Ancient Roman Slavery
In order to fully understand the society of Ancient Rome, we first need to recognize that it was a culture heavily based on slavery. Once we understand this, we can see the full picture of what daily life was like in Ancient Rome. To start, click the screenshot to the right to download a digital copy of your Ch. 6 Culture Notes sheet.
Then, click here to open the Ancient History Encyclopedia article on slavery in the Ancient World.
Then, click here to open the Ancient History Encyclopedia article on slavery in the Ancient World.
Where did slavery start?
In order to understand slavery, we need to look back and get a sense of where the institution of slavery started -- a daunting task, since we don't have too many written records that far back! There is no true way to know exactly when slavery started, but there are a few things we do know with certainty. One is that slavery seems to be present in almost every major ancient civilization:
- Ancient Sumeria (~4,000 BCE)
- Ancient Egypt (~3,200 BCE)
- Ancient China (~2,100 BCE)
- Ancient India (~3,000 BCE)
- Pre-Columbian cultures (Aztecs, Incas, Mayas, etc)
- Code of Hammurabi (~1,700 BCE) -- it makes a distinction between slave and free man (Law 282: "If a slave should say to his master, 'You are not my master...' they shall cut off his ear." -- Adapted from L.W. King Translation)
- Book of Leviticus 25:44-46: "Your male and female slaves shall come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property. You can bequeath them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your fellow Israelites ruthlessly." -- New International Version Translation
Hittite Slave tablet (~1,480 BCE) between Idrimi of Alakakh and Pillia of Kizzuwatna (click here to check this piece out in the British Museum!)
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This poor slave boy had the unfortunate job of holding his master's head back while he vomited from too much drinking... (from Wikimedia Commons)
Roman mosaic from Tunisia depicting two slave men carrying wine jars and serving guests. The slave on the far left carries water and towels, while the one on the far right carries a basket of flowers. (from Wikimedia Commons)
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How to Enslave through fear: Ancient Sparta
One of the more interesting slave cultures from antiquity is the Spartans. The Spartan economy was totally dependent on slaves called "Helots." The Helots outnumbered their Spartan masters by a ratio of over 7:1! So why didn't they revolt? How did the Spartans keep them under control? That's where it gets interesting...
Every Autumn, the Spartans would ritually declare war on the helots, allowing Spartans to kill Helots without fear of legal or religious repercussion. In addition, there seems to be evidence that Spartan boys would participate in killing helots in order to complete their rigorous military training (known as the "agoge"). With these practices in place, the Spartans were able to keep the Helots under control through fear, even though they were outnumbered to a large degree. |
When did the Romans start using slavery?
According to legend, the first king, Romulus, was the one who gave Roman fathers the legal right to sell their own children into slavery. The main start of Roman slavery on a major scale was the 2nd Punic War (218-201 BCE). After the 2nd Punic War, the Romans found themselves with thousands of new slaves from conquered Carthage. This practice of taking conquered people as slaves would continue right up to the fall of the Roman Empire. Slavery in Ancient Rome was considered part of the "ius gentium," ("law of the people"), the world's first international code of conduct (a Roman invention). It basically justified the taking of slaves by conquering nations. Luckily for the Romans, they were always doing the conquering!
How could someone become a slave in Ancient Rome?
Now that we have looked a little bit into slavery and its history, we need to focus back on Ancient Rome. How exactly would people become slaves in this culture? The answer is complicated, but there are some key aspects we want to focus on:
- Prisoners of War: if you were part of an army opposing Rome, after the battle the Romans (when they won) would take enemy soldiers as slaves. According to some estimates, the Romans were capturing tens of thousands of slaves every year!
- Conquered Cultures: if you lived in a country/state that the Romans conquered, they would often take civilians as slaves as a way of maintaining order in their new lands. In particular, the Romans would often take the sons of the local chief as hostages and "Romanize" them before sending them back home.
- Criminals: in Roman culture, criminals could face the penalty of slavery if caught. These slaves would belong to the state and work in state-run jobs (such as mines or taking care of Temples)
- Debtors: if you owed someone a debt that you could not pay off, one of the punishments would be that you become that person's slave until the debt is repaid. Sometimes, Romans would give their own children up to be slaves as a way of paying debts!
