Slaves of the Mediterranean

Slaves of the Mediterranean
Slavery was a universal feature of all Mediterranean countries in antiquity and the Romans also greatly benefited from there use. To ensure economic success the Romans needed slave labor to aid in agricultural and domestic work. In this paper I would like to discuss slavery within the Roman Empire. I would like to focus on three major aspects of slavery: how the slaves were obtained, what role in society did slaves have, and how could slaves gain their freedom.
Accusation of slaves came to the Romans by their conquering of other nations. Roman territorial conquest yielded most of the conquered nations citizens and forced them to become slaves. “To enslave an enemy rather than to slay him was a device to reap his labour, but it was also a way of enjoying a perpetual triumph over him; it was at once a humiliation to him and a punishment for his presumption in taking up arms” (Barrow p 2). As new land was acquired, the population of the area becam...