Spartan Slavery Essay

Slavery has been a part of Western history since the Greeks and their domination beginning throughout the Classical Era, to the Romans, to the Vikings and Barbarians during the Middle Ages. Slaves took on different tasks and different rankings, but what never changed was the difficult life they lived. In this paper, different slave societies will be presented, as well as the characteristics that came along with being a slave. Slavery under the Athenians, Spartans, Romans, Vikings and during the New World will be looked at. Spartan slaves were known as Helots. The Helots outnumbered the Spartans 10 to 1, and they were the ones who paved the way to military life in Sparta (Notes). In Spartan society, all slaves were owned by the state, and each

The Helot men worked the lands, while the Helot women would raise Spartan children and perform daily chores and tasks for their owners. Most serfs lived away in villages, and had their own family life, and were also allowed to own land and property. The Helots underwent brutal exploitation and were required to give a percentage of their earnings to the state (Cliff 2). The Helots were often harshly beaten to be reminded that they are at the bottom of the social ranking in Sparta. Slaves could never be assured of their personal safety, because the Helots who were deemed untrustworthy by their masters were murdered to get rid of any “threat” they imposed (Notes). Slaves were present in Athens as well. It is said that the “Athenians treated their slaves better than any other ancient society” (Cliff 1). Slaves

With the growth of trade and demand for goods like sugar and cotton, Europeans turned to Africa for slaves to their boost production, and this was the beginning of the transatlantic slave trade. The slave trade had European traders going to Africa to examine and buy the slaves they deemed good to work, and then these slaves became property of the buyers, and were sent across the Atlantic (Howard 2). The conditions of this voyage were terrible, and around 20% died on the boat ride from Africa to Europe. While most slaves were needed to work in the plantation fields, some also worked as domestic servants, or were trained as artisans. The slaves working on sugar plantations worked under brutal conditions and at a very fast pace, with harsh owners, and so the death rates were extremely high, and this lead to new slaves constantly needing to be shipped from Africa (McKay et al. 435). The African slaves suffered brutal exploitation and were forced to live under the cruel treatments of their owners - women and men slaves both. The slave trade between Africa and America was not abolished until 19th century