#roman slavery

[ancientstuff]

This sounds like it was an absolutely miserable existence.

[hurremsultanns]

#also please know that roman slavery was not like the atlantic slave trade

yes

Honestly the amount of books and TV shows set in the Roman world that further this sort of misconception.

[hikergraham]

tibi autem unde in servos tantum et tam inane fastidium, quasi non ex isdem tibi et constent et alantur elementis eundemque spiritum ab eodem principio carpant? Where does your deep and ludicrous loathing for slaves come from, as if they don’t consist of and rely on the same elements as you do, as if they don’t hold the same soul from the same start?

Macrobius, Saturnalia 1.11.6

[romeneverfell]

Hi there! I thought about replying to this but realized there would be way too much info for the reply thread. 

The generally-agreed upon figure for the percentage of slaves in the Empire is almost a third. This figure does depend on where in the Empire you are. Rome itself may have had as many as half of the population that were slaves or were once slaves but had been freed. 

By “constant slaves” did you mean which peoples were most-often subjugated? That also depends on which century it is. Rome’s biggest source of slaves were the people it conquered as it expanded its empire. In the 3rd century BCE, that would have been neighboring Italic peoples. By the end of the Punic Wars, the most common slaves were probably Carthaginians or other groups from territory previously owned by the Carthaginians. When Greece was conquered, Rome would have been inundated with a flood of enslaved Greek people. By the early Empire, it would have been Gauls and Germanics, the peoples which Rome fought with on the European frontier. 

Slavery did have a hierarchy, in a sense. Slaves were valued and priced differently according to physical strength, intelligence, and appearance. The intelligent slaves (often Greek) tended to serve as tutors, secretaries, or clerks for wealthy Romans. If you had to be a slave, I’d personally say that this was the best deal. You had the best chance at manumission - freedom - and if you so proved your culture and intelligence, could be held in high regard. Attractive, young slaves (both male and female) were probably next in the hierarchy. Though at least they could live relatively-modestly inside and weren’t subjected to grueling manual labor, instead relegated to servant or attendant tasks, they were most subject to the sexual advances of their owners. And by sexual advances, I mean assault. The smart, attractive slave was atop the hierarchy. 

The lot of the strong (and the deemed unattractive) slaves was hard labor in places like the fields or the mines. They died more frequently than the latter two, not only from the harsh circumstances of their labor, but probably from sustaining punishment from their masters. All slaves were viewed of as property, but the laboring slave was really the one to be treated like an animal and not a human. There are also the strong slaves who went to fight as gladiators, and while they did have the chance to achieve fame and glory, most of them died pretty quickly and they no doubt sustained a lot of physical punishment during their training. 

That you like my blog means a lot! Thanks for stoppin’ by!

[electronicdelusionstarlight]

Philips V, King of Macedonia: Oh Boy, those Romans sure are assholes but they sure as hell treat their slaves better than anyone I know.

Ancient Rome: ...

Ancient Rome: HAVE YOU SEEN HOW WE TREAT OUR SLAVES?

Philips V, King of Macedonia: And have you see how the Greeks treat theirs?

Ancient Rome: ...

Ancient Rome: Fair Point.

[ej-potter]

Lecture W2 – Slavery in the Roman world: The workings of the Roman slave system

 ·      Sources of Roman slaves:

o   Prisoners of war

§  Up to 10,000 slaves being sold per day in Delos

§  100,000 slaves (supposedly) taken by Septimus Severus after battle at one point

o   Natural born slaves (vernae)

§  More prestigious than someone born free and later captured as a slave

o   Piracy, raiding or kidnapping

o   Long distance slave trading; slaves in return for resources like grain

o   Judicial enslavement (Roman individuals were not executed for crimes such as avoiding the draft for the military, skipping a census, being a free woman living with a slave after being forbidden from doing so by the slave’s master, being an egregiously ungrateful freed former slave)

o   Exposure; free families giving up children they did not want/could not afford

·      “Slaves are either made or born.” - ?

·      Roman slavery not racially based

·      Mango servorum: slave trader

·      Estimates of 60,000 slaves traded between Africa and Americas during peak period (per year); Roman system required 500,000 slaves per year to sustain itself – this continued for hundreds of years

·      Estimation that slaves formed around 15-20% of the urban Roman empire and 8-9% of the rural population

o   Probably about 5-8 million slaves in Roman empire at any one time (Scheidel’s estimate)

·      Enslaved women often worked as prostitutes

o   Free women could lose citizenship if they participated in such activities

o   Lupanar (brothel) in Pompeii

·      Many roles relegated to slaves

o   Mining:

§  Romans mined on a large scale; was incredibly dangerous

§  In some cases, free people were utilised, but primarily slave labour was used

§  Condemnation to mine was common punishment for bad slaves

·      Slaves could be educated in Roman empire; worth more as a result

o   People had specific job of educating slaves; or teachers in general

o   Many Greek slaves were physicians

·      Paedogogus: Acted as teacher or chaperones for young boys (were still identified as slaves; still the subordinate)

[ej-potter]

Lecture W1 – The History of Slavery

·      Brazil = recipient of largest number of slaves in Atlantic slave trade; more than North America

·      Matter of moral responsibility re: slaves creating slaves à where (with whom) does it lie? Owners of plantations, people who made money from slavery, supervisors of slaves? What of the descendants of such people?

·      Certain slaves in Brazil etc. had the opportunity to work (grow produce and sell it in markets) and earn money to buy themselves out of their servitude

·      Slavery not limited by colour (i.e. white owners, black slaves)

o   Black Africans generally have biggest slave numbers but slavery affected almost every ethnic group

·      Press Ganging: Largely British Navy practice where sailors would ambush a specific town, round up any work-ready men and force them to join the crew of their ships as sailors

·      Slavery by birthright passes through the maternal line, not the paternal line

·      Human spoils of invasion often sold into slavery by victors (i.e. Romans in Catharge, 146BCE)

·      Mamluks: Military personnel recruited and trained to fight for Egyptian rulers. Another dimension of slavery; a slave army. Eventually turned against their rulers and staged a coup

·      Slaves served purpose of enhancing status of owner/s

o   Chief Black Eunuchs in the Ottoman Court; were educated and held major positions in the Sultan’s household; influential re: education, religion, politics

o   The Sultan was an important figure à his slaves then become important and/or powerful as well

·      Slaves took on all manner of tasks (even jobs given to labourers)

·      ‘The status or conditions of a person over whom any or all of the power attaching to the right of ownership are exercised.’ – League of Nations, 19

o   Discusses slavery in terms of legal ownership

o   Later revised by UNHCHR, 1998; essentially stating slavery is not a thing of the past

·      Other definitions of slavery rely on the simple predication of an absence of freedom

o   No one entirely free; where is the line drawn?

o   Many slaves had certain liberties