Slavery played a major role in ancient Greek civilization. Slaves could be found everywhere. They worked not only as domestic workers, but also as factory workers, shopkeepers, mine workers, farm workers and as ship crew members. There may have been as many if not more, slaves than free people in ancient Greek. It is difficult for historians to determine exactly how many slaves there were during these times, because many did not appear any different from the poorer Greek citizens.
There were many different ways in which a person could have become a slave in ancient Greece. They might have been into slavery as a child of slave in ancient Greece. They might have been taken prisoner if their city was attacked in one of the many battles which took place during these times. They might have been exposed as an infant, meaning the parents abandoned their newborn baby upon a hillside or at the gates of the city to die or be claimed by a passerby.
This method was not uncommon in ancient Greece. Another possible way in which one might have become a slave was if a family needed money, they might sell one of the children into slavery. Usually it was a daughter because the male children were much needed to help out with the chores of the farms. Kidnapping was another fairly common way in which one could have been sold into slavery.
Slaves were treated differently in ancient Greece depending upon what their purpose was. If one was a household servant, they had a fairly good situation, at least as good as slavery could be. They were often treated almost as a part of the family. They were allowed to take part in the family rituals. They were always supervised by the woman of the house who was responsible for making sure that all the slaves were kept busy and didn’t get out of line. This could be quite a task as most wealthy Greece households had as many as 10-20 slaves. There were limits to what a slave could do. They couldn’t enter the gymnasium and the public assemblies. They couldn’t use their own names, but were assigned names by their masters. It is important to remember that these people were thought of as property of their masters rather than citizens of Greece. Not all forms of slavery in ancient Greece were as tolerable as that of the domestic servant. The life of a mine worker or ship’s crew member was a life of misery and danger.
These people usually did not live long because of the gruelling work and dangerous conditions of their work.
