How Integral Was Slavery to Roman Society - Essay Example

How Integral was Slavery to Roman Society? Name Institution How Integral was Slavery to Roman Society? Introduction Slavery was practiced in many parts of the Western world at the time it was in ancient Roman society. Just like in many other parts of the society, slavery was quite important and integral to the society in ancient Rome. The slaves in the ancient Roman society made up a very significant size of the total population. These slaves were an integral part of the ancient Roman society because they were involved in various types of work. Slaves that came from the lower social backgrounds and were not educated did manual work, which required minimal skills. For the slaves who came from respectable families or were educated, they worked in the respectable professions like arts and teaching (Alfoldy, 2014). In most cases, this was true for the Greek slaves who were highly educated than all the others. Therefore, it is basically through working for the people in the ancient Roman society that the slaves became an integral part of it. It is also the manner in which the Roman society treated these slaves that they became an integral part of it. Slavery Integral to the Roman Society The Roman society literally depended on slavery for its daily livelihood. Slavery played a very significant role in the Roman society, particularly in terms of economic prosperity. Apart from just doing manual labor for the families in the a1ncient Roman society, the slaves did offer a lot of domestic services including high-skilled ones like teaching, financial accounting and providing health care (Harper, 2011). The Greek slaves provided these high-skilled services. However, people who were in slavery as a form of punishment worked on farms, in mines and mills. The living conditions of such slaves were quite brutal and they led very short lives on earth. In the Roman society, the slaves were regarded property of their owners. Slaves had no legal personhood then. Therefore, just like in other places, slaves also passed through mistreatment within the Roman society. For instance, a slave would not be given the permission to give testimony in the courts of law. Slaves were also given corporal punishment, unlike the citizens of the Roman society (Carcopino, 2013). They were the ones to serve as prostitutes in the society. Finally, they were also subjected to torture and summary executions. These atrocities used to happen to the slaves during the early years of slavery in the ancient Roman society. Later on, slaves became quite integral to the Roman society. The Roman society increasingly depended on these slaves for the daily livelihood. Slaves then started gaining increased legal protection. They could then file suits against their masters. They started holding property within the Roman society. Life for the educated slaves became even more interesting than before since they were allowed to earn money and save it (Hallett, 2014). This money would enable them to buy freedom. The slaves in the Roman society were even granted the political right to vote and express views. The increased freedom of these slaves made them appear to be part of the Roman society. They were treated as members of the society and as time passed, their rights and freedom were increased. Growth of Slavery There is very little information that is known about the origins of slavery in Roman society. The common knowledge is that ancient societies in Rome always kept slaves as part of their culture. The institution of slavery in ancient Roman society was large (Joshel, 2010). The number of slaves kept on increasing in Rome leading to the development of occupations, where they were used. Initially, the slaves were used only as domestic servants for their masters. However, with time, the masters started using slaves in all sectors of life right from the brutal labor to the intellectual assignments like teaching and government office work. It has to be noted that slavery in the Roman society was not an issue of race or even ethnicity. It is only that the slaves from abroad appeared different from the Roman masters. This factor is the point of difference between the institution of slavery in Roman society and that in the United States of America. Unlike in the Roman society, slavery in the United States of America was an issue of race, where the Whites took the Blacks as slaves in order to advance racism and white supremacy (Garnsey & Saller, 2014). In fact, in the Roman society, the slaves were allowed to have some rights and freedom. For instance, the slaves in the Roman society had the right to own property and money. Moreover, the unique thing about slavery in the Roman society is that the masters always paid the slaves for their work and services. Although the compensation was quite nominal, it made slavery in the ancient Roman society appear as a form of employment for the slavery. This is the reason slavery was regarded as quite integral to the Roman society. A slave would buy freedom by purchasing another person to do his or her work for the master. These slaves were acquired through war or simply purchasing. After a conflict, the victors would sell the enemy captives as slaves in the Roman society. Another way slaves were found in the Roman society was through kidnapping (Weber, 2013). The pirates would capture and hold people. They then sold the kidnapped people to those who wanted slaves. The institution of slavery was able to grow at a very fast rate within the Roman society. The use of slaves increased as even slaves could buy others to do work. The fact that masters paid slaves for their services accelerated the growth of slavery in Roman society. As slavery grew, the Romans became highly dependent on the slaves to maintain their society and help them, achieve influence over the world (Wyke, 2013). Initially, slavery was only a game for the wealthy in the society. However, with time, it became a very common practice and even slaves could afford to buy other slaves in order to gain freedom. Therefore, slavery grew to become an integral part of the Roman society because of the increased dependence of the Romans on the slaves in every aspect of their lives. The Importance of Slavery in Roman