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Slavery in ancient Greece

Funerary stele of Mnesarete, daughter of Socrates; a young servant (left) is facing her dead mistress.[1] Attica, c. 380 BC. (Glyptothek, Munich)
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Slavery was a widely accepted practice in ancient Greece, as it was in contemporaneous societies.[2] The principal use of slaves was in agriculture, but they were also used in stone quarries or mines, as domestic servants, or even as a public utility, as with the demosioi of Athens.[3]

Modern historiographical practice distinguishes between chattel slavery (where the slave was regarded as a piece of property, as opposed to a member of human society) and land-bonded groups such as the penestae of Thessaly or the Spartan helots, who were more like medieval serfs (an enhancement to real estate).[4] The chattel slave is an individual deprived of liberty and forced to submit to an owner, who may buy, sell, or lease them like any other chattel.[5]

The academic study of slavery in ancient Greece is beset by significant methodological problems.[6] Documentation is disjointed and very fragmented, focusing primarily on the city-state of Athens. No treatises are specifically devoted to the subject, and jurisprudence was interested in slavery only as much as it provided a source of revenue. Greek comedies and tragedies represented stereotypes, while iconography made no substantial differentiation between slaves and craftsmen.[7]

  1. ^ A traditional pose in funerary steles, see for instance Felix M. Wassermann, "Serenity and Repose: Life and Death on Attic Tombstones" The Classical Journal, Vol. 64, No. 5, p.198.
  2. ^ Polakoff, Murray E.; Dhrymes, Phoebus J. (1958). "The Economic and Sociological Significance of Debt Bondage and Detribalization in Ancient Greece". Economic Development and Cultural Change. 6 (2): 88–108. doi:10.1086/449759. ISSN 0013-0079. JSTOR 1151738. S2CID 154209570.
  3. ^ Morris, Sarah P.; Papadopoulos, John K. (2005). "Greek Towers and Slaves: An Archaeology of Exploitation". American Journal of Archaeology. 109 (2): 155–225. doi:10.3764/aja.109.2.155. ISSN 0002-9114. JSTOR 40024509. S2CID 147684885.
  4. ^ Hunt, Peter (2016-12-19). "Slaves or Serfs?: Patterson on the Thetes and Helots of Ancient Greece". On Human Bondage. pp. 55–80. doi:10.1002/9781119162544.ch3. ISBN 9781119162483.
  5. ^ "Modern Day Abolition – National Underground Railroad Freedom Center". freedomcenter.org. Retrieved 2023-03-12.
  6. ^ Hunt, Peter (2017). Ancient Greek and Roman slavery. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. ISBN 978-1-78785-697-4. OCLC 1176434948.
  7. ^ "Review of: Reconstructing the Slave: the Image of the Slave in Ancient Greece". Bryn Mawr Classical Review. ISSN 1055-7660.

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