In this dissertation I investigate the intersection of sex and slavery during the high point of development of the Roman slave system, from approximately 200 BCE to 200 CE. Although it has long been assumed that enslaved men and women were vulnerable to sexual abuse by their owners, my project is the first to consider sexual and reproductive control—ranging from compulsory abstinence to physical alteration—as integral to the exercise of ownership. Placing legal and documentary sources next to the more familiar literary evidence, I analyze slave-owners’ articulation of the sexual and reproductive value of their slaves and, in doing so, demonstrate the significance of this dimension of slavery for constructing both the lived experience of the enslaved and attitudes towards gender, sexuality, and intimacy in the Roman world.