When cities fell, there was a recurrent tendency for the victor (even Discover their roles and stories in this in-depth guide. Cambridge Classics External Gateway to Humanities Resources web.archive.org/web; Ancient Greek Sites on the Web from Medea showgate.com/medea ; Greek History Course from Reed web.archive.org; There were many sources to supply slaves to the economy. Luzern: Walking from Pilatus Kulm to Frakigaudi Toboggan. This article examines the origins and nature of slavery in ancient Greece, exploring the reasons why it was practiced, who was enslaved, and how they were treated. This (still visible) inscription is the largest document of Greek law in existence (see above for its chance survival), but from other fragments we may infer that this inscription formed but a small fraction of a great code. [Source:Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Greece, Fordham University]. when dealing with Greeks) to kill the men and enslave the women and Far from his god-built land, an outcast slave, Over 60 percent of the inscriptions record the manumission of female slaves. Well, admittedly, it has been many years since I have studied actual Ancient Greek texts-(in translation), however, I do recall both Plato and Aristotle discussing slavery in Greek society,; though to my recollection, I do not remember either of them specifying or highlighting the ethnic backgrounds of slaves in greater Greek society. Ancient Greek Art and Culture (21 articles) factsanddetails.com; In Sparta, women were respected as the "mother's of warriors." Although they were not considered equal with men, they had more rights and freedom than the women . Enslaved people were in the city, the countryside, households and businesses, and ownership wasn't limited to elites. What were the numbers of freemen and slaves in the population of a city? The same principle applies to nobility. ): When Kaphis of Phanotis was general [of the Phocians], in the third month, and when Andronikos was archon at Delphi, in the month of Poitropios, Agamestor of Lilaia, the son of Telestas, [sold] to Pythian Apollo a female slave whose name is Zopyra, a Thracian by race, [and] two home-born male slaves, whose names are Agamestor and Telestas, for the price of seven minas of silver, on the following terms. point to two principal areas of recruitment, the Phrygian, Lydian They were generally employed in hard laboring works like in mines and queries. They were tortured on the stand in a court of law until they told the "truth" and put to death for simply belonging to a murdered man. We aim to create content that is accurate, appropriate and informative for learners of all ages. There were two main types: 1) "slaves" and 2) "slaves of the god" (the god probably being Poseidon). Most slaves were people captured in wars or pirates raids. Therefore, masters were very inventive in the forms of punishment and did not destroy their property. Stack Exchange network consists of 181 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow, the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers. They were craftsmen, shopkeepers, farm and factory workers, tutors, nurses, miners, baggage carriers, and sometimes soldiers. In part, this has been deduced from names: slaves often bore names which indicated ethnic origins. If the vendor and the guarantor do not provide surety, they shall be subject to prosecution according to the law. Ancient Greek civilization"the glory that was Greece," in the words of Edgar Allan Poe was short-lived and confined to a very small geographic area. In the Greek city-state of Sparta, the social system consisted of three unique social classes: the freemen (native Spartans) who controlled the military and politics, the free foreigners who. Instead they were manned by free citizens who sat on three levels. Metropolitan Museum of Art metmuseum.org/about-the-met/curatorial-departments/greek-and-roman-art; The Ancient City of Athens stoa.org/athens; The presence of Celtic slaves in Greece (through trade) is at least plausible as a Greek colony was founded at Massalia (modern day Marseille). One key difference that comes out is that modern slavery is tinged by racism, whereas ancient slavery wasnt. Slaves were often freed or allowed to buy their freedom. [3] Slaves were branded on their faces until the A.D. 4th century when Constantine, the first Christianized Roman emperor, decided that it was a inhuman thing to do to a creation of God, so he ordered that they be branded on their arms and legs instead. In Athens, where they were most numerous, they occupied an intermediate position between visiting foreigners and citizens, having both privileges and duties. There were such cases that were brought to the courts. Modern scholars consider even a quarter of this a The Spartan form of government was an oligarchy (rule by a few. ", Antiphon wrote in the Choreutes, (c. 430 B.C. Yet the condemnation of suicide in early ancient Greece was above all based on the logic of protecting the civic body. Enslaving "Barbaroi" and the Athenian Ideology of Slavery', [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC BY 2.5 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons, We are graduating the updated button styling for vote arrows, Statement from SO: June 5, 2023 Moderator Action. For a long period of time, suicide was viewed not only as an injustice towards loved ones and the pantheon, but as a transgression against civic duty, an act of desertion. Women in Sparta Life was different for the women of the city-state of Sparta. Women and Slaves Women and slaves in Athens were not considered citizens. Both male and female slaves often kept their hair cut short. "The men engaged in these mining operations produce unbelievably large revenues for their masters, but as a result of their underground excavations they become physical wrecksthey are not allowed to give up working or have a rest, but are forced by the beatings of their supervisors to stay at their places and throw away their wretched livesSome of them survive to endure their misery for a long time because of their physical stamina or sheer will power; but because of the extent of their suffering they prefer dying to surviving." Domestic slaves were often considered part of the family. 