THE ROMAN INSTITUTION OF SLAVERY

By

Moses Maka Ndimukika

Sahmyook University

Seoul, Korea

Introduction

Slavery was a basic socio-economic enterprise in ancient society.1 Michael Grant defines slavery

as “an institution of the common law of peoples by which a person is put into the ownership of

somebody else, contrary to the natural order.”2 Slavery was commonly practiced throughout all

ancient history, but history affirms that no other people in history owned so many slaves and

depended upon them so much as the Romans.3 Slavery was accepted as part of life in ancient

Rome by the slaves themselves and by the society. Slavery in ancient Rome played an important

role in society and the economy. Besides manual labor in mines and mills, slaves performed

many domestic services, and were involved in the skilled jobs and professions. Teachers,

accountants, and physicians of the ancient Rome were predominantly slaves.

This paper examines the institution of slavery in ancient Rome between the first centuries of B.C.

and A.D. from a socio-economic point of view with the aim of determining how the institution of

slavery contributed and affected the Roman Empire economically. It is worth noting that the
1
M. I. Finley, Slavery in Classical Antiquity (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1968), 2.
2
Michael Grant, The World of Rome (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1968), 118.
3
William L. Westermann, The Slave Systems of Greek and Roman Antiquity (Philadelphia: American
Philosophical Society, 1955), 11-54; S. Scott Bartchy, “Slavery, Greco-Roman,” The Anchor Bible Dictionary,
edited by David Noel Freedman (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 6:65-73; R. H. Barrow, Slavery in the Roman
Empire (London: Methuen, 1928); Keith R. Bradley, Slavery and Society at Rome (Cambridge: Cambridge,
University Press, 1994); Keith R. Bradley, Slavery and Masters in the Roman Empire: A Study in Social Control
(New York: Oxford University Press), 1987; Moses I. Finley, The Ancient Economy (Berkley: University of
California Press, 1973), 883-910; Carlin A. Barton, The Sorrows of the Ancient Romans: The Gladiator and the
Monster (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1993), pp. 176–177; Keith Hopkins, Conquerors and
Slaves: Sociological Studies in Roman History (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1987), 4-15;
Roman institution of slavery flourishes at a time when the Christian Church was also taking its

genesis and expansion.

In order to lay a plausible basis for the understanding of the institution of slavery, the paper first

establishes that slavery as an institution was an inherent socio-economic institution of the ancient

Near East from antiquity, and that it blossomed and reached its heights during the Greco-Roman

periods. The common sources of slaves and the laws that regulated the institution of slavery in

the larger ancient Near East are explored in the first section of the paper. A brief contextual

exploration of slavery in the early Christian Church is also undertaken for Christianity happens

to make its appearance and expansion during the period of the Roman Empire. The paper then

proceeds to examine the socio-economic dynamics of slavery in the Roman Empire, its

prevalence, indulgence and the impact it had upon the empire. The paper is argued upon the

premise that the Roman Empire was heavily dependent upon the institution of slavery for its

functioning and survival.

SLAVERY IN THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST

Slavery was a well established institution in the entire ancient Near Eastern society with well laid

out social stratifications. The social structure of the ancient Near East had different classes of

people which could easily be summed up into two broad categories, the “free” and the “slaves.” 4

The terms, “free” and “slave” had relative meanings since no one was absolutely free and some

4
For a detailed discussion on social stratification in the ancient Near East, see Eric L. Cripps, Land Tenure
and Social Stratification in Ancient Mesopotamia: Third Millennium Sumer before the UR III Dynasty (Oxford:
Archeo Press, 2007); Raymond Westbrook, “The Character of Ancient Near Eastern Law,” in A History of Near
Ancient Eastern Law, vol. 1, edited by Raymond Westbrook (Leiden Brill, 2003), 1-92; I. M. Diakonoff, “Slave-
Labour Vs. Non-Salve Labour: The Problem of Definition,” in Labour in Ancient Near East, edited by Marvin A.
Powell (New Haven: American Oriental Society, 1987), 1-3; David Lorton, “Legal and Social Institutions of
Pharaonic Egypt,” in Civilization of the Ancient Near East, vol. 1, edited by Jack M. Sasson (New York: Scribner’s,
1995), 345-62; Harry A. Hoffner, “Legal and Social Institutions of Hittite Anatolia,” in Civilization of the Ancient
Near East, vol. 1, edited by Jack M. Sasson (New York: Scribner’s 1995), 555-69; Karen Radner, “Mesopotamia:
Neo-Assyrian Period,” in A History of Near Ancient Eastern Law, vol. 2, edited by Raymond Westbrook (Leiden:
Brill, 2003), 883-910; Finley, The Ancient Economy, 883-910.

