ADITYA SINGH

2016130
B.A. HONS HISTORY
SOFO

Assignment-1, sem-2

Q. Evaluate the role and significance of slavery in Greco-Roman society and economy.

Ans. “Slavery takes holds of a few, but many take hold of slavery” are the lines of Lucius

Annaeus Seneca the younger, who was the chief advisor of Nero (the last emperor from the

Julio-Claudian dynasty) as a senator, spoke for the fair and kind treatment of slaves in the

Roman Empire but never tried to abolish slavery and himself owned some 100 slaves. Even

before the Roman Empire was firmly established, slavery and slave trade flourished in the Greek

states. Such was the state of the society in ancient Greece and Rome- the birthplace of

democracy, where democracy was limited to a small section of the population unlike what the

term meant. Slavery is not a one-dimensional term as there were status differences among slaves

as well- some enjoying a higher status and high standard of living while others being treated like

non- humans. When Aristotle said that training for war should be done with the objective of

enabling men to make themselves masters of those who naturally deserve to be slaves gives us an

insight into the way people were looked upon- some being considered only fit to be slaves. The

Greek city- states were the first to render slavery absolutely and turn it into a systematic form of
production. The Hellenistic world never rested completely upon slave labour – free peasants,

dependent tenants and urban artisans always coexisted with slavery but the dominant mode of

production in classical Greece and Rome was slave mode of production. Slave labour lead to the

greatest commercialization of urban markets as living beings were sold just like objects in huge

numbers in the city which were then mostly carried to the countryside to work upon fields thus

linking the urban and the rural centers together.

Where did the slaves come from is an important question to answer. War captives and piracy

formed the largest group who were forcefully turned to slaves to extract various sorts of services

from them. Caesar alone is credited to capturing a million slaves in his expeditions of Gaul

within 8 years .The Spartans captured the entire population of Laconia and Messenia and turned

them into Helots (slaves) that were state properties. Slave trade was another important source as

we know in the Greek states the city of Chios acted as the centre of slave trade where slaves

were brought from different places and then sold for a high price. In Rome, people who were

indebted could be turned to slaves as was the case in Athens before the Solonic code (abolition

of debt bondage) which prohibited enslavement of an Athenian citizen. In Athens the outsiders-

people of the surrounding city states who were not a direct part of Athenian empire could be

turned to slaves without any action against them. Parents sold off their children to reduce their

debts thus turning them into slaves. Some were born slaves as their parents were slaves and thus

they were slaves by birth. Slaves were called the property of the master in Rome- instruments

without voice. Herodotus states that Chian Panionios earned his living by castrating and selling

good looking boys.

The slave mode of production was the invention of the Greco-Roman world that was the ultimate

basis for its accomplishments and its downfall. The society of Greece and Rome was divided into

2 major groups- the slave and the slave owners and also a third group that was not so important-

the landless citizens. Ownership of slaves were different in the 2 states- slaves were public

property in Sparta and were owned by the state itself while in Rome and Athens, slaves were the

property of the masters who had lofty perch over the life of their commodities( slaves in this

context). Slavery and economy are two connected issues if we see in the long span of history.

Slaves were employed almost in all the productive activities except military and political issues

but still they were present in the policing and the lower civil services and other activities such as

household work, mining, workshops etc. slaves of powerful household units had higher status

than the rest of them as some worked for the Emperor and the administrative services in Rome in

high numbers but such instances from Greece are limited, the others lived a life full of misery

and punishment with strict monitoring of behavior. Slaves and in particular the chattels showed

no interest in abolition of the institution of slavery, they either revolted to return to their native

land or some with the ambition of becoming slave owners themselves thus enabling this system

to run for so long. On the other hand the debt- bond men and the helots revolted to abolish the

servitude altogether. The rich preferred to use slaves instead of free men as dependant workers

because slaves had advantages that outnumbered the disadvantages they had. Slaves unlike

citizens were not liable to be called away during wartime so they provided labour for all the parts

of the year. Also slavery allowed the masters to sell their land along with adequate amount of

labour force. Slaves unlike peasants could be formed into permanent work gangs that were

several times the size of a family. These gangs included slaves from different regions so that they

couldn’t communicate with each other and work in harmony with each other on the land of their
master. The chief disadvantage of slaves was their high capital cost and also the cost of buying

slave overseers. According to most of the sources slaves are considered to be at the lowest rung

of the society but in the Homeric epic, Odysseus, Achilles said that he would rather like to be

bound down working as a thes for another by the side of a landless man- so not slaves but the

thes were the lowest groups in the society according to Achilles.