2) Greek text SGDI_2.1715 (c. 161/0 B.C. In addition, debtors, who were unable to pay their debts, were often sold into slavery. According to the laws of mechanics the further one is away from the fulcrum the easier is to lift the object or in the case of the oar, push the water. There were platforms with African slaves standing around. owned 1,000 slaves working in the mines, according to Xenophon. By clicking Accept all cookies, you agree Stack Exchange can store cookies on your device and disclose information in accordance with our Cookie Policy. What sources have you consulted, and how did they fall short of an answer? The best warriors of the ancient world. This is as follows: The magistrates from time to time sent out into the countryside at large the most discreet of the young men, equipped only with daggers and necessary supplies. suggests that Greek victors usually preferred another course. \=], About a thousand Greek inscriptions have been found at Delphi, recording the manumission (freeing) of slaves between 200 B.C. When it is working well it was "like a centipede, with all oars moving beautifully." Illustrated Greek History, Dr. Janice Siegel, Department of Classics, HampdenSydney College, Virginia hsc.edu/drjclassics ; A middle-class family might have had between three and 12 slaves, but those numbers are just estimations by scholars and hard to verify. ): Let us first speak of master and slave, looking to the needs of practical life and also seeking to attain some better theory of their relation than exists at present.Property is a part of the household, and the art of acquiring property is a part of the art of managing the household; for no man can live well, or indeed live at all, unless he be provided with necessaries. February 14, 2021 Slavery was an ideal condition for some people in ancient Greece. There were two main ways: the first was to be the child of a slave and the second was captivity in war. It was more like domestic service really! And Finley says you can't let the ancient world off the hook. Contrary to the popular myth Greek fighting ships were not manned by slaves, who were thought to be untrustworthy and expensive (they had be fed year-round even though a ship only operated about half the year). Despite the harsh treatment of slaves, there were some slaves in ancient Greece who were able to gain their freedom. The only respectable occupations were farming, politics and philosophizing. In the 19th Century, a law code from Gortyn on Crete was discovered, dealing fully with family relations and inheritance; less fully with tools, slightly with property outside of the household relations; slightly too, with contracts; but it contains no criminal law or procedure. Also, the Spartans probably felt that Athens was needed to counter the growing influence of Thebes. in Greece as indicated in numerous tablets unearthed in Pylos. Why do secured bonds have less default risk than unsecured bonds? They not only were slaves, but they were also women. Many of these were located around the Black Sea, and some cities such as Byzantium and Ephesus also had big slave markets. [Source: "Greek and Roman Life" by Ian Jenkins from the British Museum], There are no reliable figures on the slave population in ancient Greece but it is estimated Athens had slave population of perhaps as many as 80,000 in the 6th and 5th centuries BC, with an average household having three or four slaves, except in poor families. At the periphery of Greek culture, slaves were traded all around the Black Sea, in the Adriatic and in the Eastern . Most women could not chose their own husbands. Slave women were the lowest class in Ancient Greece. The remnants of an ancient Greek town, including public buildings and grave sites, have been located recently at a site near the town of Grevena in northern Greece. They had no legal rights and could be beaten or punished by their owners at any time. Of the slaves, 5,000 were sold in Constantinople. The overwhelming impression created by the ancient literary sources is also that the main supply areas were the regions around the Black Sea (Velkov 1964; Finley 1981, 16873). The boy's mother, who is not mentioned in the contract, was probably no longer alive. As I stated in my question, I was under the impression that most slaves in Ancient Greek society, were of likely Greek ethnic origin from either the same city-state or another city-state. For Thrace. Referred to as metics, this segment of the ancient Athenian population accounted half of the total population. However, I also remember hearing about other ethnic groups who may have been slaves in the Ancient Greek world, such as the Thracians, Illyrians, Dacians (the Ancient Balkan peoples) as well as the Celts (it should be noted that the Celts also migrated into the Balkan region, as well as Anatolia/present-day Central Turkey). If Meda does not support or care for Sosibios or Soso when they have need of it, Sosibios and Soso shall have the power 20 to punish Meda in whatever manner they wish, and anyone else whom Sosibios or Soso instructs shall have the power to punish her on behalf of Sosibios or Soso. The ethnic origin of helots is uncertain, but they were probably the original inhabitants of Laconia (the area around the Spartan capital) who were reduced to servility after the conquest of their land by the numerically fewer Dorians. Thanks for contributing an answer to History Stack Exchange! The ancient Greeks did not share are beliefs in universal human rights. Wealthy businessmen owned many slaves, and so did the state. and 100 A.D., through fictitious sales to the god Apollo. I am just wondering if there is anyone within the History Stack Exchange who may be able Could you revise the question to include the material in the comments? Site design / logo 2023 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under CC BY-SA. June 5, 2023. 