Greek Slavery Flashcards
(50 cards)
What notion of slavery eventually became established?
That it was not right for Greeks to enslave their fellow Greeks. The correlative idea prevailed that non-Greek ‘barbarians’ were fitted for servitude by their very nature. (But enslavement of Greeks by Greeks still continued).
What was the ultimate, extreme form of the slave?
The chattel, ‘socially dead’ in the sense that he/she is ripped forcibly from ties of kin and community, transported to an alien environment to be treated as a piece of property or as a factor of production to be used and abused at will.
What does Aristotle call the slave in Politics?
An ‘animate tool’
What kind of personality did slaves lack?
Both no legal or civic personality whatsoever.
While slaves were uniform in legal status in Athens, how were they different?
There were gradations of status and degrees of exploitation of the slaves.
Which category of slaves described the most well-off?
The publicly owned slaves (demosioi).
How many publicly owned slaves are estimated to be in Athens?
A few hundred.
What did publicly owned slaves do?
- Token police force
- Official coin-tester in the agora
- Clerk in a jury court
etc,
Which category of slaves were the second most well-off?
The privately owned slaves who ‘lived apart’ in craft workshops.
What did privately owned, skilled slaves do?
- Worked in craft workshops and were remitted a share of the profits.
- Were hired out for specific tasks such as harvesting.
What category of slaves were below privately owned slaves?
Household slaves, male and female, of whom the males in a smaller household might also work in the fields.
What category of slaves lies below household slaves?
Agricultural slaves
What category of slaves had it the hardest of all?
Mine-slaves
How were mine-slaves employed?
They were either directly employed or hired out to work the state-owned silver mines of Laurium.
What is an estimate of the number of slaves active in Attica at any one time between 450-320 BC?
About 80,000-100.000 slaves.
What happened to the Athenian model of chattel slavery?
It became widely diffused in the Greek world.
What did ‘barbarians’ come to be identified as?
‘Natural’ slaves, Aristotle Politics.
Why must we be careful in interpreting the word douloi from the ancient sources?
Douloi means ‘unfree’ and not always the same as the chattel-slave douloi.
What were the 2 largest classes of unfree persons?
(1) Those enslaved for debt.
(2) Communally enslaved helot-type populations.
What was the difference between the enslavement of debt-bondsmen legally versus in reality?
Technically, debt-bondsmen only forfeited their liberty temporarily, pending repayment of their debt. But in practice their condition might be permanent and hereditary.
What was significant in terms of slavery about Solon’s reforms in about 600 BC?
He outlawed debt-bondage for citizens altogether.
How was debt-bondage used elsewhere (not Athens) in the Greek world?
As a principal source of exploited labour power for Greek propertied classes; in default of or as a complement to slave labour.
What class consistuted the overwhelming majority of Sparta’s servile labour force?
The native helot class.
Why did an ancient commentator believe that helots ought to be classified as somewhere between outright chattel slaves and completely free people?
Because the helots were Greek and enjoyed some signal priveleges, most importantly a family life.