Now we would discuss the role and significance of slavery on society and economy of Greece

and Roam separately.

Greece (Athens and Sparta in main focus)

The cradle of western civilization as it is called in the present times; Greece was the place where

democracy budded. Greece had many city states including Athens, Sparta, Delphi and Thebes etc.

Sparta was a state that followed a system that was a bit different from the Athenians while the

rest of them followed almost the same political and economic system that flourished in Athens.

The number of slaves in Athens was very high and as sir Moses Israel Finley points it to be some

60,000-80,000 slaves in total, the ratio of slaves to free was 1:4 and that of slaves to citizens was

less than 1:1 that shows the extent of Slavery. Figures for slaves in Sparta are not available but

according to the sources the population of Spartans was 10,000 and the slave population was

more than that. The helots were not like the chattel slaves as they were not owned by a person

but nor they were free man as they were the state property .As the property and estates of the rich

grew and the ban imposed on enslavement of Athenians, the use of slave- labour increased in

both towns and countryside. The price of slaves – Thracians, Phrygians and Syrians were
extremely low and so their employment soared. Doulos was the word used for slaves in the

ancient Greece and the chattel slaves were called the Latris- a much debated term, Penestae was

the word used for unfree labourer in Thessaly. In the state of Gortyn, there was a servile

population which belonged to the individuals but they enjoyed rights that slaves in Athens didn’t.

Slaves in Athens were engaged in all the activities most prominently in the silver mines for

which they were bough at high prices. As we have discussed earlier only the non- Athenians

could be made into slaves after the Solonic code thus leading to procurement of slaves from

distant cities a great majority from the Barbarian state, the story of slaves in Sparta was different

as discussed above, being subjugated in their own territory. Slave owners in Athens had the right

to free their slaves according to their wish which is known as Manumission but as the helots

were owned by the state in Sparta, they were freed in only one circumstance- their participation

in war. The helots remained an underdeveloped form of slavery as Perry Anderson states and so

full commodity slavery governed by market exchange was ushered into Greece.

As the numbers of slave population have been discussed above it gives us some clue about the

importance of slaves in the economy of the Greek states. Pottery was a major economic activity

for the states and as the sources tell us slaves were employed in the work of digging of clay and

bringing the fuel supplies also made to work for long hours to keep the fire burning and helping

the master smiths with their menial works. Father of Demosthenes (the famous politician) owned

2 manufacturing units that employed 50 slaves altogether, another unit owned by Lysias

employed 120 slaves, many other well off people employed slaves in their manufacturing units

to increase efficiency and reduce the cost of production, showing the importance of slaves in the

manufacturing sector. Slavery was a natural form of exploitation and Aristotle called them ‘a

living tool’ being treated in any way the master wanted. Every soldier on campaign was
accompanied by a slave- looking over the other at home, thus from the making of weapons for

war and getting directly engaged in war, slaves were employed completely.

When we listen to the term ‘slave’ the first thing that comes to our mind are an uncivilized,

uneducated person who lived a primitive life but that was not the case. Many of the slaves that

were brought from the surrounding states were highly educated beings having specialty in

different aspects of life- some being doctors, tutors, political debaters and so on while others

were just brought for their physical service in manufacturing units, farmlands, shops and so on.

We indeed have information about one category of skilled slaves that worked independently as

craftsmen and paying a part of their earnings to their master.

Agricultural slavery was limited and not extensively widespread because the income from farm

produce did not allow appointment of more than 2 slaves, thus keeping the number limited but

people with grand estates did settled chattel slaves on their farmland and living a posh life

though we would see extensive use of slaves on farm in Rome. The helots in Sparta cultivated

the fields of the Spartans and the one owned by the state. From Sophocles Oedipus we get to

know that the slaves worked as shepherd in the fields of their masters. Hesiod in his works and

days advices small farmers to first buy a slave before marrying who can till the field and do all

the work- showing the importance of slaves in the society.