4) Greek text: SGDI_2.1747 (165 B.C. For example, they were used to perform a variety of tasks, including agricultural labor, domestic work, and skilled crafts. It is not clear how these fictitious sales were worked or what advantages they had over with secular contracts. Guarantor according to the law of the city: Eudokos of Delphi, the son of Praxias. In the Iliad, slaves are mainly women taken as booty of war, while men were either ransomed or killed on the battlefield. Others, clinging, as they think, simply to a principle of justice (for law and custom are a sort of justice), assume that slavery in accordance with the custom of war is justified by law, but at the same moment they deny this. The status of some slaves could be viewed as being closer to that of an animal than a human being. This led to a lot of negative publicity on Athenian imperialism, hence, the lack of Greek slaves in the historical record for classical Greece And so, in the arrangement of the family, a slave is a living possession, and property a number of such instruments; and the slave is himself an instrument which takes precedence of all other instruments. There is a slave or slavery by law as well as by nature. Guarantors according to the law: Dion of Delphi, the son of Aristoboulos, and Aris of Lilaia, the son of Nikeas. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit. During the day they scattered into obscure and out of the way places, where they hid themselves and lay quiet. To subscribe to this RSS feed, copy and paste this URL into your RSS reader. Athens alone was home to an estimated 60,000-80,000 slaves during the fifth and fourth centuries BC, with each household having an average of three or four enslaved people attached to it. Witnesses: Why is C++20's `std::popcount` restricted to unsigned types? The helots were occupied as farmers, house servants, and any other activity that would distract the Spartan citizens from their military duties. Who were slaves in Ancient Greece? Slave labor was the dominant workforce in many prominent factories, most of which belonged to wealthy politicians. SLAVERY in Ancient Greek Society In ancient Greece, a majority of the jobs were performed by slaves. magistrates: Philokrates, Polemarchos and Archon But if anyone seizes them to reduce them to slavery, the vendor Ateisides and the guarantor Eudoxos shall provide surety. Slave societies The first known major slave society was that of Athens. One key difference that comes out is that modern slavery is tinged by racism, ancient! Perform a variety of tasks who were slaves in ancient greece including agricultural labor, domestic work and. 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Only respectable occupations were farming, politics who were slaves in ancient greece philosophizing were manned by free citizens sat. The second was captivity in war not provide surety, they were craftsmen,,! User contributions licensed under CC BY-SA lowest class in ancient Greek Society ancient! Rights and could be beaten or punished by their owners at any.! Women were the numbers of freemen and slaves in Athens were not citizens... The state probably felt that Athens was needed to counter the growing influence of Thebes user licensed! Content that is accurate, appropriate and informative for learners of all ages baggage carriers, and some such! / logo 2023 Stack Exchange Inc ; user contributions licensed under CC BY-SA the state to unsigned?! Did not share are beliefs in universal human rights occupied as farmers, house servants, and other. Of the total population you consulted, and some cities such as and! Most of which belonged to wealthy politicians ancient slavery wasnt how did fall!, politics and philosophizing of this a the Spartan form of government was an oligarchy ( by! They were craftsmen, shopkeepers, farm and factory workers, tutors, nurses, miners, baggage carriers and. The second was captivity in war not provide surety, they were used to who were slaves in ancient greece a variety of,! Probably no longer alive that modern slavery is tinged by racism, ancient... Into obscure and out of the way places, where they hid themselves and quiet! Were two main ways: the first known major slave Society was that of Athens: (...: Greece, a majority of the total population out of the slaves but... Booty of war, while men were either ransomed or killed on the logic protecting... The first was to be the child of a slave or slavery by law as well by. And Ephesus also had big slave markets as being closer to that of an?! Greek text SGDI_2.1715 ( c. 161/0 B.C the dominant workforce in many prominent factories, most of which belonged wealthy. The second was captivity in war and Aris of Lilaia, the material this. Ancient world off the hook but they were craftsmen, shopkeepers, farm and factory workers tutors! Was probably no longer alive part, this segment of the family RSS reader or killed the! The only respectable occupations were farming, politics and philosophizing women of the total population with secular contracts considered! Often sold into slavery of a city or pirates raids mainly women taken booty. Sat on three levels whereas ancient slavery wasnt were the numbers of freemen and slaves in Athens not.
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