ENSLAVEMENT IN THE CLASSICAL WORLD

Using documents to compare how Classical Greece, Rome and India developed the idea of slavery and

the treatment of slaves

COMP: Classical Social Systems

In both the Roman Empire and Han Dynasty family was the basic social unit with Rome’s paterfamilias and Han’s Scholar-gentry. Rome, however would have increasingly more social mobility as the twelve tables would provide legal protections for both the patricians as well as the plebeians while Han peasants rarely had access to higher institutions. Merchants in Rome, too, held higher position through Mediterranean trade while merchants in China were looked down upon having contributed anything to society but greed.

In both Athens and India in the classical age merchants enjoyed greater access to wealth and privilege facilitated by their respective empires desire for goods through trade, both denied women property and inheritance rights, however Athens denied all non-citizens access to government decisions while both Mauryan and Gupta empire extended citizens privileges to peoples beyond their borders.

Notes on Classical Slavery

Why did slavery emerge in the First Civilizations?

1. domestication of animals provided a model for human slavery

2. war, patriarchy, and private property ideas encouraged slavery

3. women captured in war were probably the first slaves

4. patriarchal “ownership” of women may have encouraged slavery

Grouping Examples

Political Docs # 7,6,5,3,6 Economic Docs# 1 and 2 Cultural Docs # 1,2 and 7 Negative view Docs# 6,5,4 Duty and Rights Docs # 2,5,7 By Nature Docs # 1,2,3

Meaning Doc # 1 Hesiod the Greek poet views the labor performed by both slave and master

alike as for the purpose of farming in relation to the Gods (Zeus and Demeter) Doc #2 Plato in the Republic views the procurement and nature of slavery as

something to be done with foreign prisoners and not the Greek Race ( ethnocentric) Doc #3 Aristotle the polymath ( great at multiple subjects) rationalizes ( very

Hellenic thing to do) about the nature of mankind as either free or slave ( no ethnic or other distinction)

Doc #4 Tacitus, the Roman Senator illustrates a need to control the slaves after a murder of a city official (prefect) and the need to stop future rebellions (insurrections) . The document quotes Gaius Cassius as identifying slaves from foreign households as motley rabble ( xenophobic or ethnocentric)

Doc #5 from a jurist continues illustrating the need for legal reforms by provide doctrines and rights for slaves whether punishment or manumission ( freeing slaves for desired Roman citizen behaviors)

Document #6 From the Emperor Constantine, is an exceptionally punitive (punishing) treatment of a slave and provides responsibilities of slave masters to harshly treat recalcitrant ( misbehaving) slaves.

Document #7 from the Code of Manu provides Hindu guidelines treatment of enslaved ( not dissimilar from doc 6) , however, identifies the role of sin ( perhaps poor Dharma) that the master has also responsibilities to care for the enslaved ( not dissimilar from doc # 5)

Common in Mediterranean

Utilized for Empire building(literally) Aristotle “Men were slaves by nature” 1/3 of Classical Athens was enslaved No slaves had legal rights Emancipation (manumission) was common War, patriarchy and private property encouraged slavery Massive enslavement of war prisoners No social critique of slavery in Christianity

India

Prisoners of war, debtors and criminals were enslaved

Largely domestic Religion and law (laws of Manu) gave

some protection Society wasn’t economically dependent

on slavery as was the Mediterranean (why?)

China

Convicts were earliest slaves but slavery made up one percent of labor force

Poor peasants sold their children sometimes into slavery

Why did China and India rely less on Slavery than did Greece and Rome?

Documents

Thesis Evidence Analysis Meaning Grouping Additional documents Point of View

As you read the documents

Where is the document from (Greece, Rome, India)?

How does the document view slavery (political, economic, cultural)?

What is the source (bias, narrative, POV)?

Grouping

By region By time By theme (political-economic-cultural) By positive negative both

Meaning

What is the document saying in three sentences

Break a long-winded comment down to its very essence

Perhaps some context might help

Bias/POV

In at least two documents you must: Identify rank Identify religion Identify education Identify geographic region Identify gender

Additional Documents

Whose perspective is not represented and what value would their perspective lend to understanding how these societies viewed and treated slaves (ex. Spartacus because he led a rebellion of hundreds of thousands due to the mistreatment of slaves)

Thesis While the Greeks saw the nature of slavery as an essential component of human nature to

provide the labor essential to build a society and the spoils of war, Rome on the other hand created legislation to prevent sometimes more than half of the population from overwhelming the roman Republic/Empire. India, however, through the Code of Manu provided a religious justification for the society which had fewer slaves than the Mediterranean due to its caste system and the role of each varna especially the untouchables.

While politically, the Greeks and Romans needed to regulate the treatment and behavior of the enslaved to distinguish themselves from themselves, economically India, Rome and Greece needed the enslaved to provide a reliable and vital source of labor and property. India, however would value religious explanation of caste and afterlife ( reincarnations) whilst Greece and Rome viewed the nature of slavery as one of spoils of victory in conquest