A Brief History of Slavery
The history of slavery covers
slave systems in historical perspective in which one human being is legally the
property of another, can be bought or sold is not allowed to escape and must
work for the owner without any choice involved. Slavery can be traced back to
the earliest records, such as the Code of Hammurabi (c. 1760 BC), which refers
to it as an established institution.
Slavery is no longer legal anywhere in the world. Mauritania abolished it in law in 1981 and
was the last country to do so. This
brief history covers most of the important epochs in history.
There were four primary sources
of slaves: war, in which the defeated would become slaves to the victorious
unless a more objective outcome was reached; piracy (at sea); banditry (on
land); and international trade.
Origins
Evidence of slavery predates written records, and has existed in many cultures. Slavery is rare among hunter-gatherer populations as slavery depends on a system of social stratification. Slavery typically also requires a shortage of labor and a surplus of land to be viable. Mass slavery also requires economic surpluses and a high population density to be viable. Due to these factors, the practice of slavery would have only proliferated after the invention of agriculture during the Neolithic Revolution about 11,000 years ago.
Slavery was known in almost every
ancient civilization, including Ancient Egypt, Ancient China, the Akkadian
Empire (roughly Iraq today), Assyria (also roughly today’s Iraq), Ancient
India, Ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, the Islamic Caliphate, and the
pre-Columbian civilizations of the Americas.
Such institutions were a mixture of debt-slavery, punishment for crime,
the enslavement of prisoners of war, child abandonment, and the birth of slave
children to slaves.
Fugitive
slave treaty between Idrimi of Alakakh (now Tell Atchana in Syria) and Pillia of Kizzuwatna (Cilicia – the south costal region of Turkey). c. 480BC British
Museum collection.
Ancient Egypt
Historians can trace slavery in Egypt from at least the Eighteenth Dynasty (1550 - 1295 BC). Sales of slaves occurred in the Twenty-fifth Dynasty (732 - 656 BC), and contracts of servitude survive from the Twenty-sixth Dynasty (ca 672 - 525 BC) and from the reign of Darius: although, interestingly, apparently such a contract then required the consent of the slave.
The Old Testament also recounts tales of slavery in Egypt:
slave-dealers sold Joseph into bondage there, and the Hebrews suffered
collective enslavement (Exodus, chapter 1) prior to the Exodus.
National Geographic Magazine published a series of illustrations
from about 1935 to 1951, notably by Herbert M. Herget (1885 - 1950). In this example he depicts a woman shopping
for slave girl while a male slave shows strength by lifting bull in the 8th
century BC.
A woman shopping for slave girl, by H. M. Herget, c.1951,
National Geographic.
Old Testament
The
Old Testament makes a distinction between fellow Israelites and foreigners. From
Leviticus:
25:39 If your brother becomes impoverished with regard to you so that he sells himself to you, you must not subject him to slave service.
25:40 He must be with you as a hired worker, as a resident foreigner; he must serve with you until the year of jubilee,
25:41 but then he may go free, he and his children with him, and may return to his family and to the property of his ancestors.
25:42 Since they are my servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt, they must not be sold in a slave sale.
25:43 You must not rule over him harshly, but you must fear your God.
However foreigners are another matter:
25:44 As for your male and female slaves who may belong to you, you may buy male and female slaves from the nations all around you.
25:45 Also you may buy slaves from the children of the foreigners who reside with you, and from their families that are with you, whom they have fathered in your land, they may become your property.
25:46 You may give them as inheritance to your children after you to possess as property. You may enslave them perpetually. However, as for your brothers the Israelites, no man may rule over his brother harshly.
You could beat a slave within an inch of his or her life and if they died in the first day your punishment was a fine. If they survived one day and died, there was no fine.
From Exodus:
21:20 And if a man smite his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die under his hand; he shall be surely punished.
21:21 Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two, he shall not be punished: for he is his money.
Ancient Greece
Historical records show that slavery existed in Mycenaean Greece (c. 1600 BC – c. 1100 BC) a cultural period of Bronze Age Greece taking its name from the archaeological site of Mycenae in northeastern Argolis, in the Peloponnese of southern Greece. It is the historical setting of much ancient Greek literature and myth, including the epics of Homer.
