FREE ESSAY ON SLAVERY IN GREECE, ROME, AND AFRICA

SLAVERY IN GREECE, ROME, AND AFRICA

The issue of slavery has been debated since its early inception. In recent times, there
has been considerable debate as to the definition of slavery. Western scholars have
attempted to justify slavery of the New World by comparing it to the slavery that existed
in Biblical times as well as Greco-Roman and African slavery. Some argue that there can
be no international definition of slavery. Others try to define by a few words that apply
to every instance of slavery. The only true way to define slavery is according to each
society in which it was based.
Webster's dictionary defines slavery submission to a dominating influence or the state of
a person who is a chattel of another. Though Webster's gives this very general
definition, there are many other meanings that may come to a person's mind depending on
the region of the world that one is speaking of. In Rome, there were different forms of
slavery and slavery was not based on any particular thing such as color. Where did these
slaves come from? It has been said that "slaves are either born or made." During the
Republican period one of the principal sources of slaves had been prisoners of war. There
was significant number of Jewish slaves acquired as a result of the crushing of the
Jewish rebellion by Vespasian and Titus (AD 66-70) The steady expansion in Britain
continued to supply British slaves onto the market. Great numbers of prisoners of war
reached Rome from the Dacian wars of Trajan. Also, after the Jewish revolt led by
Bar-Cochba in AD 132-35 an additional number of Jews were sold as slaves. 
As well as prisoners of war, there were other groups of people who were made slaves.
There were those who were kidnapped and sold into slavery. There were also persons that
were made slaves as a result of piracy. This practice was considerably restricted when
Pompey crushed the pirates after the passing of the Lex Gabinia in 67 BC. Piracy was also
restricted later when the piratical Illyrians were defeated at the conclusion at the
battle of Actium in 31 BC. Another source of slaves was purchase from over the boundaries
of the empire. Roman soldiers involved in frontier wars and rebellions had many
opportunities to buy prisoners of war as slaves at disposal auctions. Although this is
not mentioned in the contemporary literature, this information can be found in papyrus,
which reveals that soldiers did indeed own slaves. 
There were other ways by which slaves were obtained. The sale of offspring by parents was
one of the ways that slaves were obtained. This occurred particularly in hard times when
parents attempted to ease their burden. There is evidence that this practice did take
place during the first centuries of the empire. However, the practice is unlikely to have
been widespread. There are even accounts of how the Frisians in Lower Germany, being
subjected to an excessive tribute by the Romans, were forced eventually to sell their
wives and children into slavery. This too however, would have been unusual. In general it
is unlikely that even the most impoverished parents, once they had initially resolved to
bring up a baby, would sell that baby into servitude - unless there was some very special
provocation. 
A few other methods of enslavement should also be mentioned. The first was self-sale.
Hermeros, for example, rather than remain a tribute-paying provincial and hoping
subsequently to become a Roman citizen, seems to have sold himself into slavery. A second
method was for debt. Here a debtor who was unable to pay could be given up (addictus) to
his creditor. A third method was penal enslavement, slavery arising from conviction in
law. Punishment for grave crimes could entail the removal of personal rights. The
abandonment of infants was widespread over much of the Roman world, and, no doubt,
occurred even more frequently whenever circumstances became especially difficult. The
custom was not made illegal until AD 374. Abandoned children usually either died or were
made slaves. The owners themselves sometimes found the infants, either by accident or
design. At other times they received them from finders who knew of their need. But there
are also signs in the papyri of the availability of infants on request. Individuals who
were part of the slave trade either collected abandoned babies for later sale themselves
or bought them from others who found them. 
Some of the methods that were used in Greco-Roman slavery were also employed in Africa.
The earliest slaves were captives taken in warfare. Most slaves appear to have been the
property of kings, priests, and temples, and only a relatively small proportion were in
private possession. They were employed to till the fields and tend the flocks of their
royal and priestly masters but otherwise seem to have played little role in economic
production, which was mostly left to small farmers, tenants, and sharecroppers and to
artisans and journeymen. 
As in Greco-Roman slavery, slaves were also acquired by the sale, abandonment, or
kidnapping of small children. Free persons could sell themselves or, more frequently,
their offspring into slavery. They could be enslaved for insolvency, as could be the
persons offered by them as pledges. In the religion of Islam, it was made unlawful for a
freeman to sell himself or his children into slavery, and it was no longer permitted for
freemen to be enslaved for either debt or crime, as was usual in the Roman world. It
became a fundamental principle of Islamic jurisprudence that the natural condition, and
therefore the presumed status, of mankind was freedom, just as the basic rule concerning
actions is "permittedness": what is not expressly forbidden is permitted; whoever is not
known to be a slave is free. This rule was not always strictly observed. 
