Enslavement in the Ancient World

Enslavement was a pretty big issue in the Ancient World, mainly because there were many of them. There are a few reasons why the Egyptians became slaves. One was because of debts or they sold themselves to escape poverty. If they were considered an indentured slave they did not lose all their civil rights; and sometimes the economic security they gained through their new status might seem to be worth giving up some freedoms for. Debt slavery was abolished in the late dynastic period.
Another reason why Egyptians became slaves in the ancient world was because of the war. While there had been slaves in Egypt since the beginning of its history, their numbers greatly increased during the New Kingdom, when the pharaohs were committed to a policy of foreign involvement and conquests in Nubia, Canaan and Syria brought in many prisoners of war. The least fortunate captives were sent to work as slaves in the dreadful gold and copper mines of Nubia and Sinai, where, according to the Gr...