Slavery
was common practice throughout ancient Greek history, as it was in other
societies of the time. The origins are
not known, but it appears that slavery became an important part of the economy
and society only after the establishment of cities. It is estimated that in Athens, the majority
of citizens owned at least one slave.
Most ancient writers considered slavery not only natural but necessary.
The
principal use of slavery was in agriculture, the foundation of the Greek
economy. Some small landowners might own
one slave, or even two. Records of landowners confirm the presence of dozens of
slaves on the larger estates; they could be common laborers or foremen. Slave labor was prevalent in mines and
quarries, which had large slave populations.
Slaves working in a mine, c. 5th
Century BC, Painting on board terracotta.
For
example, in the Iliad, Homer writes that slaves are mainly women taken as booty
of war, while men were either ransomed or killed on the battlefield. In the Odyssey, the slaves also seem to be
mostly women. These slaves were servants
and sometimes concubines. There were
some male slaves, in the Odyssey, a prime example being the swineherd Eumaeus.
Women as plunder of war: Ajax the
Lesser taking Cassandra, c. 440-430 BC,
tondo of a red-figure kylix by the
Kodros Painter , Louvre Museum
Another Ancient
Mediterranean Civilization’s Influence Example
Virtually all the civilizations that
flourished around the Mediterranean Sea engaged in slavery and passed this
tradition along to subsequent generations and cultures. One of the more interesting outgrowths to
this history is the historical and mythic basis of Candaulism. Candaules was a king of the ancient Kingdom
of Lydia (roughly modern Turkey) from 735 BC to 718 BC.
His name is the origin of the term Candaulism,
for a sexual practice attributed to him by legend. Today, the term Candaulism refers to a sexual
practice or fantasy in which a man exposes his female partner, or images of
her, to other people for their voyeuristic pleasure. The term may also be applied to the practice
of undressing or otherwise exposing a female partner to others, or urging or
forcing her to engage in sexual relations with a third person, such as during a
swinging activity. The term may also be
applied to the posting of personal images of a female partner on the Internet
or to urging or forcing her to wear clothing which reveals her physical
attractiveness to others, such as by wearing very brief clothing, such as a
micro-skirt, tight-fitting or see-through clothing or a low-cut top.
According to The Histories of Herodotus,
Candaules arranged for his general, Gyges, to view his wife, Nyssia, as she
undressed. The Queen saw Gyges as he
left the room, and recognized that she had been betrayed by her own husband
swore to have her revenge. The furious
queen offered Gyges the choice of being executed or murdering her husband.
Gyges chose the latter, and went on to marry her and became king.
King Candaules of Lydia Shows his Wife to Gyges, ,
by Jean Léon Gérôm, c.1858
Candaules, King of Lydia, Shows his Wife by
Stealth to Gyges, by William Etty c.1830
Partly because of its’ explicit sexual theme,
this story and practice became part of the classical base of the art movements
of the 18th and 19th centuries; which in turn help establish much of the western
cultural images of harems and slavery.
Noted artists who used the story as the subject base at least one of
their works included Jean Léon Gérôm (1824-1904) and William Etty (1787‑1849). Jean-Léon Gérôme, “was a
French painter and sculptor in the style now known as Academicism. The range of his work included historical
painting, Greek mythology, Orientalism, portraits and other subjects,” (source:
Wikipedia). Academic art is a style of
painting and sculpture produced under the influence of European academies of
art.
Art historians, use the term
"Orientalism" for the depiction of aspects of Middle Eastern and East
Asian cultures (Eastern cultures) by writers, designers and artists in Europe
and the West. Orientalist painting,
depicting more specifically "the Middle East" was one of the many
specializations of 19th-century Academic art, as music and literature of
European countries took a similar interest in Oriental themes.
Depictions of Islamic "Moors" and
"Turks" in southern Europe, North Africa and West Asia can be found
in Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque art.
Many of the illustrations I use here were
created by Orientalism Movement artists.
I try to provide attribution to the original artist, even in those works
that have been significantly modified.
Republican and Imperial Rome
Romans inherited the institution of
slavery from the Greeks, Phoenicians and most of the other, earlier
Mediterranean civilizations. As the
Roman Republic expanded, entire conquered populations were enslaved, thus creating
an ample supply to work in Rome's farms and households. As a result, slavery in ancient Rome played
an important role in society and the economy.
