slavery

 Discussion 2: Ancient World SlaverySummary

Researchers estimate that between one-third and one-half of all Athenians and Romans were slaves in ancient times. Of course, they could not vote or acquire citizenship. Also, the majority of male adult Athenian and Roman citizens owned no property–and so their voting rights were similarly restricted. As for the ‘free’ females and children, they held very few legal rights and, in certain situations, might even be sold into slavery!

Please provide your response to the following discussion questions in 250-500 words. Then, save the file as either .doc or .docx format, and upload the document into the Upload Area for Discussion 2. Please use double-spacing, and include a standard header with your Name, Course, Assignment, and Date.

• How do you think democracy in the Classical Greek and Roman city-states still managed to develop under these conditions?
• How did people become enslaved and could slaves gain their freedom?
• Do you think that the institution of slavery increased or decreased an empire’s security and prestige in ancient times?
• Were there different kinds of slavery in the ancient world?
• What were the main forms of slave ‘employment’ in the ancient world?