The only area that developed a true slave economy was the silver mines. Slaves that worked on

the mines like the Laureion were brought at a higher price and the slave owners had contracts for

them (sort of a life insurance- if a slave died he was replaced by the employer and the slave

owner didn’t need to bear the cost). Pre- adolescent children were too employed in these mines

as the underground tunnels were too small for adults to move through. These mines helped

finance the expeditions of the Athenian fleet thus being the backbone of the state. Slaves that
were bough to work in the silver mines were really expensive commodities- some amounting to

up to 12,000 days pay for a juror and were rented out by their masters to make profit and if any

of the slaves died, the renter had to replace them. Some slaves were appointed as overseers in

these mines though the number was a lot higher in Rome, they overlooked the working of the

other slaves thus showing differences among the status of slaves as well.

Slaves were present in the army to carry baggage and perform menial tasks like preparing food

etc. In the year 428 there was 1 slave to accompany each Athenian garrison. In desperate needs,

slaves were made a part of the army or the fleet and were freed. In 491 BC the slaves along with

the army fought against Aegina and those who died were publically buried and their names

recorded in honor. In the year 490 as well slaves fought at marathon along with their Athenian

masters

There were some state owned slaves in Athens as well who were put to work as archers, who

were public slaves, counting to some 1,000 in number being called the Scythians or Peisinians.

Slavery was not merely an economic necessity but was vital for the whole social and political life

of the Greek citizens. The classical polis was based on the concept of someone tilling the field

and the owner being free to attend the meetings helping in the rise of democracy. The slave mode

of production which underlay Athenian civilization necessarily found its most pristine

ideological expression in the privileged social stratum of the city, whose intellectual heights its

surplus labour in the silent depths below the polis made possible. Slavery replaced other forms of

dependent labours. Slaves worked hand in hand with the free citizens in all the sections of the

economy, dominating in most spears with menial presence of the free labour force. Free men

were found in all occupations, but usually as self-employed workers, either as smallholders or

tenants on the land, or as independent craftsmen, traders and moneylenders in the towns. Finley
calls slaves fundamental both in their employment and in the social structure of the society.

Records from the construction of the temple at Acropolis shows 24 citizens, 42 metics and 20

slaves worked together. The qualitative performance of slave labour was the essential points

which lead to efficiency and profitability, making it a sure-shot choice for the employer.

Not all slaves were treated alike. Some individual slaves were permitted considerable latitude in

the spheres of their life but still they remained under the constant threat of punishments. For the

Greeks there was a very important distinction between slaves and free citizens. The household

unit or oikos contained of free citizens and slaves- slaves were expected to be loyal to the

household and share the joys and sorrows of the household. Slaves were only allowed to give

evidence in a judicial case under torture because if the slave be tortured then only he would

forget about the fear of his master and give true evidence- showing the condition of slaves in the

Greek society. Slaves were an essential part of Greek life can be seen by the important part

slaves play in Greek drama, and most dramatic productions include one or more slave characters

that are integral to the plot.

Slaves were sometimes granted citizenship rights as well as in the case when the slaves fought

against Hellanikos at Arginousai were freed and immediately became Plataeans and masters

instead of slaves were enrolled as fellow citizens. Most of the slaves had only one option of

gaining freedom in a society where keeping account of every individual was difficult and there

were no marks or racial differences amongst free citizens and slaves, was by running away.

During the wake of the Peloponnesian war some 20,000 slaves deserted most of them being

skilled workers and thus giving a big blow to the Athenians.

Slaves did had legal rights in the state of Athens and Gortyn- they could be beaten at will and

could be mistreated but couldn’t be killed with impunity. When a slave killed someone it was the

responsibility of the authority to punish him and not the master. If a master was killed by one of

his slaves and no one took the responsibility the entire flock of slaves was executed. Xenophon

while talking to his companion about how slaves should be punished for their bad behavior says

that – those slaves who do nothing and enjoy a luxurious lifestyle must be starved for many days,

one who steals must be locked, one who tries to run away must be chained, those who are lazy

must be given a beating.

