The Highs and Lows of Roman Slavery: From the Emperor's Advisor to Suffocating in Sulfur Mines

When Julius Caesar conquered Gaul he boasted that he killed a million Gauls and enslaved a million more. This is the truth about the Roman empire: Rome could not function without slavery as it underpinned every single part of their economy. Without the millions of people snatched from their homes in the aftermath of war, kidnapped from the streets, sold into slavery as punishment, or born into it as “home bred slaves”, the Roman empire’s great aqueducts and temples could never have been built. There would be no coins or tiles to find in fields, no limitless manpower for the army and navy that conquered the Mediterranean, no marble palaces or underfloor heating, and certainly no life of unimaginable luxury for the top of Roman society. Slavery in Rome could be very good or bad depending on the job. Highly educated Greek slaves served as physicians, accountants, architects, and tutors for aristocratic sons and daughters. At the bottom of the hierarchy were sulfur mine workers, who worked in toxic, collapsing tunnels and were often blinded by their masters to remind them they would be there for the rest of their short miserable lives.

Today's guest is Emma Southon, author of Not Built in a Day: How Slavery Made the Roman Empire. We discuss how Rome evolved from a sanctuary for men fleeing slavery into the most extensive chattel slave system in history, and how Spartacus horrified Rome not by winning battles but by forcing 300 Roman prisoners to fight as gladiators at his co-commander's funeral. We also look at why there was never a Roman abolition movement because Romans understood that slavery destroyed people but concluded this was the slaves' problem, not theirs.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.