Slaves During The Classical Empire : The Expansion Of The Roman Empire

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.

The Roman Empire conquered land at a previously unparalleled rate, within the known world, affecting its institutions from the rest of the Empire’s prevalence. From Hispania to Britannia sweeping across the mediterranean, gaining Egypt, ending in Persia; the absorption of Carthage and North Africa, and finally the civil war being won by Augustus, all brought upon the negative effects of their conquest. The Empire continued to grow from the year 200 B.C.E. to the year 200 C.E.; this growth had many effects upon the Empire. Although expansion and conquest are often good, seen as liberating, or wholly expansive in mathematical, philosophic, and scientific thought, this is not inherently the case. The Roman Empire’s expansion was not entirely as powerful and awe inspiring as many claim it to be; the greedily performed collection of lands resulted in many negative outcomes. These outcomes largely presented Rome with an issue they would never be able to recover from: empiric decay. The effects of militaristic expansion, of the Roman Empire, resulted in the decay of previously prosperous economic, political, and social institutions.

Slavery can be dated back to very early civilizations and were crucial in everyday activities, also to the economy. Some of these ancient civilizations include the India, Mesopotamian and Chinese and these had slaves work in their homes or their shops. Another early civilization who used slaves were the Egyptian who used the slaves to build their monuments, castles, palaces and statues. Hebrews also used slaves but were a little more moral on how they were identified. The Aztec, Inca and Mayan used slaves in many forms and most of these slaves were optained through war prisoners and were used in agriculture and warfare.

The Slave Wars were a series of three slave revolts that took place within the Roman Republic between 135 BC to 71 BC. Spartacus led the third of these slave revolts that occurred from 73 BC to 71 BC. This third slave revolt was sparked by an incident that occurred when a group of slave gladiators escaped from their school (Spartacus pg. 130). Although some may say that Roman slaves may have had it moderately easy, In fact politically and socially slaves were treated poorly.

Rome kept conquering land and eventually gained control over the Mediterranean Sea and established colonies in Egypt, the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia Minor. The Roman empire also had an east side and west side that was barely connected (Document C). Since the Roman Empire covered a vast portion of land, it must have been really hard to communicate with both sides and be able to defend all the borders of the large empire. Also, since the empire was very large, chances are that they ended up creating a larger army meaning that there would have been a higher need for food, water, clothing, weapons, etc. Thus, overexpansion led to several other issues which, overall, resulted in the weakening of the Roman

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

The Ancient Roman Civilization was so large and advanced that it was able to influence the entire Western Civilization today. Some things influenced include modern architecture, entertainment, sports, and the calendar. The Roman Empire was so powerful, militarily and technologically, that their influences can still be seen around the world, and in people’s daily lives.

In the book, “Empire for Slavery: The Peculiar Institution in Texas” by Randolph Campbell, the reader is given an inside view of the abhorrent practice known as slavery in the state of Texas during the 1800’s. In the book, Campbell examines the legalities and the monetary aspects in the state of Texas during that time, as well as the causes to provide an explanation why and how slavery came to fruition as well as reasoning for the expansion. It provides the reader with an overall look at the effect that slavery had on both those who were abused and degraded by it and also the effect it had on the slave owners before, during and after the Civil War. This included the time period after Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. The purpose of depicting

Romans were lazy and thought of all manual work as only fit for slaves. Slaves themselves expressed servile behaviour, always submissive and constantly in fear of the punishments there masters could give them. Slaves had no way of protecting themselves or their loved ones, and couldn't stop their masters ripping apart their families by selling slaves. Freedmen treated slaves with extreme cruelty, with anxiousness to distance themselves from their origins and succeed as a freeman of Rome. The freeborn Romans became resentful towards the freedmen who made a life for themselves and became wealthy and powerful.

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.

Slavery, a word described as the state of one bound in servitude as the property of a household. This description, along with sadness and disbelief gets brought into peoples’ minds as the chilling sensation of the explanations begins to be sought out. The New Testament brings us many different views on how we percept our personal beliefs upon Slavery, and different problems arising as aspects on this topic are perceived by Paul the Apostle in Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon.

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.

The owners could do with the slaves what they wished, be it sexual favors or they could beat them at will. Beating a slave though was not usually the best thing that an owner of slaves could do because they didn't want to damage their property. To get a slave to work hard wasn't that difficult most of the time, all the owner had to do was refrain from beating and instead be nice to them. In Rome some slaves were offered freedom if they met certain criteria of the owner. After earning their freedom they were given citizenship in the city. This gave the slaves a reason to work hard, something to look forward to.

Ancient Rome, the period between the 8th and 1st centuries B.C. in which Rome grew from a little colony to an emerging empire. "Roman imperialism introduced extremes of wealth and poverty that honed social and economic conflict within the Roman state ." The enormous army and their countless loots, as well as their captured slaves, produced many changes along the countryside such as small farms becoming large plantations, and peasants left without lands decided to journey to Rome and other cities. "Immense wealth inflamed the ambitions of Roman nobles who struggled for personal domination rather than collective rule ." This dominant emergence of power and rule thus led to the conquering and control of other societies. The

Comparable to some degree with the struggle of the early civilizations (i.e. Greek and Roman slavery) to break out their condition of being slaves, the classic animated movie "A Bug 's Life" depicted in a similar way, but in different causes to bring the system down. In the mentioned movie, various societal form and structures of interest are exposed in this paper.