2
slaves had some considerable degrees of freedom. For instance, the ordinary slave was a subject

of his master, the master was a subject of the king, the king was a subject of the emperor, the

emperor was also a subject of some god, and some gods were subjects of other superior gods.5

Never the less, in the strict sense of ancient Near Eastern social stratification, society consisted

of two broad groups: freemen and slaves.6

Although there were various shades of slavery and kinds of slaves, these can be summed up into

two broad types: the chattel slave, who was a slave for life; and a temporary slave, who may

have been born as a free citizen but fell into slavery because of various reasons, but still had a

privilege of being free again.7

The exact condition of slaves in the ancient Near East varied greatly. Some slaves were allowed

to marry; others were not. Some were grossly exploited and treated as animals; others were

treated with dignity and owned some property. Some slaves served in private households; others

served in temples, palaces, farms, orchards and in construction.8 Their real condition varied from

time to time, and from place to place.

Sources of Slaves:

5
David L. Baker, Tight Fists or Open Hands?: Wealth and Poverty in the Old Testament (Grand Rapids:
Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2009), 111; Guenther H. Haas, “Slave, Slavery,” in Dictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch,
edited by T. Desmond Alexander and David W. Baker (Grand Rapids: IVP, 2003), 778-83.
6
For a detailed explanation on the three types of slaves from a socioeconomic perspective, see Muhammad
A. Dandama[y]ev, “Slavery,” in The Anchor Bible Dictionary, vol. 6, edited by David Noel Freedman (New York:
Doubleday, 1992).
7
Baker categorizes slaves into various kinds under which he puts the concubines and bonded laborers
which I think is over stretching the parameters of slavery. See Baker, Tight Fists or Opens Hands, 111-174.
8
Muhammad A. Dandama[y]ev, Slavery in Babylonia: From Nabopolassar to Alexander the Great (626-
331 BC), (DeKalb, Illinois: Northern Illinois University Press, 2008); Baker, Tight Fists or Opens Hands, 113; Haas,
“Slave, Slavery,” 779.

3
There were various sources of slaves in the ancient Near East. 9 The main source for slaves in the

ancient Near East was war. People captured as prisoners of war were usually subjected to slavery

by the capturing nation.10 Children born to slaves also became slaves of their parents’ masters.

Children or wives could be sold by their parents or husbands, respectively, into slavery. Some

children could be abandoned by their parents and thus end up into slavery. 11 Rather than starve

to death, some people, in dire circumstances, surrendered themselves into servitude in exchange

for food, shelter, and clothing. There were people who found themselves forced into slavery to

their creditors because of bankruptcy after failing to pay their debts to them. 12 In early

Mesopotamian periods, debt slavery had become so rampant that an edict had to be later issued

by King Amemisaduqa to release all inhabitants that had been forced into slavery due to debts. 13

Others were kidnapped into slavery, as seen in many of the ancient Near Eastern codes

legislations against the practice (CH 14: [ca. 1750 B.C.]), and the Hittite Laws (HL 19-21: [ca.

1650-1500 B.C.]).14 Slaves, like property could also be transferred between owners by means of

trade or as a courtesy gift. 15 Laws-breakers could also be subjected to slavery for violating

certain precepts of the law. For instance, in Sumer, thieves were handed over to the ones they

9
For a further details on how people could become slaves in the ancient Near East, see Isaac Mendelsohn,
Slavery in the Ancient Near East: A Comparative Study of Slavery in Babylonia, Assyria, Syria, and Palestine, from
the Middle of the Third Millennium to the End of the First Millennium (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1949), 1-
33; Julie Waters, “The Intersection of Law, Theology and Human Trafficking in the Narrative of Joseph: Linking
the Past to the Present,” Second Annual Interdisciplinary Conference on Human Trafficking (Lincoln: University of
Nebraska, 2010); Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel, Its Life and Institutions (New York: McGraw-Hill Book, 1961),
40-46; Dandama[y]ev, Slavery in Babylonia, 103-11; Baker, Tight Fists or Opens Hands, 113.
10
Igance J. Gelb, “Prisoners of War in Mesopotamia,” in Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 32 (1973) 70-98;
Mendelsohn, Slavery in the Ancient Near East,” 5-7.
11
The sale of children of free persons into slavery was legal and far widespread in Sumer, Babylonia, and
Assyria. See S. Scott. Bartchy, “Slavery: New Testament,” in The Anchor Bible Dictionary, vol. 6, edited by David
Noel Freedman (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 65-73; Dandama[y]ev, “Slavery,” 58-65.
12
Interest rates in the ancient Near East are said to have so exorbitant with average rates of 20-25% on
silver and 33.3% on grain in Babylonia. If a debtor defaulted, his creditor had the right to seize him and sell him into
slavery, which resulted in large numbers of free-born people being reduced to slavery. See Dandama[y]ev, “Slavery:
Ancient Near East,” 59-60; Bartchy, “Slavery: New Testament,” 66-68; Waters, “The Intersection of Law,” 2-3.
13
Dandama[y]ev, “Slavery: Ancient Near East,” 59.
14
Baker, Tight Fists or Opens Hands, 113.
15
Dandama[y]ev, Slavery in Babylonia, 207-14.

4
had stolen from as slaves; the family members of a murderer were turned into slaves upon his

conviction and death; a son who renounced his father, a wife caught in adultery or in dishonesty,

and many others were condemned to slavery. 16 Therefore, although war comprised the main

means through which most people became slaves, there were very many ways in which one

would get into slavery.