Freedom was a bait used by the slave masters to make the slaves work more and with more

interest as they were shown the dream of being released, back to their homeland a life of freedom

but that happened with very few and slaves were freed mostly with their demise. Slaves had no

social identity as a group so it didn’t lead to a distinct slave religion. They participated in the

cults of their masters and in a few public festivals that derived from household cults.

Rome

Romulus and Remus are credited with the founding of the Roman Empire around 753 B.C but

our area of interest is the institution of slavery in the Roman republic. Rome rose to power

around the time Greece lost its status. Rome had Patron- Clientes relations, the Patrons were the

rich aristocrats and the Clientes were the peasants – rich or poor both had a Patron. There was

also a division of the society into Patricians and Plebeians, the aristocrats constituting the

Patricians and the craftsmen and peasants being part of the Plebeians. Only the members of the
aristocratic families who claimed to descend from heroes of Roman legends and folk tales were

patricians. The king was the almighty in Rome and enjoyed absolute power- what is called

imperium in Latin. There were many committees in the Rome to look after the functioning of the

state called the comitia Curiata, comitia centuriata and concilium plebis etc. We see a growth in

number of slaves in Rome after the 2 Punic wars. Rome fought endless battles with the states

around it like the Latins, the southern Gaul, Germany, Great Britain, North Africa and many

more leading to massive expansion in the size of the Roman republic. As the Roman Empire

encompassed a vast geographical area, the population of the Empire was also high. The main

basis for the estimation of population of the city of Rome was the lists of people who received

free grains, recording to 3, 20,000 and fell down to 1, 50,000 during the time of Augustus and

thus the approximate population in the capital city was a bit less than a million and of the entire

empire was about 50 million.

For the Roman aristocrats and lawyers slavery was not a crime nor was it natural but it was the

law of the nation. According to this law those who deserved to be enslaved must be enslaved but

who set the bar about who can be enslaved is a matter of debate for me. According to Keith

Hopkins 7 processes affected the growth of slavery in Rome that were:- continuous warfare,

influx of booty, investment in land , formation of large estates, impoverishment of peasants,

emigration of peasants to towns and the growth of the urban market, these factors that were

interwoven lead to rise in Slavery.

As mentioned earlier Romans fought many battles with their neighbors, almost capturing the

entire land of the Mediterranean basin- this repeated success enabled them to get slaves in the

form of booty thus leading to the constant rise in number- during the reign of Augustus he put a
end to military expansions which might have lead to the decline in the number of slaves as

pointed out by some could have been the ultimate reason for the downfall of the Roman empire.

The new land that was captured was taxed which provided the state with fixed income

throughout. The rich Romans bough big estates as land was considered as the only safe

investment, these estates in turn provided employment to both free and slave labours. These large

estates generated surplus produce that was not possible with small patches of land, leading to the

creation of markets. The small peasants and free workers were eradicated from their field by

violence or by money and were replaced by slaves, these displaced peasants moved to the market

towns to seek for livelihood. The Roman slaves also participated in the labour market though

they had an initial lower status than the freed but the skilled slaves eventually gained better status.

The well-off people preferred slave labour more than the free which lead to the free laborers

depending upon the market, causing misery to the masses. These poor citizens were a burden on

the state as they demanded their rights of free grain and other things from the politicians who

wanted their favour.

According to Historian Walter Scheidal, the lower limit of total number of slaves in Roman

empire was about 10% of the total population which constituted to some 6 million slaves at the

zenith of the empire but as we know from precise data, slaves constituted some 25-30% of the

total population of the city of Rome. M. I. Finley states that the assessment of the place of slaves

in the society not matters on the numbers but on location- who were they owned by and what

role they played in the economy and the social life of the citizenry.
Slaves in Rome, like Greece were employed in diverse sectors of the economy but the one

difference we see and have already discussed in brief is the employment of slave labour in large

amount in the estates of the Roman Barons that was missing in Greece.

