All those interested in social history of ancient Greece, slavery, and manumission, as well as ancient historians and classical philologists. For more information see brill.com

Not Wholly Free, 2005

Based on a thorough investigation of the literary and epigraphic sources, this comprehensive stud... more Based on a thorough investigation of the literary and epigraphic sources, this comprehensive study presents Greek manumission as a form of social relations, rooted in concepts of freedom and dependence and reflected by the terminology and the conditions of manumission.

The Oxford Handbook of Greek and Roman Slaveries, 2018

The Greeks had no single generic term for ‘slave’, but a variety of terms for diverse relations o... more The Greeks had no single generic term for ‘slave’, but a variety of terms for diverse relations of dependence and unfree people, many of which were also used to describe free people. Although much less complex, the Roman slave terms show similar features. Despite the ambiguity of the ancient terminology, we may make inferences about various aspects of unfreedom, about ambiguities in social and juridical distinctions, and about attitudes to menial work. This chapter examines Greek and Roman terminologies, aiming at detecting their semantic fields and pointing to a possible identical semantic process behind the adoption of the main slave terms in Greece, Rome, and the modern western world.

Not Wholly Free, 2005

Based on a thorough investigation of the literary and epigraphic sources, this comprehensive stud... more Based on a thorough investigation of the literary and epigraphic sources, this comprehensive study presents Greek manumission as a form of social relations, rooted in concepts of freedom and dependence and reflected by the terminology and the conditions of manumission.

Textus, 2010

"In this article I examine expressions from the context of the circumcision and ... more "In this article I examine expressions from the context of the circumcision and Passover laws in Genesis, Exodus and Leviticus, which suggest two kinds of slaves: “home-born” and “bought with silver”. These expressions, alongside the more common terminology of slavery, bear witness to the development of chattel slavery and slave trade in the land of Israel by the time these books were composed, and to the existence of precise distinctions between free persons and slaves, and between different kinds of slaves. However, the distinction between home-born and bought slaves was not legal but social. This raises the question of why this pair of expressions was used together in the context in which they appear. This is all the more important because “home-born” and “bought with silver” have perfect equivalents in Greek and Latin, in the translations of the Hebrew Bible as well as in Greek and Roman literary and epigraphic sources, but there is no evidence for such a combination of the two expressions in a legal context. Reviewing and analyzing the evidence for the use of these expressions I suggest that the need to be precise as to who was entitled to eat holy food was behind the exacting phrasing of the circumcision law: not only home-born slaves must be circumcised at the age of eight days, but even slaves purchased when they are much older."

Not Wholly Free, 2005

Based on a thorough investigation of the literary and epigraphic sources, this comprehensive stud... more Based on a thorough investigation of the literary and epigraphic sources, this comprehensive study presents Greek manumission as a form of social relations, rooted in concepts of freedom and dependence and reflected by the terminology and the conditions of manumission.

Zeitschrift Fur Papyrologie Und Epigraphik, 2005

Taxing Freedom in Thessalian Manumission Inscriptions, 2013

In Taxing Freedom Rachel Zelnick-Abramovitz examines the nature, the purpose, and the historical ... more In Taxing Freedom Rachel Zelnick-Abramovitz examines the nature, the purpose, and the historical and economic context of payments made to the polis by manumitted slaves, as recorded in manumission inscriptions from Hellenistic and Roman Thessaly.

Taxing Freedom in Thessalian Manumission Inscriptions, 2013

The Encyclopedia of Ancient History, 2012

Manumission was the termination of the state of slavery – of the total domination and confinement... more Manumission was the termination of the state of slavery – of the total domination and confinement of one person by another – and the annulment of his or her legal capacity as property. Being freed, the slave became a subject of rights, limited as they were. Keywords: slavery; social history

Encyclopedia of Ancient History, John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Keywords: ancient Greece; classical civilization; Greek history

Encyclopedia of Ancient History, John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Keywords: ancient Greece; classical civilization; Greek history

Encyclopedia of Ancient History, John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Keywords: slavery; social history

The Encyclopedia of Ancient History, John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Keywords: ancient Greece; classical civilization; Greek history

Oxford Bibliographies Online

Citizenship in Antiquity, 2023

Comparative and Global Framing of Enslavement, 2023

Routledge, 2020

This collection presents 19 interconnected studies on the language, history, exegesis, and cultur... more This collection presents 19 interconnected studies on the language, history, exegesis, and cultural setting of Greek epic and dramatic poetic texts (“Text”) and their afterlives (“Intertext”) in Antiquity.
Spanning texts from Hittite archives to Homer to Greek tragedy and
comedy to Vergil to Celsus, the studies here were all written by friends and colleagues of Margalit Finkelberg who are experts in their particular fields, and who have all been influenced by her work. The papers offer close readings of individual lines and discussion of widespread cultural phenomena.
Readers will encounter Hittite precedents to the Homeric poems, characters in ancient epic analyzed by modern cognitive theory, the use of Homer in Christian polemic, tragic themes of love and murder, a history of the Sphinx, and more.
Text and Intertext in Greek Epic and Drama offers a selection of fascinating essays exploring Greek epic, drama, and their reception and adaptation by other ancient authors, and will be of interest to anyone working on Greek literature.