Inhuman Treatment of Slaves in Ancient Rome

Previous Roman actions have raised the question whether they recognized their slaves as things or people. Of course, there are economic advantages in support of slavery. However, when human lives are under constant danger and torture, the economic advantages must be forgotten. Although the slaves of Ancient Rome played a pivotal role in the society, their actions were never approved. After careful consideration, it is evident that the Romans recognized slaves as things rather than people. This conception is mainly due to three factors. They include: slaves being put on the market, the physical cruelty towards the slaves, and the slaves being mistreated to the point of revolt.

First, slaves were treated as things rather than people due to them being put on the market. In today’s society, products and things are put on the market to be purchased. Human beings do not fall into this category. Human beings are not put on the market, simply because it is not appropriate, nor is it acceptable. In Ancient Rome however, it was routine to place slaves on the market. This process came to the point where slaves were beginning to purchase or sell other slaves on the market. In Westermann’s journal it says, “Cato the Censor in the first half of the second century B.C, began the practice of permitting his older slaves to buy and to train young boys with the money that he furnished” . Clearly, it was ordinary to buy slaves. Although it was ordinary, it was still highly incorrect to treat human beings in such a way. Moving on, there were also certain ways to sell a slave on the market in Ancient Rome. A slave’s previous nationality was the assumption of their character. This included their work ethic, attention span, attitude etc. It was a common...

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Ripat, Pauline, Matt Gibbs, and Milorad Nikolic. "Roman Slavery." In Themes in Roman Society and Culture: An Introduction to Ancient Rome. Don Mills: Oxford University Press, 2014. 86.

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