According to Josel, Roman slave owners divided the slaves into 2 categories- Urban and country

slaves also called as Familia Urbana and familia rustica. The work of the familia rustica

depended upon the size of the land on which they farmed and performed variety of tasks on the

field instead of one. Columella stated that tasks of slaves shouldn’t be mixed up as they would be

disadvantageous for it wouldn’t bring out much profit for the owner and thus they need to be

given different jobs to perform. The great landed estates of Italy the Latifundia specialized in

ranching, viticulture and olive production that was handled by the slave labours and the slave

overseers on the plots of rich. The number of slaves working in these estates exceeded what was

practiced in Greece. The slave men and women lived on the same land which they tilled for their

master and in the time of heavy load such as harvest they all worked together. The vilicus (slave

manager/ overseer) was trained from his childhood to look upon the working of his fellow slave

companions and the vilicia was the female chief of the slaves who looked upon the services of

the female slaves on the estate. Female slave laborers tended the animals and ploughed the field

and were also engaged in making of clothes for their masters. We reconstruct the information

about rural slave labourer from the passages of Cato, Columella and Varro as slaves didn’t leave

behind any accounts. Slaves were put to work for long hours so that they were tired and couldn’t

think about other things. In conditions of bad weather slaves were made to work inside the

house- tasks such as cleaning of unreachable places, sharpening of knives, small repair works,

spinning wool in winters etc. slaves were made to hoe and plough one field after another with
different crops. We know that the roman calendars were full of holidays but the slaves got off

only on special religious days that were connected to their master’s household. Slave owners

even tried to regulate the movement of the body, mind and voice of the slaves. Slaves were kept

in strict social controls, there movement restricted and meeting with people outside the estate

prohibited.

Slaves in the urban area were owned by a variety of owners- free, freedman, rich businessmen

and artisans etc. they worked in various conditions of the city market- in small shops, large

established workhouses like weapon making and shield making, small booths to sell fruit stuff,

refreshments, in cloth manufacturing, as carpenters, bars, brothels and for sexual services. Slaves

were the largest workforce in the urban market. Male slaves that worked in big bakeries milled

the grains, gathered the flour, kneaded the dough, formed the loaves and then baked them in

oven – the duration of work was very long and the working conditions very low. Slaves were put

to work as washing machines in the dying of clothes as they pressed the cloth with their feet,

what was called the fullers jump. The chemicals that were present in the dying water were

hazardous for the feet causing skin infection and breathing issues. Slaves were engaged in

construction of buildings and other activities such as butchery, pottery, barbers etc. slave men

and women were not machines as they were considered by their masters, some resisted, others

sustained the beating and punishments while others prospered.

Slaves living in urban households and those who were owned by high aristocrats enjoyed better

status than their counterparts. They found mention in art, literature and the law of the society.

The term ‘caretaker’ was used for the slaves who took physical care of the house- doorkeepers,
gardeners, cooks, cleaners all were slaves. Some slaves were entrusted with the care of particular

item as well such as mirror. Ornatrices were personal groomers of the female head of the

household and made her hairs and other cosmetic work. The slave children known as delicia

were entertaining and pleasant to watch and were provided healthcare facilities by the master.

Some slaves were of high background and well versed in services such as doctors, tutors and

intellectuals. They worked as secretaries for their masters, writing letters and taking dictations,

some worked as announcers who accompanied their owners and acquainted him with the people

around. Large households had a paedagogium- a school for the household’s slave children,

providing them with training about various tasks. Domestic servants not only worked under the

regime of their masters but also acted as a middleman between the owners and their clients. The

proximity of the slaves with the slave owners put them under direct reach of their master’s whip-

a constant fear of knocking. Slaves got the chance of being a part of various festivals such as the

Saturnalia and Compitalia.

Just like in Greece, slaves were made to work in the gold and silver mines of the Roman Empire.

The slaves bought for this particular work were procured at high prices that were sometimes

more than an average person’s 10years income and were put to work in so miserable conditions

that most of them died in the mines due to toxic gases and were eventually replaced. According

to estimates some 40,000 slaves worked in Spanish mines. Elites in Rome preferred to give

dangerous works to free labourer as slaves were an expensive commodity and needed to be

secured and maintained.

A significant proportion of industrial and business activities were carried on by slaves

independently according to M.I. Finley, managing and controlling the property known as
peculium- the land and wealth given over by the masters to their slaves for management and use

for which the slave paid a large amount from his profit.

