Slaves in Ancient Greece

The existence of slaves in ancient Greece dates back to the early days of that civilization and continues until its decline. Already in Mycenaean period (1600-1200 BC) used them for their economy. And in the Hellenistic period (323-31 BC) there are still registered slaves as the property of great lords.

However, as is also the case with slavery in Egypt and in Roma, each era had its own consideration of these people deprived of liberty. And equally not all had the same status. If you are interested in learning more about slaves in ancient Greece, we invite you to continue reading.

How Slavery Was Arrived in Ancient Greece

Slaves in ancient Greece could be both foreign and native citizens who, for one reason or another, had lost their rights of free people. But, basically, they reached that condition for three reasons.

Prisoners of war

One of the most common sources of obtaining slaves for the Greeks was the wars in which they were victorious. In this also their civilization coincides with the Roman and the Egyptian. It was mainly citizens Phrygians, dear, lydians, scythians, cyrenaics o Thracians.

As for gender, the Greeks captured both men and women. That is to say, they not only took as slaves the soldiers who had faced them. Also their wives and even children were captured to be destined for slavery. The men were dedicated to the tasks that demanded a greater physical effort; women to housework and children, either collaborated with them or were sold to slave traders who waited for them to grow up to resell them.

A slave accompanying his master

Lord accompanied by his slave

Captured by pirates

Other slaves in ancient Greece were free citizens of other nations who had been kidnapped by pirates in the course of their attacks on different ports of the Mediterranean coast.

Then they were sold by the privateers themselves in the many slave markets that were or put into the hands of traffickers who bought them. Regarding those markets, they were many in ancient Greece. But the Piraeus ports belonging to Athens, as well as those of Of the, Maroon, Ephesus o Aegina.

Debt slaves

Another source of slave supply in ancient Greece was related to the debts. Free citizens who were unable to meet their payments fell into the condition of slaves. It was a frequent case, for example, among farmers who rented land and could not pay this rent to the landlord. In such a case, they were subject to it.

It is true that their slavery was limited. The moment they managed to make these pending payments, they were automatically released and returned to their status as free citizens.

However, in this case we must make a precision that affects the polis of Athens. In the XNUMXth century BC, the legislator Solon prohibited this practice so it ceased to be carried out.

The price of slaves

As these unfortunate people were considered a pure material commodity, the price of slaves changed both according to the time and the pure laws of the country. supply and demand. That is, when slaves were needed and there were few, their price rose, while when they were abundant, their cost fell.

A slave serving her mistress

Slave serving her mistress

Likewise, not all cost the same. The price of a strong man destined for demanding jobs was different than that of an older man who could no longer be profited from. However, in any case, owning a slave was not very expensive in ancient Greece. We could tell you, for example, that the annual salary that an Athenian worker received was enough to acquire one.

Slavery in Ancient Greece

In any case, from a human point of view, we are more interested in knowing what the living conditions of a slave were in ancient Greece. But what you are going to read you are not going to like.

Because, for the Greeks, so civilized for other things, a slave was nothing more than a commodity. For them, it had the same value as a domestic animal such as those that made up their livestock. In fact, the only thing that worried their lords was that they were well fed. But even in this case it was not out of benevolence, but out of interest: the better cared for in this sense, the better job performance they would offer.

Regarding the life expectancy of Greek slaves, it depended on the job they were destined for. As you will understand, a slave who was dedicated to extracting silver from the mines of the mount laurion, riding a Athens, than another dedicated to intellectual tasks such as educating his lord's children or keeping his master's accounts.

Logically, the life expectancy of a slave was also a function of the benevolence of his master. In Greek literature there are many examples of lords treating them with humanity, but also from others who were extremely cruel with them. In any case, the slave could be subjected to physical punishment such as whipping. And authors like Xenophon o Aeschylus they recommended in their works that they be treated well.

However, you must not deceive yourself because they did not do it out of humanity either. The reason they gave for this was that they would not run away or conspire against their master and that they would perform better.

A relief with slaves

Relief of a scene with slaves

The liberation of slaves in ancient Greece

As in ancient Egypt and the Roman Empire, Greek slaves could be freed by their master. To do so, it was enough that he will manifest it publicly. There were even cases of owners who did it in the middle of theatrical performances or in a trial, all of which had to be prohibited as it led to disturbances of public order.

We also find in testimonies of the time cases of collective releases of slaves. For example, it was made in Thasos to thank you for your loyalty during a war situation.

On the other hand, a slave could buy his freedom in exchange for money. To do this, he could apply for a loan or enlist the help of his family. There were even cases of partial releases. In this sense, we can tell you about the stop, a contract by which the slave worked for his master until his death and then was free. That is, the heirs could not dispose of it.

However, upon being released did not become a free citizen. His status was more like that of the nosy (name given to foreigners) and therefore they had some obligations.

In conclusion, slaves in ancient Greece had a so miserable condition like that of those who were in the same situation in Egypt or Rome. Although in the first of these civilizations they had some rights.


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  1.   sandra said

    Those who have written are a bunch of geeks without friends

    1.    Tomas said

      It is true

  2.   angelita said

    What does geeks mean? But I also want to know a Greek slave with 5 letters

  3.   George said

    Hellets

  4.   YAYA said

    How were they punished?

    1.    laura said

      they were punished with whip strongly

  5.   auca said

    how ignorant that sandra is

  6.   alex said

    because they were slaves