Slaves And Slavery : Spartacus And The Slave War

The number of slaves in Rome grew at a very rapid rate. In 225 B.C. There were an estimated 600,000 slaves in Roman society and within 200 years the number went up to an estimated two million slaves (Burks 9); the proportion of slaves grew from an estimated 15% to 35% of the population (Ibid.). To provide for Rome 's hunger of slaves, the Roman government relied on an ever-consistent income of available slaves. The government 's reliance on slavery cannot be overstated since the slaves were needed to work a majority of jobs in the empire. All of the Roman soldiers lived civilian lives away from battle but they could be called away at a moment’s notice, which left hundreds of jobs stripped of workers. Since the soldier/citizens could be

Roman slavery must be approached as a social institution in which the economic aspect, though important, was subsidiary, in order to appreciate the vast degree of significance which Romans themselves attributed to the presence of slavery among them, as well as its distinct cultural impact (Bradley 1998, p.18). The large presence of slaves and renewable population of skilled freedmen allowed the Roman Empire to achieve the economic and infrastructural achievements for which they are remembered, the degree of their contributions rendering Roman Italy, a ‘slave society.’ It has been estimated that, during the reign of Augustus, the servile population of Italy could have been as high as thirty-five percent (1998, pp.12-13). This high reliance on and large population of slaves was reflected throughout the empire, rendering society one in which the status of individuals - free, freedman or slave, was exceedingly salient and consequential. The strict societal hierarchy of the Roman Empire was built upon and directly contributed to the deep social divides between classes which defined social experience in the Roman Empire. Manumission, increased presence of freedmen and substantial base of slave population factored strongly into the increased significance levied upon social status, division between social groups and definition of position in society.

Ophelia Settle Egypt, informally known as Ophie, was an African American woman ahead of her time. She attained the educational status of less than one percent of the American population, was liberal and accepting of others despite the criticism around her, fought to end racism, worked independently of her husband, and believed in limiting family growth. All of Egypt’s beliefs and lifetime achievements represent a new type of woman: a woman who refuses to assimilate to her gender stereotype of weak, inferior, and domestic. Egypt dedicated her life to social work through various activities. She worked as a sociologist, researcher, teacher, director of organizations, and social worker at different times in her life. Egypt’s book, The Unwritten History of Slavery (1968), and the Planned Parenthood Clinic in Southeast Washington D.C. named after her represent Egypt’s legacy and how one person is capable of social change.

Slaves were at the bottom of the political chain. Many times political leaders and offices such as the senate would decide the fate of slaves and gladiators. Often times gladiators would be put against each other in fights. These fights were known as the gladiatorial games, and they were often organized by political and municipal leaders (Spartacus pg.43). Gladiators didn’t get to decide if they wanted to participate in these fights, but was decided by political leaders based on their social standing. Slaves who weren’t gladiators worked on the farms of individuals who owned land and were of a higher class. Much like the gladiators the agricultural slaves had no political standing and had little to no political representation. On the farms slaves had little to no freedoms, they were deployed in small groups to work, and were held in barracks over night (Spartacus pg. 33). These slaves also had a strict set of rules that they need to follow. These political

The experiences of enslaved women differed from the experience of enslaved men in ancient Rome; slavery within ancient Rome can be traced back to the first century BCE and was based primarily on the chattel slave system. Slavery within the ancient roman society was highly normalised as it was considered a part of roman culture. Slavery within ancient Rome was so heavily normalised that it is considered to be described as a “slave society” Joshel (2010, p. 6) states that “For slaves living in the Roman world, there was no outside – no place without slavery and no movement that declared slavery wrong. Slavery was a normal part of life, and this was true not only for the Romans but for every neighbouring ancient culture”. Not only was

Slavery in America started in 1619 when settlers brought over African Americans to Jamestown, Virginia. The slaves came to Jamestown to work on the tobacco plantations. The slaves were also sent to other colonies such as South Carolina to work on the cotton plantations. Slaves were people who worked for no pay. This caused the land owners to make more profit from their plantations because they didn’t have to pay their workers. Southern slave owners, specifically in South Carolina, relied on slavery as a major part of their economy.

