In Greek society, slavery was view as being a normal part of everyday life. Slave labour was considered an essential need when it came to the economic and social success of the Greek city-states

There is some argument among modern day historians as to the actual size of the slave population, due to the lack of vital evidence, such as a census. There is however a number of documents where the writers allude to the reader to a figure. Thucydides6 for example tells of some 20,000 Athenian slaves, most of whom were manual labourers deserting. He also points out in later documents that there were more slaves in Chios than any other city besides Sparta. Despite the lack of evidence Finley7 estimates a figure more like 60-80,000 slaves for the whole of Attica. On average it can be seen that most small farmers or landowners would have had at least 1 slave and wealthy households approximately 10-20. In an unusual case, Nikias8 owned some 1000 slaves, which he would hire out for work.

The type of things that many slave traders and owners looked for when acquiring slaves were their characteristics which slaves possessed such as a placid temperament, attractiveness, youth, health, submissiveness, strength and so on. Depending on the skills and abilities of a slave would have a huge impact on the type of work that they could possibly carry out and the price that one could be sold for. Slaves however who were elderly, weak, sick or injured, stubborn were considered unfavourable as they would more than likely cause their masters trouble.

The roles carried out by slaves were numerous and some were especially dangerous such as working as a crewmember on ships or in mines or quarries. A slave could expect a life of misery and danger, with many thousands killed. There were also a number of criminals or slaves with constant bad behaviour working in the mines, due to the conditions as it was assumed that they would not live very long. In agriculture and farming slaves worked as farmhands or shepherds. Hesiod9, in his Works and Days explains to a small farmer the greater value of a slave woman over a wife.

First of all you should acquire a house and a woman and an ox for the plough,

• A female slave, not a wife, who can follow the oxen as well.  

(Dillon & Garland 2005:331, doc. 11.8)

Skilled slaves could also work as artisans and run shops for their masters, while slave labour was popular it in no way replaced free labour instead slaves complimented the free labour workforce with free men in most Greek cities – except Sparta – working alongside slaves working the land, in retail trade or as artisans as Plutarch10 describes.

As far as working as a slave went, one of the most prestigious roles, was being a domestic or household servant. These were among some of the most well treated slaves, some acquiring a sense of trustworthiness and responsibility, a few even obtained freedom for their loyalty and hard work. A good, well-behaved slave was treated as part of the family, were even allowed to take part in the family rituals like the sacrifice.

A female had vastly different roles to that of male slaves. These would have included cooking, sewing and crafting, serving food, entertaining as dancing or flute girls, childcare, cleaning, shopping and fetching water. In wealthier households they could also specialize in being housekeepers, cooks or nurses. Women were greatly disadvantaged in Greek society due to the underprivileged status in the social hierarchy, with even wealthy free women often secluded in their own homes. Unquestionably female slaves would often have a harder time than men and were frequently the target of sexual exploitation or physical abuse from their masters and or other members of their household. In these instances children born from master-slave liaisons would undoubtedly have been exposed.

Slave girls could however rise to a certain level of trustworthiness, many wealthy women sought out confidantes in their slave girls, as Euripides11 expresses in his character Medea. It is likely that women and female slaves would have tied together, with the common exclusion from the masculine world of public affairs, regardless of social status. Occasionally household slaves were also given the privilege of being buried in plots next to their masters and mistresses upon their deaths.

Aristotle12 spoke of slaves as the chattel property of the master, and thought this may have been the case, there were distinct and well protected laws when it came to slaves rights, or the treatment and punishment of slaves. For instance, though slaves could be very badly beaten they could not however be killed, instead slaves were treated according to their status and the temperament of their masters.  Slaves were forbidden to enter the gymnasium or public assembly, they could not freely marry or have children, they could also not use any name other than the one their master gave them and most unfortunately for slaves was that they could only give evidence in a trial under torture. There were however special temples and sanctuaries that slaves could go to seek refuge and appeal that they be resold if their masters were particularly abusive to them13.

One very important point to make is the difference between slaves, metics, helots and serfs. Metics were either foreigners, who migrated to cities other than the one where they were born or freed men. The metics could own slaves, ran businesses, had access to certain festivals. The restrictions for the metics were that they could not vote, own land or houses and needed a prostate or citizen patron. The ‘metoikian’14 tax made the metic class very powerful, as the revenue from this tax went to the state.  Serfs had rights, they possessed money, could marry and divorce, serfs could also marry with free women. The helots were however not foreigners or slaves, they owned land and outnumbered the Spartans considerably, but they were still subjected to a state of servitude.