- Piracy/Kidnapping: for a long time the Mediterranean Sea was not the safest place to sail, due to all the pirate activity. If you lived by the coast or were a merchant whose ship was attacked, you might be kidnapped and sold into slavery. It was not until the famous Roman general Pompey the Great that Rome systematically eliminated the pirate threat. Julius Caesar himself was once kidnapped by pirates and held for ransom. He later went back to those same pirates and killed them all...
- Born a slave: slaves would often have families. In instances like this, if a slave couple had a child that child would be born a slave. Sometimes, masters would have illegitimate children with their slaves (who were also born as slaves)
Slavery and the Roman Economy
Needless to say, with this many slaves being brought to Roman lands every year the Roman culture was destined to change in dramatic fashion. Think about this-- if you have slaves handling every single aspect of your life (cooking, cleaning, dressing you, handling your finances, etc), how does that change Roman culture/society? Additionally, think about the economic change once slavery became widespread!
Around this time, the Romans introduced the idea of large slave-labor plantation farms (known as "latifundia" in Latin). These massive farms outproduced local farmers and forced them to sell off their land. With the need to farm for survival eliminated, what do you think it freed Romans up to do? Everything! Romans started moving to the city and finding more middle class jobs (bankers, lawyers, merchants, blacksmiths, etc.). We call this "specialization of labor" -- if you don't have to worry about growing your own food, you are free to pursue other types of jobs. Just think if you had to farm to survive-- you probably wouldn't be in school right now learning! Take a look at the picture below -- it depicts life in Ancient Egypt, but the principle is the same for Ancient Rome.
Around this time, the Romans introduced the idea of large slave-labor plantation farms (known as "latifundia" in Latin). These massive farms outproduced local farmers and forced them to sell off their land. With the need to farm for survival eliminated, what do you think it freed Romans up to do? Everything! Romans started moving to the city and finding more middle class jobs (bankers, lawyers, merchants, blacksmiths, etc.). We call this "specialization of labor" -- if you don't have to worry about growing your own food, you are free to pursue other types of jobs. Just think if you had to farm to survive-- you probably wouldn't be in school right now learning! Take a look at the picture below -- it depicts life in Ancient Egypt, but the principle is the same for Ancient Rome.
What did Roman slaves do?
As you saw in the videos at the start of this unit, Roman slaves did pretty much everything in Roman society. That's what made the society so dependent on them-- imagine what would happen if you took away all the slaves! In general, there are a few categories we can make for what slaves did:
- Manual Labor: many Roman slaves were destined to work in the fields. Wealthy Romans who owned large estates/farms would hire dozens of slaves to tend the fields. Additionally, slaves belonging to the Roman state would often be sent to work in the mines-- these mining slaves lived very hard, miserable, and short lives...
- Household slaves: slaves with special talents were often trained to work in the house. This would include slaves who could cook, clean, teach your children (educated Greek slaves would do this), etc. While this type of slavery could be just as unfortunate as working in the fields, it often was a slightly better existence.
- Educating the Children: like we said before, highly educated slaves were very valuable (especially Greeks!). These slaves would be used to tutor Roman children. Since they were so valuable, they were often treated a better in general.
In this mosaic, two female slaves (ancillae) attend to their mistress while she does her hair. (from Wikimedia Commons)
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A Roman funeral "stele" made for a slave. It reads, "Here lies Eros, the cook of Posidippus, a slave." Notice the "SER" on the right hand side of the stone-- a shorthand for "SERVUS." (from Wikimedia Commons)
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A cast of a Pompeian victim from the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. Notice the chains around his ankles -- was this a prisoner? a slave left behind? (click here for reference)
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An Ancient Roman slave tag. The inscription reads:
TENE ME NE FUGIA ET REVO CA ME AD DOMNUM EVVIVENTIUM IN ARA CALLISTI "Hold me, lest I flee, and return me to my master Viventius on the estate of Callistus." *This image comes from the British Museum. Click here to see the catalog. |
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Life on a Farm for a Slave
One of (if not the) biggest use of slave labor was on giant plantation-style farms. These would have had a very similar feel to pre-Civil War American plantations. So what would life have been like? Let's look at some quotes from Lionel Casson's book "Everyday Life in Ancient Rome" (1998 edition):
- "the slaves were generally divided into two groups, those who (could) be left unguarded and those who had to be kept shackled. During the day, these worked in chain gangs; at night, they were locked up, still fettered, in "ergastula," "work-houses," underground cellars lighted only by slits in the walls high enough to be out of reach." (p. 26)
- "Roman writers on farming make it clear that all the slaves, fettered or unfettered, were viewed as so much livestock: they were well fed and kept healthy because this way they paid off best." (p. 26)
- "They (slaves) were encouraged to breed, because the children could either be raised as replacements or sold at a good price. Columella, who in the middle of the first century A.D. wrote a book on agriculture that is our best source of information, explains that his principle was to reward a mother of three with reduced work assignments and a mother of four with freedom." (p. 27)
The Romans Speak About Slavery (Ancient Sources)
“Live mercifully with your slave, even in a friendly way. Invite him to a conversation, to share your plans and to live with you. At this suggestion the whole band of elites will shout at me: “Nothing is baser or fouler than this”. These very same men I often catch kissing on the hands of other men’s slaves.
