Trace O’Connor
100970824
HIST1001A
The Making of Europe
Paul Nelles (TA-Alex)
27432068211700027432027432000
Slavery in Ancient Rome was visually different than that of modern forms. Slavery in Rome was not based on the race of the person as it was in more recent times but on if you were an enemy of the empire. Slavery was vital to the economic growth and in the continuance of the expansion of the empire. Even though slavery was fundamental to the Roman economy it was an abusive and degrading institution in which there were few ways to get out. The conditions in which slaves of the Roman Empire had to endure were harsh to the point that they were inhumane but were deemed suitable by society.
I will be reflecting …show more content…
It was the investment in land and agricultural production that made Italy wealthy. The slaves were thought of as property and not people. Even though humane legislation outlawed the mutilation or murder of slaves, the masters continued with the disfigurement and excessive amounts of cruelty shown towards …show more content…
The slaves were forced to work day and night digging in the mines to produce gold and silver in great sums for their masters. The slaves who were forced to work in the mines had a horrible life. This was truly hard backbreaking work in which they had to undergo for such long hours. Many of the slaves thought of as death to be better than having to continue working in the mines. “Indeed death in their eyes is more to be desired than life”1. This exemplifies the hardships in which slaves experienced in the mines, to see death as the only likely way out.
Throughout the entire Roman Empire slavery was present. The Romans occupied an island known as Sicily wherein they practiced mainly agriculture. The treatment of the slaves in Sicily was some of the worst. Slaves were beaten, tortured and used in ways that their masters seemed fit. They were “treated with a heavy hand in their service, and granted the most meager care, the bare minimum for food and clothing…”. Slaves were treated as animals and not fellow humans. They were taken care of to the bare minimum to reduce costs so the slave owners could have a higher profit