The Roman Empire was a slave owning society, one fourth of their population was made up of slaves. The Romans accrued slaves through piracy, trade, and warfare. Accounting for most of the labor force, slaves performed household tasks, and the grueling and tiresome work of mining and farming. Slavery in Rome was a way for them to assimilate new people into their society. Individuals could be released from slavery by either being bought out or after paying their debt to their owner (Ivanovitch, 1957: 26).

Slavery has been a problem to mankind much further back than the 1600s. Man has been enslaving other men for thousands of years. This has brought controversy to many and has led to lots of unhappy people. Some would try to negotiate but when that didn’t work, they took matters into their own hands. Rebellions and riots broke out, and all hell broke loose. Spartacus was one of those people.

Spartacus, translating to “from the city of Sparta” in Latin, was a Roman gladiator who began as a “Thracian, born among pastoral nomadic people” according to Plutarch. This northern area of Greece that holds the title of Spartacus’ birth place was believed to be one of Rome’s earliest enemies. Historians suspect his birthdate to be around that of 109BC and know his date of death to be 71BC. This gives him a lifespan of around 37 years. Minimal information is documented prior to his rise to fame. One of the first pieces discovered about Spartacus timeline was in 78BC when he was incarcerated and forced to train as a gladiator. This enslavement was most likely due to either deserting his cause or committing a crime and sold as a slave as a form of punishment, although often the accusations that put people into slavery were unfair and biased due to aspects such as race and gender. Because of

To learn more about Spartacus during the third servile war, we will first need to know what the third servile war was. A servile war is a war fought by slaves. There have been three major servile wars in ancient Rome, the third, led by Spartacus, is the most famous. These three wars are all slave rebellions. The first servile war was led by Enus, but the general was Cleon. He managed to resist the Roman forces by using Guerrilla warfare. “Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which a small group of combatants such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or irregulars use military tactics, including ambushes, sabotage, raids, petty warfare, hit-and-run tactics, and mobility to fight a larger and less-mobile traditional military.” (Google) There is not much known about the second servile war, though it was led by a slave named Salvius. These two wars were fueled mainly by the slave abuse occurring in parts of Italy. The third servile war is the most famous, and was led by the gladiator Spartacus, who was a Thracian gladiator. Gladiators are

The history of Sparta was the great exception to the political evolution of the city-states. Despite the fact that Spartans in the end were all Greek, Sparta failed to ever move in the direction of democratic rule. Instead, its government evolved into something more closely resembling a modern day dictatorship. If the Spartans had followed the other Greek city-states in their political practices they might have been able to avoid their own downfall and could have even become stronger.

There were a number of Roman laws regarding slavery, and these too, changed over time. In the Republican period, slaves had no rights and were always subject to the whims of their owners. They did have some legal standing, however. They were allowed to act as witnesses in trials, and could gain freedom either through their owner's gratitude after loyal service or by buying it through the meager earnings they might collect over a lifetime of service. For example, owners in the Republic had the right to kill or mutilate slaves at a whim, but later imperial laws took this right away, though in practice this law could be largely ignored. This represents how valued slaves were to the Roman people.

Adding onto the point where slaves were put on the market like things, slaves were also discriminated due to their previous nationality. Both of these actions illustrate inhuman behaviour by the Ancient Romans. In addition to buying and selling slaves, there is one more option which tops off these poor choices. In Ancient Rome, one was also able to rent a slave. This is renting a human being. Renting tools or horses was ordinary but renting another person just exemplifies how Romans treated slaves as things, rather than people.

By birth a Thracian, Spartacus was slaved by the Roman Army then trained as a gladiator. He served in an Roman auxiliary unit for some short time, vacated his duties and became an insurgent against the Romans. Upon his escape, he became the leader of 90,000 men in a revolt against Rome. The war started in 73 B.C., when Spartacus aided those in the Gladiator school to escape by utilizing kitchen utensils as weapons. The gladiators then took refuge on the side of Mount Vesuvius (which is near modern day Naples) led by Spartacus and his aides Crixus, Castus, Gannicus and

Slavery was the practice of taking a human being and making them do the work of another by force. This was practiced through out the ancient world and especially in Rome and Greece. Slaves were nothing more than just property to the ancient peoples. They didn't have the rights of citizens nor were they able to do what they want in most cases. Slaves had many tasks that they had to do, many of which included taking care of the masters house and kids, cooking and cleaning that house, herding the cattle for the farming families, being guards for some prisons, fighting for entertainment of the masses, and more common was sexual activities with the slaves.