In some regions of Africa, slaves were simply "victims of kidnapping." In addition,
slaves were also acquired through trading as with the Imbangala. In these instances,
people such as the Imbangala did not have to resort to war to obtain slaves. 
According to Lewis, in the Islam religion, there were basically four ways in which a
slave could be obtained:
Capture: Capture was a most important source. Frontier warfare and naval raiding yielded
some captives, but these were relatively few and were usually exchanged. In later
centuries, warfare in Africa or India supplied some slaves by capture to Muslims. With
the spread of Islam, and the acceptance of dhimml status by increasing numbers of
non-Muslims, the possibilities for recruitment by capture were severely restricted. 
Tribute: Slaves sometimes formed part of the tribute required from vassal states beyond
the Islamic frontiers. The king of Nubia signed a treaty that included an annual levy of
slaves to be provided from Nubia. The treaty stipulated that hundreds of male and female
slaves be delivered annually. This treaty endured for ages but was disrupted when wars
broke out between the Muslim rulers of Egypt and the Christian kings of Nubia. Offspring:
The attainment of slaves through offspring appears to have been small and insufficient to
maintain numbers. Several factors contributed to this difference. Because of the belief
of a man's freedom, slaves were often liberated. Usually this occurred when a slave was
freed because she bore her master's child. There were also other reasons for the low
natural increase of the slave population in the Islamic world. They include: 
-  1. Castration. A fair proportion of male slaves were imported as eunuchs and thus
precluded from having offspring. Among these were many who otherwise, by the wealth and
power which they acquired, might have founded families. 
-  2. Another group of slaves who rose to positions of great power, the military slaves,
were normally liberated at some stage in their career, and their offspring were therefore
free and not slaves. 
-  3. In general, only the lower orders of slaves -- menial, domestic, and manual workers
-- remained in the condition of servitude and transmitted that condition to their
descendants. There were not many such descendants -- casual mating was not permitted and
marriage was not encouraged. 
-  4. There was a high death toll among all classes of slaves, including great military
commanders as well as humble menials. Slaves came mainly from remote places, and, lacking
immunities, died in large numbers from endemic as well as epidemic diseases.
Purchase: This became the most important means for the legal acquisition of new slaves.
Slaves were purchased from outside, and were then imported into the Islamic nations.. In
the Roman world, the slave population was occasionally recruited from outside, when a new
territory was conquered. However, most slaves came from internal sources. This was not
possible in the Islamic empire. Though enslavement was outlawed, slavery was still legal.
This provided for great slave trade. 
Though there were similarities between Greco-Roman and African slavery, that were
differences that must be distinguished. In most cases, slavery systems in Africa were
more like indentured servitude. Slaves retained some rights and children born to slaves
were generally born free. Slaves could be released from servitude and join a family clan,
they were not bound for life, and when set free were not outsiders. In contrast,
Greco-Roman slaves were chattel, or property, who were usually stripped of their rights.
The cycle of slavery was perpetual; children of slaves would, by default, also be slaves.
There were different classes of slaves, and all were not restricted to servitude for
life.
A slave could marry, but only by consent of the master. Theoretically, a male slave could
marry a free woman, but this was discouraged and in practice prohibited. A master could
not marry his own slave woman unless he first freed her. 
The rules governing marriage in Rome were similar. There were laws that stated that the
sons of senators were not to marry freedwomen. However, it was legal for the women to be
taken on as a concubine. In fact, it was more respectable for the senator's son to have
this woman as a concubine than for the woman to be taken as a wife. There were provisions
made for the freedwoman. She could leave her patron and marry, but only with his consent.

Islamic law provided a number of ways in which a slave could be set free. One was
manumission, accomplished by a formal declaration on the part of the master and recorded
in a certificate. This certificate was given to the liberated slave. The manumission of a
slave included the offspring of that slave. If there was any uncertainty about an act of
manumission, the slave has the benefit of the doubt. Another method is a written
agreement by which the master grants liberty in return for a fixed sum. Once such an
agreement had been reached, the master no longer held charge over the slave. The slave
was still subject to certain legal disabilities, but was "virtually free." Agreements
such as these could be terminated by the slave but not by the master. Children born to
the slave after the contract are born free. A master could also bind himself to liberate
a slave at some specified future time. He may also bind his heirs to liberate a slave
after his death. 
