The first known major slave society was that of Athens. In the early Archaic period the elite worked its estates with the labour of fellow citizens in bondage (often for debt).
The liberal democracies of the West have always looked to Ancient Greece as the cradle of many cherished ideas and ideals, so it often seems like a contradiction to modern students that Greece was also a slave-owning society. But in fact, whether it's the militarism of Sparta or the democracy of Athens, we'll see that the development of Greek culture and their self-image was tightly linked to the dichotomy of liberty and slavery. By exploring both the ancient sources and modern scholarship, this video hopes to serve as a nearly comprehensive examination of the many aspects of slavery in the ancient world.
Chattel slavery, the type of slavery that was prominent in classical Athens, as well as the United States, is the type of slavery in which the slave is regarded as the owner’s personal property. Thus, slaves can be bought, sold, and beaten by their owners.
Treating other humans as property was part and parcel of Greek life, with enslaved people ‘used’ across virtually all areas of society. Nige Tassell explains more about the lives of those enslaved, and the part they played in ancient Greece.
Domestic slaves in ancient Greece would do everything around the house, including cooking, gardening, cleaning, washing, reading, writing, taking care of babies, and the sick.
The principles of slavery in Ancient Greece Slavery came in different forms and levels. The ideal slave was an inhuman creature with no civic or even biological personality and was treated like a piece of property