Transcript 7th - Slavery

Slavery in Rome
By Zach Beder, Dillon O’Brien, Tiffany
Chan, Tumi Odukoya, Jordan Berkovitz, and
Talia Mesnick
Slavery and Civilization
● Slavery existed in all societies since the
dawn of civilization, but it varied depending
on the civilization.
● Slavery was considered “social death”- it
was the lowest possible class and slaves
had the least amount of rights.
● Sometimes slaves were freed by their owner
or were given permission to buy their
freedom
● Slavery in Rome was not associated with
one culture or ethnicity like the North
American slave trade.
Slavery and Civilization (continued)
● Slavery differed vastly between the first and
second wave of civilizations.
● In the first wave civilizations the labor they
were required to do varied considerably from
working for the state to domestic work for
their owners.
● In the second wave they served more as a
status symbol.
○
Example: Wealthy people purchased slaves and
poor people were sold as slaves.
The Making of Roman Slavery
● The Greco-Roman world society was based on slavery.
● In Athens (home to about 60,000 slaves), the growth of
democracy and status as a free person were defined
and accompanied by the simultaneous growth of
slavery on a mass scale.
● The Greek attitude towards slavery was that “it was a
terrible thing to become a slave, but a good thing to own
a slave.”
● Even after Greek slaves gained their freedom, they
usually could not be citizens nor have political rights.
They could not own land or marry citizens.
● Their status remained “halfway between slavery and
freedom.”
The Making of Roman Slavery Cont.
● Owning slaves in Roman society was a way to ensure
their status as free people.
● Many slaves were prisoners who were captured during
wars fought for the expansion of the Roman Empire.
● The Roman practice of slavery was not based off of
race or ethnicity.
● Christianity “did little to undermine slavery” as it was
believed that slaves should be submissive towards their
master under Christian teachings.
● Slavery was important to Roman economy. Many
worked on latifundias, comparable to large estates that
produced various goods.
● Slave owners were obligated to provide for their slaves.
Resistance
● Some chose to commit mass suicide instead of
endure the hardships of slavery
● They silently rebelled against their owners by
stealing, sabotaging, faking sick, not working as
hard as they could, and and placing curses on
their masters
● There were many runaways
● Punishments could be: beatings, sexual abuse,
or sale to a new master.
Rebellion
● Many slaves murdered their owners
● The Rebellion of Spartacus
○ seventy slaves revolted trained by Spartacus, a
gladiator
○ led to many men, women and children in other
regions to revolt
○ For 2 years they terrorized Italy
● Haitian Rebellion
○
○
occurred in the 1790s
sought the creation of a slavery free society
● Consequence for Revolting was…
○
crucifiction
“Roman Women in
Protest”:Primary Source
● A protest in response to the Oppian Law which
restricted women from owning luxury goods.
● Women blockaded streets to the Forum that decided to
repealed the law or not.
● When the Forum came together they argued whether
the repeal or keep the law.
● Some men were against the repeal while others
advocated it.
● The next day women besieged doors of Brutuses until
they took back their veto.
● Twenty years after the law was passed, the law was
repealed.
Other Important Vocabulary
● Latifundia: huge estates on which slaves and peasants
produced many goods to be exported (e.g. grain, olive
oil, and wine). On these, slaves often worked chained
together.
● The Rebellion of Spartacus: huge rebellion in Sparta
that sparked many other rebellions
● Haitian Rebellion: A rebellion that sought to create a
slavery free society (unlike other rebellions that simply
wanted freedom themselves)
● Oppian Law: A law in Rome that prohibited women
from owning luxury goods to preserve resources for the
Second Punic War with Carthage and resulted in a
rebellion of the women
Question
Using what you know and what we just
discussed about Roman slavery, explain one
similarity and one difference between Roman
and American slavery.