Legislation Concerning Slaves in ANE

Because slavery was so widespread and the value of a slave equated to a mere property of its

master,17 there were gross violations and abuse of slaves in the ancient Near East which explain

the extensive coverage of laws concerning slaves in almost all the ancient Near Eastern law

codes and societies.18

There were a number of laws dealing with the selling and buying of slaves in the ancient Near

East. The laws of Hammurabi (CH 278-81) as well as other law codes {Neo-Babylonian Laws

(NBL 6: [ca. 700 B.B.]); Laws of Ur-Namma (LU 17: [ca. 2100 B.C.]); Laws of Eshnunna (LE

40: [ca. 1770 B.C.]); Middle Assyrian Laws (MAL 2-3: [ca. 1450-1250 B.C.]); and HL 22-23a}

contain several clauses that deal with the buying and selling of slaves.19

There were a number of regulations concerning the marriage of slaves, the status of children born

to slave parents, and those born between a slave and a free person (LU 5; CH 175-76; HL 31-33,

16
See G. R. Driver and J. C. Miles, The Babylonian Laws: Legal Commentary, vol. 1 (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1968), 306; Dandama[y]ev, “Slavery: Ancient Near East,” 59.
17
On the value of a slave, see James Lindgren, “Measuring the Value of Slaves and Free Persons in
Ancient Law,” in Chicago-Kent Law Review 71 (1995) 149-215.
18
Haas, “Slave, Slavery,” 779; Mendelsohn, Slavery in the Ancient Near East, 1-33; William L.
Westermann, The Slave Systems of Greek and Roman Antiquity, 11-54.
19
For a discussion of buying and selling of slaves in the ancient Near East, see Samuel Greengus, “The
Selling of Slaves: Laws Missing from the Hebrew Bible?” ZABR 3 (1997) 1-11; Baker Tight Fists or Open Hands,
113-14; Driver and Miles, The Babylonian Laws, 1:482-90.

5
35-36; LE 33-35).20 Slave women were distinguished from ordinary ones by their lack of a veil,

and so were the prostitutes (MAL 40-41).21

Regarding the laws of a slave owner granting freedom to his or her slave (manumission), the

ancient Near Eastern laws generally have relatively little to offer, as the right of manumission

appears to have been an exclusive right of the slave owner (Edict of Ammi-Saduqa [EAS 20-21:

ca.1646 B.C.]; LU 4).22 For instance, the Hammurabi code stipulated that debt slavery was not to

exceed three years (CH 14), in Nuzi, the one could be enslaved for up to 50 years in service of a

loan debt.23

Although there were some laws enacted to deter and restrain the fury and excessive abuse of

slaves by their masters, the guiding ideology in many of the codes of the ancient Near East was

not to safeguard the slave, but to propagate the continuity of the institution and to preserve the

master-slave status-quo, thus protecting the interests of the masters (HL 2-17; LE, 31; CH 116,

199, 214-213, 220, 252).24

Because of the inhumane treatment that the slaves were subjected to, they were always on the

lookout for any slight opportunity of escape to far-lands away from their masters. To curb this

trend, almost all the ancient Near Eastern law codes devoted various clauses to deal fugitives

20
For a discussion of the marriage laws regarding slaves, see Ephraim Neufeld, The Hittite Laws:
Translated into English and Hebrew with Commentary (London: Luzac, 1951), 10-11; Raymond Westbrook,
“Female Slave,” in Gender and Law in the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East, edited by Victor H. Matthews,
Bernard M. Levinson, and Tikva Frymer-Kensky, JSOTSup. 26 (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic, 1998), 225-26.
21
For a detailed discussion on the “veil” in the ancient Near East, see Godfrey R. Driver and John C. Miles,
(eds.), The Assyrian Laws: Ancient Laws and Laws of the Near East (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1935), 126-34.
22
For a discussion of manumission procedures, see Dandama[y]ev, “Slavery: Ancient Near East,” 61;
Driver and Miles, The Assyrian Laws, 126-34; Mendelsohn, Slavery in the Ancient Near East, 78-84; Baker, Tight
Fists or Open Hands, 115.
23
Dandama[y]ev, “Slavery: Ancient Near East,”59.
24
On a detailed discussion about slave abuse, see Baker, Tights Fists or Open Hands, 121-22; Gregory C.
Chrichigno, Debt-Slavery in Israel and the Ancient Near East. JSOTSup 141 (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic, 1993),
145-46; Raymond Westbrook, “Mesopotamia; Old Babylonian Period,” in A History of Ancient Near Eastern Law,
vol. 1, edited by Raymond Westbrook (Leiden: Brill, 2003), 383.