Cultural Roots of Slavery in Roman Society
The site of the City of Rome was
settled circa (c.) 753 BC and became the seat of the Roman Republic c.509
BC. The Roman Republic successfully
assimilated neighboring civilizations by depending on military conquest and
commercial predominance. From its foundation Rome was undefeated in war as a
consequence of its warrior culture. By the 3rd century BC, Rome had become the
pre-eminent city of the Italian peninsula. From its foundation Rome, although
losing occasional battles, had been undefeated in war until 386 BC, when the
city was occupied by the Gauls. Summarizing the more accepted history (usually
citing Livy and Plutarch) finds that the Gauls marched to Rome, and after
defeating the Romans at the Battle of Allia sacked the city for 7 months. The
defeat at the hands of the Gauls was the last time the city of Rome was
captured by non-Roman forces until 410 AD.
A famous depiction is the
Academic painting (as in the Academic School) "Brenn and His Share of the
Spoils” by Paul Jamin. It depicts the
Gaul leader Brennus viewing his share of spoils after the looting of Rome.
According to the legend, the
Gauls offered to deliver Rome back to its people for a thousand pounds of gold,
but the Romans refused, preferring to take back their city by force of arms
rather than ever admitting defeat, after which the Romans recovered the city in
the same year.
The Republic was wealthy,
powerful and stable before it became an empire.
It was during the growth of the republic towards the end of the 3rd
century BC through the 1st century BC that saw a massive expansion of the
territory of the empire and massive growth of the slave population which
fundamentally changed the Roman economy.
By the Beginning in the 1st century BC, Rome had reorganized the army
into a force that would make the Republic and Empire the ruling superpower for
the next 500 years.
Brennus and His Share of the Spoils,
(aka Spoils of the Battle) (Paul_Jamin,1893)
Slaves did manual labor, many domestic
services, and might do highly skilled jobs and professions. Teachers,
accountants, and physicians were often slaves and many led lives of relative
comfort, even being seen as “part of the family." Greek slaves in particular might be highly
educated. Slave occupations included
fullers (wool cleaner – and hence textiles), engravers, shoemakers, bakers,
mule drivers, farm workers and prostitutes. There was a wide range of legal and
cultural variations on slave society in the larger Roman society.
While some slaves might live in
relative comfort, most lived in harsh conditions, by today’s standards. Under
Roman law slaves were considered property and had no legal personhood. Unlike
Roman citizens, they could be subjected to corporal punishment, sexual
exploitation (prostitutes were often slaves), torture, and summary execution.
Despite many variations due to
specific time circumstances, two basic themes can be found through this
history. The first is that the general
Latin word for slave is servus. According
to Marcel Mauss (French sociologist, 1872 –1950), in Roman times the “persona”
(literally “mask”) gradually became legally, in Roman Law, "synonymous
with the true nature (legal standing as a citizen) of the individual" but
"the slave was excluded from it. servus non habet personam ["a slave
has no persona"]. He has no personality. He does not own his body; he has
no ancestors, no name, no goods of his own." The second is that, in general, slaves
"had no right to refuse their masters' sexual advances."
Mosaic depicting two female slaves (ancillae)
attending their mistress, c.2nd
century AD,
Museum of Carthago, Tunis, Tunisia
Roman mosaic from Dougga, a Roman city in northern
Tunisia, c. 2nd century AD,
Bardo National Museum, Tunis, Tunisia.
The two slaves carrying wine jars wear typical slave
clothing and an amulet against the evil eye on a necklace; the slave boy to the
left carries water and towels, the one on the right a bough and a basket of
flowers.
Roman Slave Community and Sub-Culture
Not surprisingly, the manner in which
a slave was treated was highly dependent upon the temperament of the master or
mistress. A slave represented a
significant financial investment; and the normal expectation would be that an
owner would seek to protect his investment.
While there were many owners who did not think twice about imposing the
harshest of punishments, there are also many accounts that document that many
owners felt little need to inflict serious physical punishment on their
property, despite provocation.
Within the slave population itself
there existed a sort of hierarchy. A household slave with valuable skills, for
example a tutor, would be superior to a factory slave and would often not
hesitate to sneer at those lower in rank. Slaves owned by a powerful man would
also feel a certain amount of pride in their position, judging those slaves
owned by a man with less influence and hence a smaller number of slaves.
