Slavery in Ancient Greece

1
Slavery in Ancient Greece

• Daniel Hollier Cross

2
Slavery in General

• Slaves in ancient Greece were people with few
  legal rights.
• They were treated as property.
• Slaves were owned both by individuals and by the
  state.
• All slaves were of lowest social class.
• Within the class of slaves, public slaves were
  generally socially above private slaves.

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General Slavery contd

• There were probably as many slaves as free people
  in ancient Greece.
• One could be born or sold into slavery, captured
  by an enemy city, or enslaved after being exposed
  by ones parents.
• Slaves couldnt go into the Gymnasium or the
  Assembly.
• Slaves were named by their masters.

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Types of Slaves

• Demosioi (public slaves)
• Dokimastes (coin tester)
• Astinómi (city police)
• Clerks
• Chois oikountes (self-sufficient private slaves)
• Skilled craftsmen
• Oiketes (household slaves)
• Other private slaves
• Agricultural slaves
• Ship crewmembers
• Miners

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Dokimastes

• The law of Nicophon set the duties of the
• Dokimastes, or Tester, as follows
• Public slave who sat in Agora near bankers
• Bankers brought him coins to test
• Those genuine were given back those counterfeit
  were cut in two and disposed of.
• Failure of the Dokimastes to test coins resulted
  in 50 lashes.
• Any merchant who wouldnt take Dokimastes-approved
  coins had goods for sale confiscated.

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Astinómi (city police)

• Public slaves employed by state
• In Athens, the Scythian bowmen policed the city
• Duties included
• Guarding public buildings
• Inspecting weights and measures
• Acting as constables
• Guarding the treasury
• In general, Astinómi were among the most highly
  regarded slaves in ancient Greece.

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Clerks

• State-owned slaves
• Could live in their own houses with their own
  families
• Could store wealth for an estate
• Could participate in city ceremonies
• Served as clerks in state courts
• Did accounting for state
• Served as scribes for revision of laws
• Acted as pages in the Pnyx

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Skilled Craftsmen

• Skilled craftsmen usually worked and lived on
  their own, but paid their masters a large portion
  of their earnings.
• Some professions included
• Goldsmiths
• Pharmacists
• Instrument makers
• Shopkeepers
• Scribes
• Cobblers
• Potters
• Engravers
• Skilled craftsmen were fortunate to have more
  freedom than most slaves, and could sometimes buy
  their freedom.

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Oiketes (Domestic Slaves)

• Oiketes were the most common slaves in ancient
  Greece.
• The word Oiketes also referred to slaves in
  general.
• Were often treated as part of the family, taking
  part in festivals and occasional dinners.
• Despite lack of freedom, domestic slaves probably
  had the best quality of life of all slaves.
• Slaves were supervised by the woman of the house.
• Sometimes wealthy families kept as many as 20
  slaves.
• Male slaves could occasionally be told to work in
  the fields instead of performing their usual
  duties.
• Female slaves, as property, were often sexually
  abused.

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Agricultural Slaves

• Agricultural slaves had a better life, most
  likely, only than ships crews and miners.

• Usually, these slaves were kept only for a season
  at a time
• This way, they didnt need to be fed when there
  wasnt work to do in the fields.

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Ship crewmembers

• Slaves were rarely used on triremes, for fear
  that they would be too weak.
• However, many slaves were employed on supply and
  trade ships.
• The lives of these slaves were short and rather
  miserable.
• From day to day, they worked hard, got little
  rest, and were most likely malnourished at sea.

12
Miners

• Private slaves working in the Laureion mines had
  the harshest life of all ancient Greek slaves.
• At one point, there may have been 40,000 slaves
  mining.

13
Spartan Helots

• Scholars believe there were few slaves in Sparta
  instead they used helots, or nearby settlers whom
  they enslaved.
• Helots could have families and live at home.
• They also had other rights.
• However, their masters could kill them legally, a
  common occurrence due to tension between masters
  and helots.
• Helots outnumbered every other class in Sparta.
• Helots also made up a large portion of the
  Spartan army.
• Overall, helots were considered something between
  slaves and human beings.
• Thessaly employed a similar system to Spartas in
  place of slavery.

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Reactions to Slavery

• Homer wrote that a mans selfhood is lost when
  the day of slavery comes.
• Aristotle tried somewhat in vain to argue that
  slavery was natural in Politics.
• Slavery became viewed as morally wrong in Ancient
  Greece, but the practice continued anyway.

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Review

• There were lots of slaves in ancient
  Greece-possibly as many as free people.
• Slaves could be employed in the household, in
  private shops, or rented out as miners or ships
  crews.
• There were also many public slaves, who formed
  police forces and served as clerks.
• Conditions varied greatly from type to type of
  slave, but all slaves were treated as property.

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