Don’t you see this, at least, how our forebears tried to erase everything insidious and every kind of insult from slaveholding? They called the master a “father of the family” and slaves “family members”, a fact that endures today in mimes. They started a festival day one which it was custom and obligation for masters to eat with their servants. They also permitted slaves to earn honors in the home and to pronounce judgments so that the home was a microcosm of the state.” Vive cum servo clementer, comiter quoque, et in sermonem illum admitte et in consilium et in convictum. Hoc loco adclamabit mihi tota manus delicatorum: “Nihil hac re humilius, nihil turpius.” Hos ego eosdem deprehendam alienorum servorum osculantes manum. Ne illud quidem videtis, quam omnem invidiam maiores nostri dominis, omnem contumeliam servis detraxerint? Dominum patrem familiae appellaverunt, servos, quod etiam in mimis adhuc durat, familiares. Instituerunt diem festum, non quo solo cum servis domini vescerentur, sed quo utique; honores illis in domo gerere, ius dicere permiserunt et domum pusillam rem publicam esse iudicaverunt. -- Seneca, Moral Epistle 47.13-14 (Translation by Sententiae Antiquae) |
“Please remember that the person you call your slave rose from the same seeds, enjoys the same sky and equally breathes, lives and dies! You could see him just as much as a free man as a slave. Because of the slaughter in the time of Marius, fortune struck down many born to high station, taking the trail to the senate through the army—one of these it made a shepherd, another an overseer of a cottage. Despise now the fortune of a person whose place you may take even as you look down on them!
I don’t want to get involved in a big controversy and argue about the treatment of slaves toward whom we are most arrogant, cruel, and offensive. But this is the sum of my guidance: deal with your inferior the way you wish your superior would deal with you. However many times it pops in your mind to consider how much is right for you regarding your slave, let it also occur that this is permitted to your master regarding you. “But I have no master” you say. Your age is still good. Don’t you know how old Hecuba was when she began to serve, or Croesus, or Darius’ mother, or Plato and Diogenes?” Vis tu cogitare istum, quem servum tuum vocas, ex isdem seminibus ortum eodem frui caelo, aeque spirare, aeque vivere, aeque mori! tam tu illum videre ingenuum potes quam ille te servum. Mariana clade multos splendidissime natos, senatorium per militiam auspicantes gradum, fortuna depressit, alium ex illis pastorem, alium custodem casae fecit; contemne nunc eius fortunae hominem, in quam transire, dum contemnis, potes. Nolo in ingentem me locum inmittere et de usu servorum disputare, in quos superbissimi, crudelissimi, contumeliosissimi sumus. Haec tamen praecepti mei summa est: sic cum inferiore vivas, quemadmodum tecum superiorem velis vivere. Quotiens in mentem venerit, quantum tibi in servum liceat, veniat in mentem tantundem in te domino tuo licere. “At ego,” inquis, “nullum habeo dominum.” Bona aetas est; forsitan habebis. Nescis, qua aetate Hecuba servire coeperit, qua Croesus, qua Darei mater, qua Platon, qua Diogenes? -- Seneca, Moral Epistle 47.10-12 (Translation by Sententiae Antiquae) |
Connections to American Slavery
Now that we have explored Ancient Roman slavery a bit, it is worth our time to see if we can use it to understand our own culture and American slavery. There are a few interesting comparisons to make:
- Remember, in early America getting an education meant studying Greek and Latin as well as Ancient Greek and Roman history and culture. America has been referred to as a culture saturated in Classical references. So, our founding fathers were very aware of Roman culture (including slavery!)