In addition to manumission based on the will of the master, there were various legal
causes which may lead to liberation. The most common was a legal judgment by a qadi
ordering a master to emancipate a slave whom he had mistreated. There was also the case
of the umm walad, a slave woman who bears a son to her master. This woman could not be
sold and upon her master's death was freed. 
In Greco-Roman slavery, there is some evidence to suggest that female slaves were
manumitted more often than males and marriageable females were manumitted most often of
all. The principal reason for this is thought to be marriage. 
Some slaves in Greece were upwardly mobile. These slaves were not bound to servitude for
life. All slaves were not outsiders of the community. In fact, some slaves actually had
better standing and were privy to better things that some free men were not privy to.
Middle-level, managerial slaves held visible positions. Because they had connections with
powerful people based on their position, there were opportunities for social advancement
that some of the free poor did not have. There are also examples of slaves in the Roman
context that amounted great wealth, obtained freedom, and became the head of the
treasury. 
There were different types of slaves in Rome. One type of slave slave, the aquarii, were
slaves who carried water for bathing into the female apartments. They were also called
aquarioli, These slaves were held in great contempt and did not fit into society such as
slaves of Caesar. It is also said that this name applied also to slaves who had the care
of the fountains and ponds in gardens. The aquarii were also public officers who attended
to the aqueducts. 
There was another class of slaves known as anteambulones. These were slaves who were to
go before their masters, in order to make way for them through the crowd. They usually
called out to the crowd. If this were not sufficient to clear the way, they used their
hands and elbows to make way. A story is even told of a slave that accosted a Roman
knight in order to make way for the master. Because the slave touched the knight, the
master was accosted by the knight. 
While some slaves lived life better than the free poor, others were confined to what was
known as an ergastulum. This was a private prison attached to most Roman farms. The
slaves were made to work in chains. The prison appears to have been usually under ground,
and was lighted by narrow windows. The windows were too high from the ground to be
touched by the hand. The slaves confined in an ergastulum were also employed to cultivate
the fields in chains. Slaves who had displeased their masters were punished by
imprisonment in the ergastulum. This same prison housed all slaves who could not be
depended on. A trustworthy slave was placed in charge of the ergastulum, and was called
ergastularius. These prisons arose in as a result of the conquest of Italy by the Romans,
and the great number of barbarous slaves who were employed to cultivate the conquered
lands. In the time of Hadrian and Antoninus, many laws were made to ameliorate the
condition of slaves. Hadrian abolished the ergastuala because it was subject to great
abuse when used by "tyrannical masters." 
Though slavery was maintained, the Islamic dispensation enormously improved the position
of the slave. These slaves were not considered merely chattels, but also human beings
with a certain religious rights. This warranted social status and with certain
quasi-legal rights. The early caliphs who ruled the Islamic community after the death of
the Prophet also introduced some further reforms of a humanitarian tendency. The
enslavement of free Muslims was soon discouraged and eventually prohibited. 
Many people seek to define slavery in an attempt to justify the slavery of the New World.
While there were cases of harsh treatment of slaves, the condition of their enslavement
was not based on the color of their skin. Most slaves in Greco-Roman and African cases
were entitled to some rights and were treated as more than chattels or property. While it
may not be possible to define slavery using one term that applies to all instances of
slavery, slavery can be defined if each instance is looked upon separately. The correct
term may not be slavery, but in all cases, one person is subject to the will of another.
Bibliography
Bibliography
Aristotle, Politics, Translated by T.A. Sinclair. England: 
Penguin Classics,1962.
Boese, W.E., A Study of the Slave Trade and the Sources of 
Slaves in the Roman Republic and the Early Roman Empire. University of Washington,1973. 
Bradley, K.R. On the Roman Slave Supply and Slavebreeding" in 
Classical Slavery, Edited by M. I. Finlay. London,1987. 
Crawford, M., Republican Denarii in Romania: the Suppression of 
Piracy and the Slave-Trade. JRS 67 (1977), 117-24.
Hopkins, K., Conquerors and Slaves: Sociological Studies in 
Roman History, Volume 1. Cambridge,1978.
Kpytoff, Igor and Miers, Suzanne, "African Slavery as an 
Institution of Marginality" in Slavery and Africa: Historical and Anthropological
Perspectives, ed. Suzanne Miers and Igor Kopytoff, Madison: University of Wisconsin
Press, 1976.
