A presentation created during the Youth Exchange Dawn of Modern Slavery: Dusk of Human Rights, financed by Erasmus+ through European Union. More information about the international mobility programs here: https://erasmus-plus.ec.europa.eu/opportunities/opportunities-for-individuals/youth-exchanges

1. SLAVERY AND
HUMAN RIGHTS
IN ANCIENT GREECE

2. Slavery history in
Greece
•Starting from the beginning, the word “slave”
has an ancient origin: it comes from medieval
latin “sclavum” or “slavum”.
OMERIC AGE: most of all slaves were women
working as houseworkers or concubines, men
were employed in agricultural works.
• 800-600: slaves’ market increased remarkably
because of the colonization along
Mediterranean coasts, during next centuries
slaves became larger than other people

3. life, with enslaved people ‘used’ across virtually all areas of
society.
But, as the property of their master, Athenian slaves could still be
sold off in the blink of an eye. Even Aristotel, arguably one of
Athens’ most progressive thinkers, referred to enslaved people
as ktêma empsuchon – a phrase that roughly translates as
‘animate property’, or ‘property that breathes’.

4. •DIFFERENT TYPES OF
SLAVES
• HOYSEWORKERS SLAVES: they
lived in best conditions since they
were not in chains
• WOMEN
• SLAVES WORKING IN THE FIELDS
ON THE COUNTRYSIDE
• SLAVES WORKING IN A MINE
• CHAINED SLAVES ON THE SHIPS
• IERODOULIA: from ieros sacred
and doulos slave, a slave employed

5. How people became
slaves:
• Even if a man was born as a free
man, there were various ways they
could become slaves:
• SLAVERY FROM
ABANDONMENT: in some cases,
children were abandoned on a
mountain by their parents so
someone can fond them and take
them
• SLAVERY BECAUSE OF DEBT: if
a debtor could not refund the

6. RIGHTS AND DUTIES
FOR SLAVES IN
ANCIENT GREECE
• They can’t fight
• They can’t participate in
legislative assemblies
The slaves only had only
a few guarantees:
• They could not be killed
without a trial
• They could not be sold
outside of their country
The only positive
perspective was the
EMANCIPATION: a slave
can buy his or her
freedom by money or as
a reward for fighting in

7. In ancient Greece, slaves were treated like pieces of property. For
Aristotle, as we already mentioned, they were 'a piece of property
that breathes'. They enjoyed different degrees of freedom and
were treated kindly or cruelly depending on the personality of the
owner. They all did domestic chores, acted as travel companions

8. SPARTA
Historians separate chattel slavery (the enslaved person is legally rendered the
personal property (chattel) of the slave owner) and helotic slavery (helots were
privately owned slaves, not communally controlled serfs).
• there were more helots than spartans and they constantly threatened rebellions
against the spartans.
• sparta needed strong military to hold helots down.
• sparta should be seen as the most extreme example of a ‘slave society’ in the

9. ATHENS
Athens had the largest slave population, with as
many as 80,000 in the 5th and 6th centuries BC,
with an average of three or four slaves per
household, except in poor families.
Slaves were legally prohibited from participating in
politics, which was reserved for citizens.

10. Thank you for your attention
The Greek team