6
slaves. In order to make it more difficult for slaves to run away, they were often made to bear

fetters, various slaves marks or labels (LE 51-52; CH 146) for quick identification; and it was

considered a serious offense to remove or disguise the slave mark without the consent of the

slave’s master (CH 226-27).25

The laws stipulated various motivational rewards for anyone who returned a fugitive slave from

another place back to their masters (LU 17; HL, 22-23; CH 17). There were also preventive

penalties, including capital punishments, against those who harbored run-away slaves without

surrendering them (Law of Lipit-Ishtar [LL 12-13, ca. 1930 B.C.]; HL 24; CH, 16), or for

assisting them to escape (CH 15).26 Slaves who attempted to run away and were unfortunate to

be captured and returned to their masters suffered severe punishments of all sorts to the point of

even gouging their eyes out, or putting specialized shackles and chains upon them.27

Therefore, slavery as an institution was not only widespread in the ancient Near East, but was

tightly preserved and its continuity clearly legislated upon. As earlier on observed, there were

lots of ways in which one could find himself or herself in slavery; and the fact that war, which

was the chief source of slavery, was a rampant phenomenon in the ancient Near East, anyone

25
For a discussion of the various slaves marks put upon slaves and their meaning, see Muhammad A.
Dandama[y]ev, Slavery in Babylonia: From Nabopolassar to Alexander the Great (626-331 BC) (DeKalb: Northern
Illinois University Press, 1984), 235-38; Reuven Yaron, The Laws of Eshnunna (Leiden: Brill, 1988), 162-65, 349-
50; Raymond Westbrook, “Mesopotamia: Old Babylonian Period,” in A History of the Ancient Near Eastern Law: A
Handbook of Oriental Studies, vol. 1, edited by Raymond Westbrook (Leiden: Brill, 2003), 382-83; Ignatius M.
Rowe, “Anatolia and the Levant: Alalakah,” in A History of the Ancient Near Eastern Law: A Handbook of Oriental
Studies, vol. 1 (Leiden: Brill, 2003), 707.
26
For a discussion of clauses regarding rewards and penalties in regard to fugitive slaves, see Harry A.
Hoffner, The Laws of the Hittites: A Critical Edition (Leiden: Brill, 1997), 180-81; Driver and Miles, The
Babylonian Laws, 1: 105-08; Isaac Mendelsohn, Slavery in the Ancient Near East: A Comparative Study of Slavery
in Babylonia, Assyria, Syria and Palestine, From the Middle of the Third Millennium to the End of the First
Millennium, 62-63; Kathryn E. Slanski, “Babylonia: Middle Babylonian Period,” in A History of the Ancient Near
Eastern Law: A Handbook of Oriental Studies, vol. 1, edited by Raymond Westbrook (Leiden: Brill, 2003), 517.
27
Gouging out the eyes of captured slaves is reported in several contracts and letters from Mari and Nuzi.
See Westbrook, “Mesopotamia,” 1: 383; Carlo Zaccagnini, “Mesopotamia: Nuzi,” A History of Near Ancient
Eastern Law, vol. 1, edited by Raymond Westbrook (Leiden Brill, 2003), 586; James M. Lindenberger, Ancient
Aramaic and Hebrew Letters: Society of Biblical Literature Writings from the Ancient World, 2nd ed., edited by Kent
Harold Richards (Atlanta: SBL, 2003), 88; Dandama[y]ev, Slavery in Babylonia, 1984), 220-28.

7
could easily find himself or herself into slavery upon the invasion of their territory. The

extensive legislation in almost all the ancient Near Eastern law codes and societies were enacted

in favor of the masters and the safeguard of their interests. The plight of a slave was deplorable

and despicable as they were reduced to the status of a mere property or “thing” and their life lay

in the hands and at mercy of their masters.

Slavery and the Christian Church

The Christian Church was born at a time when the institution of slavery had already taken root in

the ancient Near Eastern societies. In the early years of Christianity, slavery was a normal feature

of the socio-economic set-up of the Roman society. During the expansion of Christianity, slavery

was well rooted and the New Testament is not devoid of references to the long practiced

institution.28

Although early Christians opposed the ill-treatment of slaves and advocated for their fair

treatment, fair pay and equal status in religion by allowing them to participate in the liturgy, they

never opposed nor attempted to overthrow the entrenched institution. 29 Instead, slaves were

advised to obey their earthly masters and lawfully obtain freedom from their masters, if possible

(Eph. 6:5–9; Col. 4:1; 1Cor. 7:21-22). In several Pauline epistles, and the first epistle of Peter,

slaves are admonished to obey their masters, “as to the Lord, and not to men” (Eph.6:5-7; Col.

3:22-25; 1 Tim. 6:1; Titus 2:9-10; 1 Peter 2:18). Although many early church leaders did not

condone slavery, still some figures, such as Augustine, explicitly supported the continuity of the

28
C. Verlinden, “Slavery, III (History of),” in New Catholic Encyclopedia, 2nd ed. (Washington D.C.:
Thomson Gale, 2003), 13:209-214; S. Scott Bartchy, “Slavery, Greco-Roman,” The Anchor Bible Dictionary,
edited by David Noel Freedman (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 6:65-73.
29
Morton Smith, and Joseph R. Hoffman, What the Bible Really Says (Buffalo, New York: Prometheus,
1989), 142-43.

