Galatian Mangones, Slave Trade and Ecclesiastical Perspective in Honorius's Time

Towards the end of Honorius's reign, Augustine of Hippo wrote an epistle addressed to Alypius, Bishop of Tbagaste, which has become one of the most valuable testimonies on the organization of the slave trade in the late Roman world. In the aforementioned letter, the Doctor of the Church denounced the activities of the mangones or slave traders (most of them were Galatians) who did not hesitate to orchestrate kidnappings of free people in the more isolated rural areas of the Numidia to sell them later in the transmarine provinces. In an obvious context of political decomposition of the Roman order, the Church reacted against illegal practices that were depriving the interior of Africa of its indigenous element. The present study seeks to deepen the roots and the origin of the mangones, paying special attention to their historical evolution to reach a more solid understanding of slavery in the 5th century.