About the Author

Hugh Thompson's interest in slavery was first inspired by his excavation of the Iron Age hill-fort at Bigberry near Canterbury in 1978-80. Later he participated in international expeditions to the slave-worked Roman quarries in Egypt's eastern desert. A study tour in search of slavery evidence took him all over Europe and the Mediterranean and ultimately led him to write this book. He died in 1995, aged 72. Ralph Jackson, who has written the Epilogue, is Curator of the Romano-British collections at the British Museum.