8
institution.30 Kevin Giles argues that Jesus often encountered slavery, “but not one word of

criticism did the Lord utter against slavery.” Giles points to this fact as being used as an

argument that Jesus approved of slavery.31

However, whereas the New Testament does not come out with explicit attacks on slavery nor call

for its abolition, the spirit of the New Testament writers was one of humane treatment within the

slavery institution.32 As slaves were encouraged to show Christian virtues and bear their burden

as in Christ, masters were also called upon to treat their slaves civically and as brothers in Christ

(Eph. 6:9; 1 Tim. 6:2; Col. 4:1). The letter of Paul to Philemon (vv. 1-25) concerning the run-

away slave Onesimus is one of the masterpieces that express the New Testament spirit

concerning the institution of slavery. In it, Paul states the master’s obligation as well as that of

the slave. In the epistle, Paul writes that he is returning Onesimus, a fugitive slave, back to his

master, Philemon. Paul also entreats Philemon to regard Onesimus as a beloved brother in Christ.

Cardinal Dulles points out that, “while discreetly suggesting that he manumit Onesimus, [Paul]

does not say that Philemon is morally obliged to free Onesimus and any other slaves he may

have had.”33 He does, however, encourage Philemon to welcome Onesimus “not as a slave, but

as more than a slave, as a beloved brother” (v. 16). Paul further asserts that, “there is neither Jew

nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28).

30
Herb Vander Lugt, What Does the Bible Really Say about Slavery? (Grand Rapids, MI: RBC Ministries,
1999), 5.
31
It is interesting to note that both advocates of slavery and those opposed to it use the same text material
in their arguments for their respective propositions. Kevin Giles, “The Biblical Argument for Slavery: Can the Bible
Mislead? A Case Study in Hermeneutics.” Evangelical Quarterly 66 (1994): 10.
32
G. E. M. Ste. Croix, “Early Christian Attitudes towards Property and Slavery,” in Studies in Church
History, edited by Geoffrey Ernest Maurice (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1975), 12:28.
33
John R. McKivigan, Mitchell Snay, Religion and the Antebellum Debate over Slavery (Athens, Georgia:
University of Georgia Press, 1998), 21.

9
As Herb Vander Lugt accurately observed, “Jesus and the apostles didn’t go on an anti-slavery

crusade, because doing so would have been futile and a hindrance to their primary mission.”34

He goes on to say that the priority of Jesus was the provision of salvation. For the apostles it was

the proclamation of the gospel. But both Jesus and the apostles undermined the basis for slavery

by making it clear that God equally loves rich and poor, free and slave, male and female.

Therefore, the Christian Church recognized the existence of slavery, and although the New

Testament contains statements of inclusion and accommodation of slaves and their mutual co-

existence with their masters and the general body of Christ, no overt efforts were taken to attack

or abolish the long cherished and entrenched institution as doing so would have proved counter-

productive given the times they were in.

SLAVERY IN ANCIENT ROME

The Roman society was stratified and hierarchal. Ferguson points out that “class or rank

consciousness was very evident in the snobbery of the upper classes and in the fawning

deference shown by the lower orders.”35 Ownership of land was the principal source of wealth

and social standing, although ancestry (birth), education and attainment of honors could confer

status and influence. Among the distinct classes and ranks of the Roman society were the

senatorial and equestrian orders, the aristocrats, the general citizenry, the freedmen,36 and last on

the social strata were the slaves.37 Although there could be found changes and movements within

34
Vander Lugt, What Does the Bible Really Say about Slavery, 26.
35
Everett Ferguson, Backgrounds of Early Christianity (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1989), 42.
36
Freedmen (liberti) were freed slaves. Freedmen in the Early Republic mainly joined the lower classes of the
plebeians, and often worked as farmers or tradesmen. See Koenraad Verboven, “The Associative Order: Status and
Ethos among Roman Businessmen in Late Republic and Early Empire,” Athenaeum 95 (2007), 861; Henrik
Mouritsen, The Freedman in the Roman World (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011).
37
For a discussion of the social classes and ranks in the ancient world, see R. MacMullen, Roman Social
Relations, 50 B.C. to A.D. 284 (New Haven, 1974); E. A. Judge, Social Pattern of Christian Groups in the First
Century (London: 1960); A. M. Duff, Freedmen in the Early Roman Empire (Cambridge: 1958).

10
the social status of some classes and ranks, the social strata of slavery was one of the hardest to

migrate from. Slaves were non-citizens who were considered as property of their masters and

had no legal rights whatsoever, that they lacked even the legal standing accorded free-born

foreigners.38

Slavery as the Socio-economic Backbone of the Roman Empire

Although slavery for had long existed in the entire ancient Near East, the Roman institution of

slavery is said to have officially commenced with its legendary founder Romulus39 who gave

Roman fathers the right to sell their own children into slavery, and the institution kept growing

with the expansion of the state.40 In the campaign against the Gauls (59 to 51 BC) it is reported

that Julius Caesar and his army captured over a million people that were turned into slaves in

Rome.41 At the time of Augustus (31 B.C. – A.D. 14), as many as 35% of the people in Italy,

alone, were slaves, 42 making Rome one of core historical “slave societies” in which slaves

constituted at least one-third of the entire population and played a major role in the economy.43 It

is said that a proposal in the Roman Senate that slaves be required to wear a distinctive garb was

defeated “lest the slaves learn how numerous they were.”44 Slavery was a complex institution