Society Slavery became an integral part of the Roman society when the importance of the slaves increased significantly. The slaves became an integral part of the Roman society because Romans were highly dependent on them in every aspect of life. They used the slaves to enhance their economy and to gain political influence in the world (Bonner, 2011). This paper looks at just how integral the slavery was in the Roman society. Agricultural Slaves The importance of agriculture in the ancient Roman society made slavery to become so integral to the Romans, who needed them for working on the farms. Ideologically and economically, farming was a very important activity to the Romans. Romans considered a farmer as the backbone of the Roman society. Therefore, since the slaves provided almost all the farming work on the farms, they became so important to the Roman society. They were regarded as an integral part of the society because without them, then farming would not be done causing famine (Toner, 2013). When praising a man or woman, the ancient Romans would recognize his or her farming activities. It is also from the farming class that brave and strong soldiers emerged. Romans owned very large tracts of land on which they did farming of food crops. The large land-owners preferred slave labor to free work because of many reasons. Firstly, high status among the aristocrats was accorded based on the number of slaves one owned (De Coulanges, 2012). Moreover, the landowners did not want free laborers because most of them were citizens of Roman society hence had a high chance of being called away to go serve as soldiers. The slaves were readily available for the large landowners since they were not used for military service. Therefore, despite the fact that the slaves were to be paid and taken care of, they still were more economical than free laborers. Slaves could be forced to work for long hours, but the free laborers would not. Moreover, slaves would be bought by the rich landowners. When one had slaves, the master only took care of that one person. However, using free laborers involved taking care of them and their families. It was also established that the slaves were the most suitable for the highly specialized and skilled jobs. Finally, it is vital to note that the slaves could work on multi-tasks while on the farms (Freeman, 2014). There were farm managers among the slaves. Slaves were also used as manual laborers on the farms, providing the services of plowing and tilling the land. Some of them served as cookers, cleaners, shepherds for the livestock. The gardeners maintained a good state of the compound of masters. Slaves were, therefore, very significant and central to the field of agriculture within the Roman society. It is vital to understand that Roman agriculture was highly dependent on the slave workforce, particularly at the end of the Republic and start of the Empire. The owners of farms used the slaves to do farming. The slaves plowed the fields and planted crops (Petersen, 2011). Free laborers were only used occasionally, particularly at planting and harvesting times. The efforts given by these free laborers were only a supplement to the work of the slaves on the farms. In essence, slavery was integral in the Roman society in the sense that Rome highly depended on the slaves to provide the daily work service, which was necessary to produce the local agricultural supplies that enabled Romans to be fed (Mouritsen, 2011). Therefore, without slavery, feeding would be a huge problem within the ancient Roman society. Industrial Slaves Slavery is also regarded as an integral part of the Roman society because slaves played a very important role in industries. In Rome, industries started back in the early days of the monarchy. These industries, which involved dying, goldsmiths, art, skinning, shoemaking, music, carpentry, and potters, led to the development of trade (George, 2011). The Romans interacted greatly through trade and it helped bring the members of the society together. Therefore, industries and trade became quite important to the ancient Roman society. Slaves were extensively used in the industries and for trading activities. The slaves were used to load and unload boats. Moreover, the slaves were used in warehouses for the purpose of moving products. The slaves also did the work of towing ships and barges (Edmondson, 2011). They could be asked to pull ships and barges upstream, on foot using ropes. It is vital to note that within the industries, slaves were categorized into skilled and unskilled classes. Most of the work in the factories was done by the slaves. Factories highly depended on the slaves to create the products to be sold. Markets also depended on the slaves to work in the shops. Importation of goods also relied on the slaves. Therefore, without the daily labor provided by the slaves in the ancient Roman society, the industry would not have been functional (Bradley, 2011). It is the reason slavery is regarded as an integral part of the Roman society. Notably, there were masters who allowed slaves to set up their businesses. In this case, the slave master did invest some amount of money to start up the business. These slaves were given freedom and did not operate under the strict supervision of their masters. However, there were various ways in which the master would benefit from the business investment of the slave. For instance, the salve would pay the master some specified amount of money each year (Schumacher, 2011). In some cases, the master would retain some percentage of the profits earned. There were masters who only needed their initial capital to be repaid. Furthermore, the slaves became more loyal to their masters for helping them start businesses. Domestic Slaves Slaves were an integral part of the Roman society because of the important role they played in the domestic lives of the Romans. It is vital to note that domestic life was a very important aspect of the ancient Roman society. The Roman lifestyle greatly valued the domestic factors like family (Launaro, 2011). The families became highly dependent on slave labor in order to keep the home functioning. Therefore, without the slaves, homes could not function well. In fact, slavery was mostly important in the