Lewis, Bernard, Race and Slavery in the Middle East.
Oxford University Press 1994.
Madden,John Slavery in the Roman Empire Numbers and Origins.
Galway: University College.
Martin, Dale, Slavery as Salvation: The Metaphor of Slavery in 
Pauline Christianity. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990.
Murray, John, A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, 
London: 1875. 
Sikainga, Ahmad "Slavery and Muslim Jurisprudence in Morrocco" 
in Slavery and Abolition, Special Issue: Slavery and Colonial Rule in Africa, ed. Suzanne
Miers and Martin Klein.
THE AMAZING ANCIENT WORLD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION: 
http://www.omnibusol.com.
Westermann, W.L., The Slave Systems of Greek and Roman 
Antiquity. Philadelphia,1955.
Wiedemann, T.E.J., Slavery, Greece and Rome. Oxford,1987Bibliography
Aristotle, Politics, Translated by T.A. Sinclair. England: 
Penguin Classics,1962.
Boese, W.E., A Study of the Slave Trade and the Sources of 
Slaves in the Roman Republic and the Early Roman Empire. University of Washington,1973. 
Bradley, K.R. On the Roman Slave Supply and Slavebreeding" in 
Classical Slavery, Edited by M. I. Finlay. London,1987. 
Crawford, M., Republican Denarii in Romania: the Suppression of 
Piracy and the Slave-Trade. JRS 67 (1977), 117-24.
Hopkins, K., Conquerors and Slaves: Sociological Studies in 
Roman History, Volume 1. Cambridge,1978.
Kpytoff, Igor and Miers, Suzanne, "African Slavery as an 
Institution of Marginality" in Slavery and Africa: Historical and Anthropological
Perspectives, ed. Suzanne Miers and Igor Kopytoff, Madison: University of Wisconsin
Press, 1976.
Lewis, Bernard, Race and Slavery in the Middle East.
Oxford University Press 1994.
Madden,John Slavery in the Roman Empire Numbers and Origins.
Galway: University College.
Martin, Dale, Slavery as Salvation: The Metaphor of Slavery in 
Pauline Christianity. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990.
Murray, John, A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, 
London: 1875. 
Sikainga, Ahmad "Slavery and Muslim Jurisprudence in Morrocco" 
in Slavery and Abolition, Special Issue: Slavery and Colonial Rule in Africa, ed. Suzanne
Miers and Martin Klein.
THE AMAZING ANCIENT WORLD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION: 
http://www.omnibusol.com.
Westermann, W.L., The Slave Systems of Greek and Roman 
Antiquity. Philadelphia,1955.
Wiedemann, T.E.J., Slavery, Greece and Rome. Oxford,1987Bibliography
Aristotle, Politics, Translated by T.A. Sinclair. England: 
Penguin Classics,1962.
Boese, W.E., A Study of the Slave Trade and the Sources of 
Slaves in the Roman Republic and the Early Roman Empire. University of Washington,1973. 
Bradley, K.R. On the Roman Slave Supply and Slavebreeding" in 
Classical Slavery, Edited by M. I. Finlay. London,1987. 
Crawford, M., Republican Denarii in Romania: the Suppression of 
Piracy and the Slave-Trade. JRS 67 (1977), 117-24.
Hopkins, K., Conquerors and Slaves: Sociological Studies in 
Roman History, Volume 1. Cambridge,1978.
Kpytoff, Igor and Miers, Suzanne, "African Slavery as an 
Institution of Marginality" in Slavery and Africa: Historical and Anthropological
Perspectives, ed. Suzanne Miers and Igor Kopytoff, Madison: University of Wisconsin
Press, 1976.
Lewis, Bernard, Race and Slavery in the Middle East.
Oxford University Press 1994.
Madden,John Slavery in the Roman Empire Numbers and Origins.
Galway: University College.
Martin, Dale, Slavery as Salvation: The Metaphor of Slavery in 
Pauline Christianity. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990.
Murray, John, A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, 
London: 1875. 
Sikainga, Ahmad "Slavery and Muslim Jurisprudence in Morrocco" 
in Slavery and Abolition, Special Issue: Slavery and Colonial Rule in Africa, ed. Suzanne
Miers and Martin Klein.
THE AMAZING ANCIENT WORLD OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION: 
http://www.omnibusol.com.
Westermann, W.L., The Slave Systems of Greek and Roman 
Antiquity. Philadelphia,1955.
Wiedemann, T.E.J., Slavery, Greece and Rome. Oxford,1987