38
Carlin A. Barton, The Sorrows of the Ancient Romans: The Gladiator and the Monster (Princeton, New Jersey:
Princeton University Press, 1993), pp. 176–177.
39
Romulus, a twin brother of Remus, is said to be the founder of Rome, around 758 and 728 B.C., in
Rome’s Foundation myth. For details, see Earnest Cary, and Edward Spellman, The Roman Antiquities of Dionysus
(Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1937), 85.
40
Moya K. Mason, “Roman Slavery: The Social, Cultural, Political, and Demographic Consequences,” at
http://www.moyak.com/papers/roman-slavery-war.html [accessed Nov. 26, 2013].
41
W. L. Westermann, The Slave Systems of Greek and Roman Antiquity (Philadelphia: The American
Philosophical Society, 1955), 57.
42
Estimates for the prevalence of slavery in the Roman Empire vary. However, on the whole, estimates of
the percentage of the population of Italy who were slaves range from 30% to 40% in the 1st century B.C. For details
see Keith R. Bradley, Slavery and Society at Rome (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), 12.
43
Although the Roman economy was heavily dependent on slavery, Rome was not the only slave-
dependent culture in history. Among the Spartans, for instance, it is said that the slave class of helots outnumbered
the free by about seven to one. See Keith Hopkins, Conquerors and Slaves: Sociological Studies in Roman History
(New York: Cambridge University Press, 1987), 4-5.
44
Ferguson, Backgrounds of Early Christianity, 46.

11
that supported traditional Roman social structures as well as contributing economic

utility. 45 Agriculture, commerce and industry, domestic sustainability, as well as milling and

mining, relied on the exploitation of slaves.46 Sustenance

Laws pertaining to slavery were “extremely intricate.”47 As in the general ancient Near East, a

slave in Rome had no legal rights and was subject to the absolute power of his or her master.

Under Roman law, slaves were considered property and had no legal personhood. Slaves could

be subjected to corporal punishment, sexual exploitation, torture, and summary executions,

where a person was accused of a crime and then immediately killed without benefit of a full and

fair trial. The testimony of a slave could not be accepted in a court of law unless the slave was

physically and visibly tortured. Their living conditions were brutal, and their lives short. 48

Technically, a slave could not own property because he himself was a property of his master.49

Roman slavery was not based on race. War captives were a main source of slaves in the ancient

world. Like in the larger ancient Near East, the conditions of slavery could result from piracy and

brigandage, sale of a child, self-enslavement especially in payment of debts, or condemnation in

the law courts. Another category was of the “homegrown” slaves born to female slaves within

the urban household or on a country estate or farm. An individual could acquire slaves by

purchase from slave dealers, by inheritance, or by home breeding. 50 By and large, the slaves

45
Bradley, Slavery and Society at Rome, 15.
46
V. W. Harris, “Demography, Geography and the Sources of Roman Slaves,” in Journal of Roman Studies
89 (1999) 62-75.
47
William Warwick Buckland, The Roman Law of Slavery: The Condition of the Slave in Private Law from
Augustus to Justinian (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1908); Frier and MacGinn, A Casebook of Family
Law, 17.
48
R. H. Barrow, Slavery in the Roman Empire (London: Methuen, 1928); Keith R. Bradley, Slavery and
Masters in the Roman Empire: A Study in Social Control (New York: Oxford University Press), 1987.
49
Frier and MacGinn, A Casebook of Family Law, 21; Bartchy, “Slavery, Greco-Roman,” ABD, 6:65-73.
50
Harris, “Demography, Geography and the Sources of Roman Slaves,” 62; Ferguson, Backgrounds of
Early Christianity, 46.

12
were denationalized and simply became part of the Greco-Roman civilization but without

becoming citizens thereof.51

The work of slaves covered the entire gamut of activities in the ancient world, with few

exceptions. Slaves worked in a wide range of occupations that can be roughly divided into five

categories: household or domestic, imperial or public enterprise, urban crafts and services,

agriculture, and mining. Their circumstances varied all the way from the privileged imperial

slaves, to the convict slaves sentenced to work in the mines. For instance, slaves of the state, of

the emperor and of the townships did the work that can now be equated to the present day Civil

Service. But the miners, for instance, were at the extreme end of the slave social scale, under

harsh and incredible working conditions with long hours. They spent long hours underground in

hot and cramped conditions. The mines were also unsafe and perilous as many were either

scotched or buried alive underneath. Their lifespan was short-lived.52 In between the extremes of

imperial slaves and the mining slaves were the multitude of varied functions: temple slaves who

took care of sacred precincts and religious ceremonial activities; agricultural slaves working on

the estates of the wealthy barons; domestic slaves who tended to household chores and cared for

the children of their masters; 53 commissioned pedagogues and teachers who tended to the

education and training of the children of their masters; industrial slaves and craftsmen who had

distinct skills and worked in specialized enterprises; agents of their masters in widespread

