October 31-November 01. Roman Slavery. Group Work Based on Blendspace Resources.

Blendspace: Roman Slavery


Introduction to Blendspace Resources and tasks for groups:

Tiles 2-6 offer short essays on Roman slaves and slavery taken from three elementary Latin textbooks: The Cambridge Latin Course Unit I, Stage 6; Latin for Americans; and Ecce Romani I, Chapters 6 and 10. All members of a group should read these short essays.

These are followed by two articles about slaves' resistance with questions (7 & 8).

Tiles 9-13 are PRIMARY SOURCE. texts by well-known Roman authors: Columella about the work of slaves, men and women, on large farming estates;Cato the Elder, Pliny the Younger and Seneca, who reveal their thoughts about cruel masters, slaves and slavery as an institution.

In your group, decide who will be the primary person to read and present one source from 7-13 to the group. Everyone is encouraged to read the primary sources, but one person must summarize and present the primary source.

As a group you must create a collection of quotations or summaries that illustrate the good, the bad, and the ugly of the Roman institution of slavery. You must include how slavery could be bad or ugly for slave owners as well as slaves.

As a group you must identify and describe five ways in which Roman slavery differed from the Atlantic slave trade and slavery in American in the 16-19th centuries.

While you are working as a group, your grade for this assignment will be based on your own involvement in reading, presenting in group, and presenting to the class. Each student in a group will rate the quality and usefulness of the contributions of the other students in the group. You will be assessed by your peers as well as by the teacher. In addition, the whole class will answer final questions on the quality of each group's presentation.