Essay About Roman Times And Good Business

Roman Slavery
Roman Slavery
Slavery is an institution of the common law of peoples by which a person is put into the ownership of somebody
else, contrary to the natural order. Slavery was commonly practiced throughout all ancient history, but no other people
in history owned so many slaves and depended on them so much as the Romans. Slavery was accepted as a part of life
in ancient Rome by the slaves themselves and by the society. However, slavery was both beneficial and disastrous to
ancient Rome.
In Roman times, slaves were primarily prisoners of war. Indeed, war was “good business” because of the profits
from slavery. Entire cities were captured and sold as slaves. Others became slaves when they couldnt pay their debts;
sometimes the children of the debtors were given as slaves to cancel the debt. Criminals also became slaves to the
Roman government. Children of slaves were also slaves. Many Roman families owned a few slaves. One rich leader
named Crassus owned 20,000! The Roman emperors owned even more than that. In the Roman system of slavery, the
tasks of slaves, such as farming, businesses, and public buildings all contributed to the wealth of the Roman economy.
On the farms, slaves produced the food and other materials on which the cities depended. Some of the most
important crops produced by slaves were wheat, olives, vines and grapes which were eaten and used for making wine.
The Roman farm products such as wine, oil, tools, meat were exported to other counties. This gave Rome its
greatest source of economic wealth. Not only were the slaves working on the farms and households, they were also
involved in business, such as shops and public buildings. They were in charge of duties like shopkeeping, lending of
money, buying and selling of merchandise. While the slaves were managing the shops, the masters concentrated on
establishing new businesses which resulted in their being very successful and consequently wealthy. Slaves were not
only performing the tasks but taking control of everything for their masters and making them wealthy which also
helped the economy. Besides working on the farms and businesses, the most famous task performed by slaves in the
public buildings was working on the aqueduct systems, roads, and the arenas. Buildings were built for public use;
others were built by wealthy individuals for the community. The slaves also built bridges and roads which were very
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important because they were built mainly to allow soldiers to move quickly in war time. However, it also encouraged
trading and helped the spread of Roman culture. “Therefore slave labor became one of Rome’s greatest sources of
economic wealth” ( Ancient Rome Online).
The good treatment of slaves in Rome was one of the positive and beneficial aspects of the slave system. For
example, some slaves were given many privileges, comforts and were treated better than most people would have
imagined. Nardo states “some masters treated their slaves with care and affection as their own children”(25). Some
slave masters showed their loyalty and how much they cared for their slaves by giving nearly complete charge of their
money and business affairs to the slaves without interfering. This led to the development of saturnalia festival.
Saturnalia was a traditional celebration like Christmas in which slaves and masters switched places.