51
Keith R. Bradley, Slavery and Society at Rome (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), 20.
52
Slaves numbering in the tens of thousands were condemned to work in the mines or quarries, where
conditions were notoriously brutal. Those condemned to the mine were convicts who lost their freedom as citizens,
forfeited their property to the state, and became slaves as a legal penalty. Their status under the law was different
from that of other slaves; they could not buy their freedom, be sold, or be set free. They were expected to live and
die in the mines. See, P. Hunt, “Slavery in Rome,” in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome,
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010), 323; Alfred Michael Hirt, Imperial Mines and Quarries in the Roman
World: Organizational Aspects 27 BC-AD 235 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010), 4.2.1
53
Epitaphs record at least 55 different jobs a household slave might have, including barber, butler, cook,
hairdresser, handmaid (ancilla), wet nurse or nursery attendant, teacher, secretary, seamstress, accountant, and
physician. See, AP. Hunt, “Slavery in Rome,” in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome, p. 323;
Moya K. Mason, “Roman Slavery: The Social, Cultural, Political, and Demographic Consequences,” 2-3.

13
business and commercial transactions; et-cetera. 54 Slaves who lacked skills or education

performed agricultural or other forms of manual labor. Those who were violent or disobedient, or

who for whatever reason were considered a danger to society, might be sentenced to labor in the

mines, where they suffered under inhumane conditions. Slaves subjected to harsh labor

conditions also had few if any opportunities to obtain their freedom. Slaves were not only

performing the tasks but taking control of everything for their masters and making them wealthy

which also helped the economy.55

Incentives in form of wages or commissions were often given to skilled slave laborers. The idea

of “wages” or “commissions” paid to slaves introduced a curious feature in ancient Roman

slavery that was an important means by which a slave could secure freedom. In later periods of

the Roman Empire, Rome, slaves could, and did, save funds allotted to their use and purchase

freedom, as they could also gain their freedom in sacral manumission.56

In regard to the primacy of slavery to the Roman economy, historian Keith Hopkins observes

that “during the period of Roman imperial expansion, the increase in wealth amongst the Roman

54
For a detailed list and discussion of the various types of slaves and their specified functions, see Joseph
Vogt, Ancient Slavery and the Ideal Man (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1975); William L.
Westermann, The Slave Systems of Greek and Roman Antiquity (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society,
1955); T. Wiedemann, Greek and Roman Slavery: A Sourcebook (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1981);
Keith R. Bradley, Slavery and Masters in the Roman Empire: A Study in Social Control (New York: Oxford
University Press, 1987); Keith R. Bradley, Slavery and Society at Rome (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1994); P. Hunt, “Slavery in Rome,” in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2010), 323.
55
Don Nardo, Life of a Roman Slave (California: Lucent Books, 1998), 52.
56
Although manumission of slaves in ancient Israel was imbedded in the institutions of the Sabbatical Year
and Year of Jubilee, and in various legislations in the ANE, Ancient Rome’s idea of payment of slaves was an
innovation in its own class. For a discussion of manumission procedures, see David L. Baker, Tight Fists or Open
Hands?: Wealth and Poverty in the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2009), 115; Godfrey R.
Driver, and John C. Miles, eds. The Assyrian Laws: Ancient Laws and Laws of the Near East (Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1935), 126-34; Isaac Mendelsohn, Slavery in the Ancient Near East: A Comparative Study of Slavery in
Babylonia, Assyria, Syria, and Palestine, from the Middle of the Third Millennium to the End of the First
Millennium (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1949), 78-84; Ferguson, Backgrounds of Early Christianity, 47; Scott
Bartchy, First-Century Slavery and First Corinthians 7:21. Vol 2. (Missoula, Mont.: Scholars Press, 1973), 121-25;
Dennis P. Kehoe, “Law and Social Function in the Roman Empire,” n The Oxford Handbook of Social Relations in
the Roman World (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), 147-48.

14
elite and the substantial growth of slavery transformed the economy,”57 Rome was one of the

greatest slave-dependent economies in history. Hopkins further notes that it was land investment

and agricultural production which generated great wealth in ancient Rome, and considered that

Rome’s military conquests and the subsequent introduction of vast wealth and slaves in the

empire had effects comparable to widespread and rapid technological innovations.58

Slave trade was one of the greatest sources of revenue for the empire. Great numbers of slaves

for the Roman market were acquired through warfare. The Roman military brought back captives

as the booty of war, and ancient sources cite anywhere from hundreds to tens of thousands of

such slaves captured in each war. 59 Slave markets seem to have existed in every city of the

empire, and outside Rome the major centers was Ephesus and Delos in Greece.60 Augustus is

said to have imposed a 2% tax on the sale of slaves, estimated to generate annual revenues of

about 5 million Roman Sesterces – a figure that indicates some 250,000 annual sale of slaves.61

Within the empire, slaves were sold at public auction or sometimes in shops, or by private sale in

the case of more valuable slaves. Slave dealing was overseen by the Roman fiscal officials

called quaestors. Sometimes slaves stood on revolving stands, and around each slave for sale

hung a type of plaque describing his or her origin, health, character, intelligence, education, and

other information pertinent to purchasers. Prices varied with age and quality, with the most

valuable slaves fetching prices. Because the Romans wanted to know exactly what they were

buying, slaves were usually presented naked. The dealer was required to take a slave back within

