by LR Swartz

Created on: March 10, 2009

Slavery has a very negative connotation in today's society. When we hear the word slavery, the images of chains, whipping, sell blocks all come to mind for most of us. These symbols signify modern slavery, slavery from 1444 on. If one takes a closer look at slavery, they will see that it does have ancient roots. Ancient societies, the Jewish, Greek, Islamic, Persian and Roman all engaged in slavery.

In the ancient societies, one became a slave through different means. If you engaged in battle, you were the loser and you survived the battle, you became a slave. If you committed a crime, the penalty could be slavery. If you could not pay your debt, one of the penalties was slavery. Although one was enslaved, their family was not. At any time, you could buy your freedom.

So why is Rome different in the treatment of their slaves? There are a few reasons. At the onset, the settlement of Rome was different than other societies. Romulus and Remus created a haven where criminals, thieves, freed slaves and other forms of low life came to live. As time when on, slaves became part of this society. Rome's neighbors from the north, the Etruscans, who later became part of the Roman Empire, used slaves in all areas of their society. Slaves were an important part of the Etruscan society for it freed up the men and women to concentrate on trade and commerce. Slaves worked the field, slaves did domestic work, slaves even were in charge of the running some of the commercial trade for the Etruscans. They were considered very valuable property and were treated the same way. They had families, had homes and were allowed to buy their freedom. So it is not surprise this filtered down into Rome.

As Rome grew, acquired more territory and the games became the central focus of Roman society, the concept of slavery changed. The Colosseum was the central focus of Rome and the fighting of gladiators became the game to see. So, now the interest was to acquire slaves to satisfy the bloody appetite of the Roman population who came to see the games. In rare instances, gladiators were able to gain their freedom. This was usually done by the Emperor of Rome or through the goodness of their masters. This was only done for those who had extraordinary records. For many, being part of the games was a death sentence.

Slavery, in Rome, slowly disappeared on the plantations as the Empire grew. Roman plantation owners turned to a different economic scale to bring in more money for their pockets. Instead of using slaves on their plantations, they went with the idea of a colonus. A colonus was a sharecropper per say. They were given a piece of the plantation. In return for this land, they farmed the area and gave payment to the owners. In many instances, the payment kept colonus tied to the land and thus ended up in worst conditions than a slave.

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