Roman Slave Essay

Slavery was important to thriving empires all over the world. An empire that relied on slavery was the Roman Empire. The Romans used slaves for various chores. Some of these chores and jobs include chopping wood, keeping a farm, and cleaning houses for no pay (Plautus). Because of the slaves the Roman Empire was able to focus on the battles and wars with other countries instead of tending to a farm and chopping wood. The slaves would also be used to serve the soldiers and entertain (Plautus). The Roman Empire would not have been as big as it was if it was not for the slaves that they had.
Slaves were used for many things including cooking, house cleaning, and just serving. Since the Romans did not really have to do any work with the farms or jobs of their empire they could focus on more important things like winning wars and gaining land. The slaves got barley anything in return. The slaves got a tunic of three and a half feet, shoes every two years, and some bread and wine to eat (Cato the Elder). The slaves did not like this way of life so they revolted for the last time and the Roman government caved in (Davis). The Roman government as a result of this result treated the Roman slaves better and gave them more rations and clothing (Davis). The slaves however still did not like their lifestyle so they revolted once again this time bringing knives and weapons (Plutarch). The Romans agreed to the slaves once again and that was the last revolt.
Slaves were so great in Rome that at the time Rome had more slaves than any other land known to them. John’s Hopkins University estimated that there were 300,000-350,000 slaves out of the Roman population of 900,000-950,000 (John Madden). This estimate shows that one in every three persons was a slave in Rome and Italy at that time. Pergamum had 40,000 adult slaves which was one third of the adult population in Rome (John Madden). Compared to Egypt which only had at the most ten percent of their population being slaves and as low as two percent, the Romans were well off when it came to slavery (John Madden). Many of these slaves would have either come from prisoners of war or piracy (John Madden). Before the Romans captured all these slaves they had a very few amount of them. The Romans started getting a lot of their slaves around 150 A.D. The average life expectancy for the Romans citizens was from 20-30 years. The slave’s life expectancy was shorter because they were treated like animals so they did not have good health or nutrition.
Slaves would die out rather quickly so they replaced them every twenty years (John Madden). There were male slaves then female slaves because of the body structure of a man were more useful for the jobs the Romans had the slaves do. They would use the men for building, mining, agricultural purposes, and industry purposes (John Madden). They used the women for different jobs like weaving, cloth making, and cooking (John Madden). The women slaves would also be used to populate Rome by having babies. These are the jobs that the slaves would so everyday to keep Rome a better place to live for the Romans.
The slaves were used for chores and tedious jobs that the Romans did not want to do. This in turn helped the Romans win more wars and get more land because they could concentrate on other things. The slaves were not paid and did work for almost nothing to the Romans. This helped the Roman economy and Rome in general. Without the slaves Rome would not have been as big as we know it as today. For all of these reasons slaves helped Rome to become the empire that we know and study today.

Citations: John Madden slavery in Rome and statistics "MADDEN: Roman Slavery." Internet Archive: Wayback Machine. Web. 25 Mar. 2010. <http://web.archive.org/web/20031211005259/www.ucd.ie/classics/96/Madden96.html>.

Plautus, Cato the Elder, and Plutarch agriculture slavery in the Roman Republic "Ancient History Sourcebook: Slavery in the Roman Republic." FORDHAM.EDU. Web. 25 Mar. 2010. <http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/slavery-romrep1.html>.

Diodorus Siculus Roman slave revolts FORDHAM.EDU. Web. 25 Mar. 2010. <http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/3slaverevolttexts.htm>.

"Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Rome." FORDHAM.EDU. Web. 25 Mar. 2010. <http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/asbook09.html#Slavery>.