57
Keith Hopkins, Conquerors and Slaves: Sociological Studies in Roman History (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1987), 4.
58
Hopkins, Conquerors and Slaves: Sociological Studies in Roman History, 4-5.
59
Richard Gamauf, (2009). “Slaves doing business: the role of Roman law in the Economy of a Roman
Household.” European Review of History 16 (2009): 331–46.
60
W.V. Harris, “Trade,” in The Cambridge Ancient History: The High Empire A.D. 70–192. Vol. 11
(Cambridge University Press, 2000), 721.
61
Harris, “Trade,” The Cambridge Ancient History, 11:722.

15
six months if the slave had defects that were not manifest at the sale, or make good the buyer's

loss.62 Slaves were treated as mere commercial products.

On the farms, slaves produced the food and other materials on which the cities depended for

survival and sustenance. Some of the most important crops produced by slaves were wheat,

olives, vines and grapes some of which were eaten and used for making wine and others

exported. According to Casson, wines were drunk before, after, between, it became their coffee,

tea, and spirits. The olive oil on the other hand, was their butter, soap, and electricity. They

cooked with it, put it on at the baths, and burned it in their lamps, and the grains were ground

into flour.63 The slaves also worked as carpenters and blacksmiths who repaired the farm tools

and carts. Others looked after the cattle, sheep and pigs. The wool from the sheep were spun and

made into various items which were used by the Roman army, navy and the general population.

The Roman farm products such as wine, oil, tools, meat were exported to other counties. This

gave Rome its greatest source of economic wealth.

Besides working on the farms and businesses, the most famous task performed by slaves in the

public buildings was working on the aqueduct systems, roads, and the arenas. Buildings were

built for public use by the slaves. The aqueducts supplied many Romans with water outlets,

including public fountains in the streets from which most people fetched their water. Besides the

aqueducts, the slaves also built bridges and roads which were very important because they were

built mainly to allow soldiers to move quickly in war time and for the caravan routes. However,

62
Mary Johnston, Roman Life (Chicago: Scott, Foresman and Company, 1957), 158-177.
63
Lionel Casson, Daily life in Ancient Rome (New York: American Heritage, 1975), 28.

16
it also encouraged trading and helped the spread of Roman culture. Therefore, slave labor

became one of Rome’s greatest sources of economic wealth.64

Even though slavery was advantageous and beneficial to Rome, it was also disastrous in many

ways. The manipulation, the degradation, the cruel and inhuman treatment, and the dependency

on slaves played some role in the fall of Roman civilization.65 It was estimated that an average

wealthy Roman such as Nero owned 400 slaves in his town house alone, and that some wealthy

people owned from 10,000-20,000 slaves.66 Grant states that the Romans were so dependent on

the slave labor that even the simplest task such as getting dressed, holding a towel while going to

the bath, bathing, as well as washing of the feet and hands before the meal, were all done by

slaves.67 Because wealthy owners had slaves working on everything, the lower classes of society

were rendered idle, disorderly and indolent. Because of the infiltration of slaves in every menial

and skilled aspect of Roman life, the Roman Empire populace became one of the laziest lots in

all human history. Therefore, upon the freedom of the slaves, the Roman government suffered

one of the greatest socio-economic blows with the irreplaceable vacuum of economic labor force.

Rome’s dependency on slave labor contributed to the decline of the greatest civilization in the

history of mankind.68

Conclusion

Although slavery was a widely cherished institution in the entire ancient Near East from since

recorded history, it was during the Roman Empire period that reached its zenith and notoriety.

64
F. R. Cowell, Everyday Life In Ancient Rome (London: Batsford, 1961), 28.
65
For the inhumane treatment of slaves by the Roman masters, see Sarah Pomeroy, Goddesses, Whores,
Wives, and Slaves (New York: Schocken, 1975), 190-93.
66
Graham I. F. Tingay, and John Badcock, These Were The Romans (London: Dufour, 1972), 128.
67
Michael Grant, The World of Rome (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1968), 134.
68
For an argument of the contribution of slavery to the fall of Roman civilization, see F. R. Cowell, Cicero
And The Roman Republic (New York: Chanticleer, 1984), 12-55.

17
Slavery was so prevalent in Rome that as many as 35%-40% of the population of Rome at one

time was made up of slaves. Although history is replete with incidences of the plight of slavery,

it was in the ancient Roman Empire that their lot reached despicable heights of human

degradation and suffering.

Slave trade was one of the greatest sources of revenue for the empire. In the Roman system of

slavery, the tasks of slaves, such as farming, businesses, and public buildings all contributed to

the wealth of the Roman economy. Little credit has been given to the important contributions the

slave labor made to Roman civilization. What today is referred to as the great Roman civilization

was based on the labor and skills of slaves. Never the less, although slavery greatly contributed

to sustenance of the Roman commonwealth, it also immensely contributed to the crippling and

laziness of the people and sowed the seeds for the eventual crumbling of Roman economy.

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