Has Slavery Changed Since Ancient Times? Essay - 923 words

Slavery has always been a large issue and possibly always will. The issues of today are often negative but did you know that back in ancient Roman times they were all for it? Well they were! The question that will be answered in this assessment is In what ways, if any, has slavery changed from ancient to modern times? I believe that slavery has changed very much from the past. Not that there may be more or less of it, but that it may be harsher and have worse conditions. In the ancient times slavery was a common and normal thing. In 70 A.D it was estimated that there were slaves in Rome. There were no troubles or controversies over it. Slavery was widespread and most families owned at least one slave.


Today there is only one real way to become a slave but in Roman Times (rise of Rome) there were three. 1=Slavery due to crime committed. 2=Not being a Roman citizen. 3=Taken prisoner by Romans. An example is war. Some of these may seem unfair but it was the Romans belief in their superiority. There were many types of slaves that were good at different types of jobs. Often, rich families had so many slaves that they didnt really have to do any work around the house at all! There were other types of slaves apart from the above.


These were Statuliberi = Slaves freed by their masters will. Servi sub unsufructu manumissi =Slaves made free by will remaining as slaves. Bona fide servientes = Freemen acting as slave to master Auctorati = Free men who were gladiators, under a contract to their gladiatorial master. Redempti = Freemen captured in war and ransomed back to non-relatives. They worked until they paid off their debt. Coloni adscripti glebae = Free persons who were tenant farmers. These slaves were not treated as a person but as an impersonal asset although they did have their rights.


These were dismal rights but they were important for the slaves well-being. The rights were as follows: the slave was allowed his personal items (like money etc.), he could not be killed without a good reason. Masters had rights too of course. They could treat a slave anyway they wanted to. They could be abusive, friendly or do anything they wanted to the slave. They could defend themselves against slaves and could kill him/her if the master provided the courts with a good reason.


The master could even free slave for working well at any time. If the slave and the master got on well, and the slave had saved up enough money or grown too old to serve, then the slave could be freed though a process called manumission. The slave woul ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

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Essay Tags: ancient roman, ancient times, third world countries, roman citizen, hammurabi

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