The Roman literature has endless mentions of cruelty towards slaves. Just like Greece, a slave’s

testimony was considered valid is it was taken under torture. Augustus himself ordered that the

legs of a trusted slave be broken as he reviled the content of a letter. Slaves were just like present

day objects on which modern humans release their frustration as we have instances of slaves

being beaten up just because the master was angry over an issue and also instances of eyes of

slaves being removed in anger. All slaves are enemy was a famous Roman proverb. The

Gladiator shows were the cruelest form of entertaining the masses- slaves were made to fight

against each other and the fight ended only when one died. Slaves were at the mercy of their

masters- sometimes they were overworked, neglected and thrown out when old. According to

Roman law if a slave killed his master and didn’t show up all the slaves in the household were

killed.

There were no identification marks for slaves in Rome. A senator had proposed that slaves

should be made to wear identification bands but this was rejected as the emperor feared that this

would make the slaves aware of the numbers which could have lead to mobilization of slaves.

This absence of identification marks allowed the slaves to run away as there was no system to

keep check on each and every slave and there was no facial difference between a roman citizen

and a slave. Augustus recorded that he brought back 3, 00,000 slaves from the surrounding

regions to be punished by their masters from where they ran away. Slave revolts were another

means of protesting against the masters. Rome witnessed a total of 3 slave revolts between 135
and 70 BC which was caused due to neglectance of newly enslaved. The most major of these

revolts was the uprising lead by gladiator Spartacus, defeating several Roman legions but they

were not able to maintain this success and were ruthlessly crushed. We don’t get to hear about

other such revolts after 70 BC but there were small occasional outbreaks but didn’t threaten the

Roman Empire but these too were resolved.

The number of slaves that were freed by their masters in Rome is quite high than what we saw in

Greece but it was not too far flung- most of the slaves were freed when they departed this world.

The firefighter departments that constituted of 7,000 personnel’s were all freedmen. Upon

manumission slaves acquired the status of their masters – getting the roman citizenship if the

master was a citizen. Some ex-slaves gained considerable amount of wealth and lived a life of

dignity, some still being loyal to their masters and giving a share of their profit to them. A

senator argued that many senators and knights had blood link with ex slaves. The reasons why

masters freed slaves so often is debated- some might have freed slaves out of affection, some

freed them to be called a good and generous man, masters also freed slaves as their token of

wealth , while yet other might have freed them so that they could fetch free wheat. One would

only do such a thing if it was profitable and as we know masters gave their money to the slaves

to start up their own business and pay them the profit. The slave’s desire to freedom was the

master’s protection against laziness and as Hopkins says the master held out the carrot and the

stick. Augustus set a limit on the number of slaves that could be manumitted at one time to 100

and also only a person who owned more than 500 slaves could do that.

It became a practice of the emperor starting from Augustus to engage their fellow slaves and

freedmen in administrative works- taking charge of various bureaus and sometimes heading them.
Sometimes ex slaves governed provinces as well like the procurator of Judaea. Sometimes ex

slaves were in charge of the imperial navy. Unlike nobles, slave tenure of office was not fixed

and some were able to accumulate power. They were the eyes and ears of the emperor – sharing

information with him about the provinces and the difficulties of the people or cutting him off

from any such information. The Roman law considered slaves as articulate tools instead of living

human beings.

There were some differences amongst slavery in Greece and Rome like the number of slaves

manumitted. The numbers were high in Rome than Greece. Greece also lacked peculium as we

discussed above and also the spread of slavery was massive in Rome than Greece. But Greece

remains the place from where slavery found its roots in the western world on a high scale.

Just to give a view of mine I would like to use the quotes of Abraham Lincoln- “As I would not

be a slave, so I would not be a master” if this feeling might have been in the minds of the slaves

in ancient Greece and Rome the institution of slavery might have ended quite early but as we

discussed slaves dreamt of being slave owners which prevented any change from occurring.

Slavery helped in the growth of the Greco-Roman empires but the price paid by the slaves was

this growth was beyond repair making the lives of most into living hell. Thus to end I would say

slaves were an integral part of the ancient economy and the society.