"Graceo-Roman Slave Markets: Fact or Fiction? critically examines the existence and identification of purpose-built slave markets in the Graeco-Roman world from a cross-cultural perspective. It investigates whether certain ancient monuments were designed specifically for use as slave markets, and whether they required special furnishings and safety features that clearly distinguished them from other commercial buildings and marketplaces of the Graeco-Roman world. Selected early modern and modern parallels are analyzed, followed by a brief discussion of ancient written sources on slave markets. The main focus of the book is a critical re-examination of all eight ancient buildings that have thus far been identified as slave markets. The conclusion includes a short comparison of modern and alleged ancient slave markets and finally answers the question of whether ancient slave markets are an archaeological fact or fiction."--Jacket.