- Early plantation farms in the American south are very similar to Roman "latifundia"-- Americans were certainly not the first people to create this type of slave-run farm!
- The Founding Fathers so no contradiction with believing in their own freedom as a natural right, while also restricting the freedom of their slaves. Senator James Henry Hammond of South Carolina once said, "Slavery truly is the cornerstone and foundation of every well-designed and durable republic." An unfortunate viewpoint, but why would he think this in the late 1800s? What does it tell you about the founding of America/founding of the Roman Republic and Empire?
- Think about the Roman slave market -- slaves were not thought of as human beings, they were considered property. The famous orator and statesman Cicero once quipped, "As I write, there is about 120,000 sesterces (a Roman coin) on the platform." This mindset of slaves as property instead of human beings is one that carried from Ancient Rome all the way to early America.
- In his notes from the Constitutional Convention in 1787, James Madison summarizes Charles Pinckney's pro-slavery argument as follows: "If slavery be wrong, it is justified by the example of all the world." Madison then notes that Pinckney cited "Greece, Rome and other ancient states." (click here for the reference)
- Aristotle describes the natural state of slavery in his work Politics by saying: "the same must also necessarily apply to the case of mankind as a whole; therefore all men that differ as widely as... the human being from the lower animal...these are by nature slaves, for whom to be governed by this kind of authority is advantageous... For he is by nature a slave who is capable of belonging to another..." He goes on to say, "the usefulness of slaves diverges little from that of animals; bodily service for the necessities of life is forthcoming from both, from slaves and from domestic animals alike. The intention of nature is to make the bodies of freedmen and of slaves different -- the latter (slaves) strong for necessary service, the former (freedmen) erect and unserviceable for such occupations, but serviceable for a life of citizenship."
Modern/Ancient Slavery Comparison Project
What are "Human Rights?"
To start, click here to watch a video explaining what "human rights" are! Then, start thinking about how Cicero and the Ancients thought of "natural law" and how it compares to "human rights" -- are some things unwritten rules that all human beings should follow? Do we need specific laws to tell us what is wrong and what is right? How does this compare to the Romans concepts of slavery? Does it clash with it, or explain it somehow?
Now, click here to open the UN's Declaration of Human Rights. Does the wording sound familiar to Cicero's words? How has Cicero (and those who came before him) impacted our modern interpretation of Human Rights?
Does slavery still exist today? How do we stop it?
Now that we have a better understanding of human rights and how they connect to the Ancient Romans, let's explore if slavery is still a problem in the world today. As you will see in this Ted Talk video from Kevin Bales, it is! So how do we combat it?
To see more about Kevin Bales' presentation, click here to access Ted's website.
Then, take a look at the Human Rights Violation anywhere in the world, using this 2023 World Report from Human Rights Watch (click here).
If you are curious about Human Trafficking in the United States, I would encourage you to check out the 2014 U.S. Commission on Civil Rights report on Sex Trafficking (click here) -- the "Findings and Recommendations" pages is particularly jarring...
To start, click here to watch a video explaining what "human rights" are! Then, start thinking about how Cicero and the Ancients thought of "natural law" and how it compares to "human rights" -- are some things unwritten rules that all human beings should follow? Do we need specific laws to tell us what is wrong and what is right? How does this compare to the Romans concepts of slavery? Does it clash with it, or explain it somehow?
Now, click here to open the UN's Declaration of Human Rights. Does the wording sound familiar to Cicero's words? How has Cicero (and those who came before him) impacted our modern interpretation of Human Rights?
Does slavery still exist today? How do we stop it?
Now that we have a better understanding of human rights and how they connect to the Ancient Romans, let's explore if slavery is still a problem in the world today. As you will see in this Ted Talk video from Kevin Bales, it is! So how do we combat it?
To see more about Kevin Bales' presentation, click here to access Ted's website.
Then, take a look at the Human Rights Violation anywhere in the world, using this 2023 World Report from Human Rights Watch (click here).
If you are curious about Human Trafficking in the United States, I would encourage you to check out the 2014 U.S. Commission on Civil Rights report on Sex Trafficking (click here) -- the "Findings and Recommendations" pages is particularly jarring...