#HISTORY OF CIVILIZATION TIMELINE CODE#
#HISTORY OF CIVILIZATION TIMELINE FREE#

But the slaves are employed almost exclusively in households, offices and armies. In the period after the collapse of the Roman empire in the west, slavery continues in the countries around the Mediterranean. Slaves in the Middle Ages: 6th - 15th century There are several slave uprisings in these two centuries, the most famous of them led by Spartacus. In the mines they are whipped into continuing effort by overseers in the fields they work in chain gangs in the public arenas they are forced to engage in terrifying combat as gladiators. In the two centuries before the beginning of the empire (the last two centuries BC) slaves are employed by Romans more widely than ever before and probably with greater brutality. The most privileged slaves are the secretarial staff of the emperor.Д«ut these are the exception.

#HISTORY OF CIVILIZATION TIMELINE FREE#

The same loophole, offered by the self-esteem of free citizens, provides even greater opportunities to slaves in imperial Rome. Slaves in Rome: from the second century BC Such jobs include positions of influence in fields such as banking and commerce. This inhibition applies equally to a subsidiary position in any form of business.ДЄs a result male slaves in Athens do all work of a secretarial or managerial nature, for in these contexts they are unmistakably somebody else's personal assistant. No free Athenian works in a domestic capacity, for it is considered shameful to be another man's servant. Often it is close, with female slaves looking after the children or acting as concubines, or a male slave running the household as a steward. Their fortune depends entirely on the relationship they develop with their owners. The majority of Athenian slaves are domestic servants. By contrast other categories of slaves - particularly those owned directly by the state, such as the 300 Scythian archers who provide the police force of Athens - can acquire a certain prestige. The most unfortunate Athenian slaves are the miners, who are driven often to the point of death by their owners (the mines are state-owned but are leased to private managers). But their condition varies greatly according to the work they do. The slaves of Athens, by contrast, have no conventional rights. Their existence is a traditional rural one to which certain rights remain attached. The distinction is that the helots of Sparta are a conquered people, living on their own hereditary land but forced to work it for their Spartan masters. Slaves in Greece: from the 7th century BCД«oth the leading states of Greece - Sparta and Athens - depend entirely upon forced labour, though the system in Sparta is more properly described as serfdom rather than slavery. Surprisingly, Babylonian slaves are themselves allowed to own property.Д«ut the first civilization in which we know a great deal about the role of slaves is that of ancient Greece. But it also reveals that the system is not one of unmitigated brutality.

#HISTORY OF CIVILIZATION TIMELINE CODE#

The Code of Hammurabi, from Babylon in the 18th century BC, gives chilling details of the different Rewards and penalties for surgeons operating on free men or slaves. Information about slaves in early societies relates mainly to their legal status, which is essentially that of an object - part of the owner's valuable property. And the children of slaves are themselves slaves - though with a cheap supply of labour available through war, not many owners will allow their slaves the diversion of raising a family. The impoverished sell their own children. An unpayable debt can bring the end of liberty. There are several other ways in which slaves are acquired. When a town falls to a hostile army, it is normal to take into slavery those inhabitants who will make useful workers and to kill the rest. War is the main source of supply, and wars are frequent and brutal in early civilizations. On a large farm or in a workshop there is real benefit in a reliable source of cheap labour, costing no more than the minimum of food and lodging. Once people gather in towns and cities, a surplus of food created in the countryside (often now on large estates) makes possible a wide range of crafts in the town. There is no economic advantage in owning another human being. One more pair of hands is one more mouth. They collect or grow just enough food for themselves. Hunter-gatherers and primitive farmers have no use for a slave. Slavery enters human history with civilization.

History of civilization timeline