Household slaves were in closer
personal contact with their masters than any other type and were therefore
could gain better treatment from their owners. Captives from “civilized”
countries such as Egypt and Greece were more likely to become house slaves,
were of higher value and were hence treated comparatively well. Those from
'uncivilized' parts of the world, such as Germany and Gaul, were usually sent
to the farms or mines and their treatment tended to be much worse.
Slaves within a household, or indeed
any environment, tended to greatly outnumber the owner. The use, and threat / promise of physical
punishment was intended to instill a constant feeling of helplessness and
oppression, with the hope of causing a slave to perform his duties
unquestioningly and to maintain discipline.
Success was typically less than
perfect as slaves found a multitude of ways to alleviate the burdens of
slavery. The Greek moralist Plutarch
recorded, in about AD 100, an anecdote which told this story:
A Roman senator named Pupius Piso once ordered
his slaves not to speak unless spoken to.
He had no time for idle talk. He
also arranged an elegant dinner-party at which the guest of honor was to be a
dignitary named Clodius.
At the appropriate time all the guests arrived
except Clodius. So Piso sent the slave
responsible for having invited the guest of honor to see where he was - several
times - but still Clodius did not appear. In despair Piso finally questioned
the slave: 'Did you send Clodius an
invitation?' 'Yes.' 'So why hasn't he
come?' 'Because he declined.' 'Then why didn't you tell me earlier?’
'Because you didn't ask.'
Another way was to try to escape,
either to return to an original homeland or simply to find safe refuge
somewhere. In one account, the orator
Cicero grumbled in his correspondence about a slave named Dionysius, who was
sufficiently well-educated enough to have supervised Cicero's personal library
and by extrapolation, must have been relatively well-treated as books were both
very valuable and rare, ran away anyway, never to be seen again by Cicero.
Romans labelled runaway slaves
"fugitives" and as the greatest modern historian of ancient slavery,
Moses Finley, has remarked, "fugitive slaves are almost an
obsession..." This suggests that
the incidence of running away was always high.
To deal with the problem, the Romans
hired professional slave-catchers to hunt down runaways, and posted
advertisements in public places giving precise descriptions of fugitives and
offering rewards for their capture.
Around the necks of slaves who were recovered they also attached iron
collars, giving instructions on what to do with the slaves who wore them if
they happened to escape again. Examples
can still be seen in museums.
Roman Slave Punishment
Slaves could be punished for a wide
range of real and imaginary offenses.
But punishment always had two primary and conflicting purposes: there was
always a need to maintain control, and in conflict was the fact that slaves
frequently cost a great deal money to buy, so many of the punishments should
not inflict lasting damage. One outcome
was cruelty was commonplace, sometimes for the master to punish and maintain
control, sometime for sadistic reasons which would overwhelm any economic
reason.
The most common punishment for neglect
of duty or petty misconduct was a beating or a flogging with a lash. Minor punishments were inflicted at the order
of the master or his manager, commonly another slave. When slaves were lashed
with a whip they were suspended with a weight tied to their feet, that they
might not move them or thrash about. A
wide variety of whips, made of many different materials were used.
A considerably more brutal form of
whipping was scourging. The scourge
(called a flagrum or flagellum) was a short whip consisting of three leather
thongs on which were attached small pieces of metal, sharp bone, or metal
hooks. Scourging could quickly rip the skin off the back of the slave being
whipped. Such whips could easily cause
disfigurement and serious trauma.
Consequently, Romans reserved this treatment for non-citizens, as stated
in the lex Porcia and lex Sempronia, dating from 195 and 123 BC and as a
preliminary punishment for criminals condemned to crucifixion. This is the kind of whip that it is believed
was used on Jesus on His way to His crucifixion.
Slaves, and men in particular, were
sometimes punished by public humiliation in the form of having to wear a heavy
forked log around his shoulders with his neck in the fork and his arms fastened
to the ends projecting in front. This
less severe form of punishment was called furca and whichever slave had been
subjected to the punishment was forever called furcifer. – (a yoke-bearer as a
term of abuse, or a rascal, scoundrel, rogue (Wikipedia dictionary).
As mentioned, metal collars were used
to help with identification if the slave ran away, were inscribed with the
master's information, details of where to return his slave and promise of a
reward and otherwise marked the slave as property.
