In our modern world there are few human practices that inspire such profound
outrage as the practice of one human being enslaving another. This is, however,
a very modern sentiment. The institution of slavery probably predates
civilization itself. Slavery was an accepted institution and central to the
economies of most major world civilization. Slaves were were often war captives,
both captured warriors and the women and children of conquered populations. The
offspring of these enslaved people provided a vast slave work force. The victors
in battle might enslave the losers rather than kill them. Slavery in many early
civilizations is poorly understood. Slavery in ancient Egypt is a poorly
understood topic. We have done some work on Egyptian social classes, but
destinguishing slaves from other groups with limited freedom is a challenging
task that scholars have found very difficult. The same is true for the many
civilizations of Mesopotamia. Slavery in both Greece and Rome are much better
understood and were major components of the work force. Slaves in Greece and
Rome were drawn from widly differing peoples and there was no association with
race. Slaves might be blond, blue eyed Anglo-Saxons from Britania or blacks from
Sahara as well as evry other racial type. Slavery in Rome had no racial basis.
This appears to have been the general pattern in the ancient world. Even those
of Italian stock were enslaved. It was thus impossible to tell from one's
features if they were a slave. This complicated control. The Senate debated
establishing a destinctive dress for slaves. In the end, the Senate decided
against a slave attire, partly because they decided it was dangerous because it
would show the slaves just how numerous they were. As in the Americn South,
slavery was justified on the basis of the natural inferiority of certain
individuals.