domestic lives of the Romans when compared to any other field. These slaves were treated based on the positions that they held in the family. Some of the jobs of the domestic slaves included serving as security guards, foot washers, hairdressers and litter bearers. Some slaves did the role of entertaining their masters through music and dances. The educated Greek slaves served as assistants, managers, accountants and secretaries in the homes where they worked (Patterson, 2012). There were those maintained cleanliness of the house. The use of the domestic slaves became a show of affluence among the wealthy members of the Roman society. State Slaves There were also the state slaves who performed public functions within the ancient Roman society. Public service was a very important sector and function of the government. It is through public services that the government was able to develop the society and improve the lives of its people. Slaves played a very significant role in the provision of the public services. The government used slaves in providing services to the public. Some of the public goods provided included roads, toilets and security. Slaves were used by the government in the maintenance of the aqueducts. It is vital to note that Romans had a very crucial need of guarding the city of Rome against the threat of fire. In the ancient Roman society, people were even urged to walk with water in their hands while in the houses because fire would erupt any time. The need for guarding the Romans against the threat of fire was so huge that the government formed a professional fire department (Launaro, 2011). This department used slaves in guarding the society against the threat of fire. Moreover, the slaves were used to constitute the policing organization that ensured security in the society was intact. At the start of the Empire and end of the Republic, government began to implement construction of public projects. These projects involved very work, which could only be done by the slaves. Therefore, the government needed slavery to complete the construction of these public projects. The slaves did the heaviest tasks in the projects. For instance, the government used brick factories, which were highly staffed by slaves. The slaves did the work of turning out the bricks during the construction projects. Slaves were also needed in the field of mining, which was again quite important to the Roman society. State slaves were highly employed in the mines by the government. A skilled slave would be appointed to manage the state mines (Patterson, 2012). Moreover, most of the slaves who were used as excavators of silver and gold did not even live for long because of the very heavy work that they did in the mines. Despite that hard work that they did, the working conditions were very poor and they were not given any medical care by the government. In fact, the poor working conditions in the mines made the slaves to be the only people who could forcefully work. The free citizens could not accept to work in such conditions. Therefore, slavery emerged as a very integral of the government functions in the ancient Roman society. The slaves were very important and crucial to the ability of the Roman government to mine precious minerals and metals. There were also the skilled and educated Greek state slaves who played a major role in the functioning of the government. These skilled and educated slaves served in various government positions. They were used as clerks, cashiers and accountants. The state became so highly dependent on this daily labor provided by the slaves that slavery became an integral part of the Roman society (Patterson, 2012). The government depended on the slaves to take the low-prestigious job positions, which citizens avoided, but were very crucial for the functioning of the state. These slaves that worked for the government were referred to as the state slaves. Entertainment Slaves Slaves also became significant and an integral part of the ancient Roman society because of their role of providing entertainment to the Romans. Normally, the Romans would attend shows and spectacles as a way of unwinding the exhaustion of the day. Therefore, entertainment became a very important part of the Roman society (Patterson, 2012). Entertainment made the society to function well. Games were also a way of entertaining the masses. Political leaders also organized games in order to honor the gods. Slaves were used in doing labor on the ground to ensure the fields were arranged for the entertainment events. Moreover, the slaves also did provide some entertainment to the Romans. For instance, they were involved in theatre, dances, songs and games (Patterson, 2012). Games were highly valued in the ancient Roman society because they brought unity among the people. Through the interactions of people who met at the game grounds, the society enjoyed strong unity. Intellectual Slaves There were highly trained and educated professional slaves who provided specialized services to the Roman society. These skilled and educated slaves largely came from Greece. They became an integral part of the Roman society because they offered services that were very crucial to the livelihood of the people (Patterson, 2012). For instance, there were healthcare professionals who would treat the Romans when they were ill, teachers who educated the Roman people and accountants who managed the funds of the members of the society. There importance made them become so critical and integral to the Roman society. Conclusion Slavery was integral to the Roman society in various ways as mention in this paper. Basically, the role that slaves played in the ancient Roman society made them become an integral part of Rome. They performed jobs that could not even be done by the free citizens of Rome. The members of the Roman society became so dependent on these slaves that they could not function without them. By doing agricultural work, entertainment, mining, trade, factories and specialized as well as professional duties, the slaves were an integral part of the ancient Roman society. References Alfoldy, G. (2014). The Social History of Rome (Routledge Revivals). Abingdon-on-Thames: Routledge. Bonner, S. 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