While other punishments were devised
where slaves were crushed to death or had their hands, ears, feet, nose and
lips cut off and their eyes cut out, these punishments were generally uncommon
as they damaged the value of the slave.
More commonly Banding and Tattooing
were used as a means of permanently marking a slave if the slave was guilty of
a crime. The slave could be marked on
the forehead with the letters "FUR", an abbreviation of
"fure" the Latin word for thief.
Gladiator schools used tattoos “stigma” (the English word stigmatised
derives). Runaway slaves were branded on
the forehead with “FUG” the abbreviation of "fugitivus," meaning
"runaway". For repeat offenders, the deliberate breaking of the
joints or bones was also used or they could be sold gladiator shows as targets
or fed to the lions.
Slaves might also be confined in a
work-house or mine, or on a rural plantation.
Rural slaves frequently worked in chains and were kept in a guarded
work-house at night. Conditions were
harsh and life expectancy was short.
Ironically, rural slaves were usually overseen by another slave who
would, out of fear of being demoted or punished himself, inflict even more
cruelty upon his charges than the master himself.
Cast of the corpse of a prisoner or perhaps a slave,
recovered from the ruins of Pompeii, 79 AD.
Assumed to be prisoner a slave as evidenced by the
manacles that remain on his ankles
Punishments were severe for actual
crimes, always a possibility since slaves were so numerous and had such free
access to their master. Utterly
incorrigible slaves were sold to be gladiators – or the victims of gladiators. However, the swiftest and most severe
punishment was for assaulting or killing the master of the house, or members of
the family. For an attempt on a master's
life or for taking part in an insurrection, the penalty was death for the
criminal and his family in a most agonizing form - crucifixion. The word crux (cross) was used among slaves
as a curse, especially in the expression:
“ad malam crucem” (Roughly: “Go to the bad cross”). The punishment included torturing and killing
all slave members of the house.
An example of this can be found in
Tacitus' Annals in which he relates the events surrounding the murder of
Pedanius Secundus, a high official in the imperial administration, in A.D. 61.
Roman law required a man's slaves to come to his aid if he were attacked, under
penalty of death. Roman law also required a slave to be tortured before
testifying, as he was unable to tell the truth without it. If a slave was suspected of murder, let alone
found guilty, every slave within that household would be put to death by
crucifixion. The friends of Pedanius
Secundus called for the death of all 400 of his slaves as they had not come to
the master's aid. The motion was passed
by the Senate as a method of discouraging future plots of murder and all 400 household
slaves were executed, even though most of them could not possibly have known
anything about the murder.
A mitigating factor was some slaves
were expensive commodities, especially those who were highly skilled or
educated or sexually desirable. Sexual
desirability applied to men, women and children. In the case of particularly valuable female
slaves, silk whips were used so as not to leave whip scars, which would
decrease the value of these slaves. So
punishments, for this type of slave, were often less severe.
Sexual desirability, and simple sexual
sadism, could also affect the treatment of slaves, and others for that
matter. The Roman biographer, Suetonius,
for example, tells stories of Emperor Tiberius on Capri having sadistic fun by
filling his male guests with wine then putting ligatures around their penises
so they could not urinate, and swimming in his pool with pre-adolescent boys he
nicknamed his “little fishes” who swam between his legs and nibbled his
genitals.
If a slave ran away, the slave was
liable to be crucified. Crucifixion was the capital punishment meted out
specifically to slaves, traitors, and bandits.
Harsh punishments were the deterrent to the ever present problem of
slaves running away or rebelling outright.
However, even crucifixion didn’t prevent slave rebellions.
Plutarch, described a series unrelated
and unsuccessful of slave rebellions against the Roman Republic, which are
known collectively as the Roman Servile Wars.
Perhaps the best known of these was the 3rd. Servile War (73–71 BC) as
he also dubbed it the “Gladiator War” or the “War of Spartacus.“ At its height, Spartacus’s army was reported
to be 120,000 strong.
While the modern movie depiction of
Spartacus and the historical record are, not surprisingly, different, there is
general agreement on how it ended: most
of the 120,000 rebel slaves were killed on the battlefield. An estimated 11,000 slaves survived the
battle itself, but not the rebellion.
