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This chapter focuses on the methodological and evidentiary problems that scholars face when they use the various forms of evidence for ancient slavery. One major problem is that of identifying slaves in our sources. In many cases, there is no explicit labeling, and it is necessary to debate the criteria we use to identify slaves or former slaves (2.1–4). In other cases, the evidence is ambiguous and can be interpreted in various ways (2.4–5, 2.9–10); occasionally, we also get explicit identification of individuals as if they were still slaves, although there are reasons to doubt such labels (2.7). Sources can also use concurrently different terms for slaves, thus creating significant problems of interpretation (2.6).

The study of the material and visual culture of slavery has become a burgeoning field in recent years. But identifying slaves in the material and visual record presents problems of its own. What criteria should we use to make such identifications? What role does the depiction of slaves play in ancient objects (2.10, 2.12)? Sometimes epigraphic evidence makes it easy to identify ancient objects as made by or for slaves; consequently, such objects are extremely helpful for understanding the identities, values, and life histories of ancient slaves or former slaves (2.11). In other cases, epigraphic evidence is ambiguous, and the visual evidence becomes crucial for making identifications (2.13). But the most difficult question concerns the identification of slaves in the material record: can we locate slaves in ancient buildings on the basis of space use (2.14–5)?

Finally, is it possible to identify the voice of slaves in the extant ancient sources, given that most sources were written by elite authors, who were usually slaveholders? To what extent can we use fictional slaves to reconstruct the lives and views of real slaves (2.16–21)? Can we trust inscriptions that purport to present the slaves’ own words (2.22)? How reliable are the statements and narratives of elite authors for understanding slaves (2.23–4)? And when we have texts written by people who had experienced slavery, how useful are they for reconstructing that experience (2.25)? Debating these methodological problems is a necessary first step for studying the wealth of evidence on ancient slavery and slaves.