Herodotus15 notes that the Spartans despised artisans and considered those who learnt crafts and their descendants as inferior to other citizens. Xenophon16 also shares these views in his account of Lykourgos.

[…] 7.2 But at Sparta Lykourgos forbad free men to touch anything to do with making money, and instructed them only to think about those activities which provide cities with freedom.

(Dillon & Garland 2005:347, doc. 11.35 7.2)

The Spartans were renowned for their harsh treatment of the helots despite relying upon them for produce and crafts, as well as occasionally in times of warfare to supplement their army, with an estimation of 35,000 serving at Plataea17. Because of the sheer number of helots the Spartans were aware of the potential threat of revolt, Thucydides18 accounts, the Spartans proclaimed that the helots nominate all those whom they considered had fought well in the Spartan wars, under the belief that these men would be granted freedom the helots picked out about 2,000 who later disappeared.  

Servile labour was a large part of the social and economic makeup of the classical Greek period, with most households owning at least one slave. Krates19, in his play The Wild Animals, promises automation of items as the alternative to slaves, mimicking Aristophanes position of slavery being taken for granted. Time constraints have unfortunately limited the depth of this essay, and prevented the further examination of slaves in Greece at this time.

Footnotes:

1. Homer VI.447-63, in Illiad (Wordsworth Classics).
2. Euripides Trojan Women 235-52, 272-78 in Dillon & Garland Anchient Greece, doc. 11.42, p. 351.
3. Thucydides V.11.2-4 in Dillon & Garland Ancient Greece, doc 11.2, p. 328.
4. Solon in Study Guide Topic 3 Slavery in Greece, p. 1
5. Willetts The Law Code of Gortyn in Dillon & Garland Ancient Greece, doc 11.16, p. 335.
6. Thucydides VII.27.5 in Dillon & Garland Ancient Greece, doc 11.14, p. 334.
7. Finley in Study Guide Topic 3 Slavery in Greece, p. 2
8. Xenophon Revenues 4.14-15 in Dillon & Garland Ancient Greece, doc 11.11, p. 332.
9. Hesiod Works and Days 405-6 in Dillon & Garland Ancient Greece, doc. 11.8, p. 331.
10. Plutarch Perikles 12.5-6 in Dillon & Garland Ancient Greece, doc 11.38, p. 349.
11. Euripides Medea 465-95 in Dillon & Garland Ancient Greece, doc 13.63, p.421.
12. Aristotle in The Nicomachean Ethics
13. Dillon & Garland Ancient Greece, The Legal Position of Slaves (notes), p. 335.
14. Dillon & Garland Ancient Greece, Metics (notes), p338.
15. Herodotus II.166.3-167-2 in Dillon & Garland Ancient Greece, doc 11.35 (notes), p.347-8.
16. Xenophon Constitutions of the Spartans 7.1-2 in Dillon & Garland Ancient Greece, doc. 11.35, p. 347-8.
17. Herodotus Vi. 74.1-84.3 in Dillon & Garland Ancient Greece, doc. 6.49, 178.
18. Thucydides in Dillon & Garland Ancient Greece,

References:

1. Dillon, M.P.J. and Garland, L. Ancient Greece. Social and Historical Documents from Archaic Times to the Death of Socrates (2nd ed., London & New York, 2000)

• Dunstan, W.E. Ancient Greece,
• Ehrenberg, V. The Greek State (Oxford, 1960)
• Fine, J.V.A. The Ancient Greeks: A Critical History (Cambridge, Mass. 1983)
• Hammond, N.G.L. A History of Greece (3rd edn, Oxford, 1986)

2. Herodotus, Histories, (ed.) T. Griffith, 1996, Wordsworth Editions Limited, Hertfordshire.

• Luce, T.J. The Greek Historians (London, 1997)
• Sealey, R. A History of the Greek City States (Berkeley, 1976)
• Xenophon Spartan Society in Plutarch on Sparta, translated by R.J.A. Talbert (Harmondsworth, 1988)