Pompey Magnus, the commanding general
of the other Roman army engaged in the suppression of the rebellion, moved in
from the north was able to capture some 5,000 rebels fleeing the battle. Pompey reported to the Senate that he killed
all of them. The remaining 6,000
survivors were captured by the legions of Marcus Crassus. All 6,000 were crucified along the Appian Way
from Rome to Capua.
Supplying the Roman Slave Market
During the Roman Republican period and certain other periods, a great number of
slaves for the Roman market were acquired through warfare. In ancient warfare, the victor
generally had the right to enslave a defeated population. 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. Greeks, Berbers, Germans, Britons, Slavs,
Thracians, Gauls (or Celts), Jews, Arabs and many more ethnic groups became
slaves used not only for labor, but also for amusement (e.g. gladiators and sex
slaves).
At auction or sale, the slave sometimes stood on
revolving stands, and around each slave hung a type of plaque describing his or
her origin, health, character, intelligence, education, and other information
pertinent to purchasers. It was not
uncommon for desperate Roman citizens to raise money by selling their children
into slavery. Within the empire, slaves
were sold at public auction or sometimes in shops, or by private sale in the
case of more valuable slaves.
The Slave Market – Roman slave master selling
slaves
Boulanger Gustave Clarence Rudolphe, (1824-1888) c.1882
Slave markets seem to have existed in every city of the
Empire, but outside Rome the major center was almost certainly the city of Ephesus,
on the Mediterranean (Ionian) coast (modern Turkey today), and Ephesus was one of the largest
cities in the ancient Mediterranean world.
Men Bid on Women at a Slave Market in Delos
(Greece), c.100 BC
by Herbert M. Herget, National Geographic
Not surprisingly, prices varied with
age and quality, with the most valuable slaves fetching prices equivalent to
thousands of today's dollars. Because
the Romans wanted to know exactly what they were buying, slaves were presented
naked.
Purchasers of slaves did have
guarantee of sorts – the slave dealer was required to take a slave back within
six months if the slave had defects that were not manifest at the sale, or make
good the buyer's loss. Slaves to be sold with no guarantee had to be identified
as such.
Another common source of slaves was
piracy, which has a long history of adding to the trade, before, during and
after the Roman epoch. The Roman
Republic and Imperial Rome were no different. However, Rome made serious
attempts to eliminate piracy. During the 1st century BC, there were pirate
states along the Anatolian coast (today’s Turkey and Lebanon) were threatening
Rome’s the commerce in the eastern Mediterranean. According to an account by Plutarch, by the
end of the summer of 66 BC, Pompey ("the Great"), as commander of a
Roman fleet had swept the Mediterranean clear of opposition in three months.
Selling Slaves in Rome, by Jean-Léon
Gérôme, c.1884
Jean-Léon Gérôme, 1824-1904, was a French painter and sculptor who
resisted the new movement of Impressionism begun by Monet and Manet, continuing
the development and conservation of French Neo-Classicism. He also produced
many works in a historical style, Greek mythology, Orientalist style and
animals, bringing the French Empire tradition to an artistic climax.
Slave Auction, by Jean-Léon Gérôme, c.1884
Roman Slave, by Oscar Pereira da Silva
Roman Slave, by Oscar Pereira da Silva
Purchase of a Slave, by Jean-Léon Gérôme
Other Images / Depictions of Slavery in Roman Epoch
The captive, Alfred Plauzeau, c.1920.
A newly captured girl waits in chains, ready to be sold
into the slave trade and bought for a harem
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
The "official" fall of the
Western Roman Empire is attributed to the year 476 AD. The Eastern empire, continued into the 12th
century, morphing eventually into the Ottoman Empire.
Slavery in the Roman Empire did not suddenly
end, but it was slowly replaced when new economic forces introduced other forms
of cheap labor. During the late empire, Roman farmers and traders were
reluctant to pay large amounts of money for slaves because they did not wish to
invest in a declining economy. The legal status of "slave" continued
for centuries, but slaves were gradually replaced by wage laborers in the towns
and by land-bound peasants (later called serfs) in the countryside. These types
of workers provided cheap labor without the initial cost that slave owners had
to pay for slaves. Slavery did not disappear in Rome because of human reform or
religious principle, but because the Romans found another, perhaps even
harsher, system of labor.
This history will be continued on
additional the pages - along with History and commentary on Harems and Women
and Slave Girls who live there – and other related topics.
Genial.....!
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