Slavery - Slave Management Writings Flashcards
How was slave labour structured (according to Bryson)?
Slave labour was diverse and a slave hierarchy existed between management and labourers.
Could slaves improve their lives (according to Bryson)?
Slaves could gain advantages for themselves if they gained the favour of their masters. This applies, however, mostly to managerial slaves, many of which would probably have been raised in their master’s household and were comparatively close to their master’s family. Similarly, this second proviso suggests lives for more common labourers was often devoid of respect and material benefits.
Was there any leniency in the treatment of slaves (according to Bryson)?
Anything but complete subservience was punished.
How did elite slave owners across ancient history view slaves and slavery?
For slave owners, getting slaves to work for them was a constant worry that required strategies.
They also felt the need to justify slavery by viewing it as natural, crucial, not inherently cruel, etc (“slaves by nature”/focus on fair treatment rather than punishment/beneficial to slaves who know their place/paternalistic).
What was ‘Bryson’s Slave Managment Writings’?
Arabic translation of a lost Greek text translated in the Abbasid Caliphate
Part of a period of intense Muslim interest in antiquity and, from other examples, it is probably a more-or-less accurate translation of the text
This text had a noticeable effect on Islamic philosophy (e.g. his “three different types of slaves”) and is a good window into classical reception in the golden-age of Islam
Who was Bryson and why was he writing?
Writing in the first century AD, Bryson was part of the Neopythagorian philosophical movement
Concerned primarily with how an elite male landowner could manage an estate (oikonomia), including slave and one’s family in order to generate a good income
Also concerned with philosophical matters (i.e. what is the moral way to manage a household and to spend wealth).
Present the ideal household (to the author’s mind - the author being elite slave owners)
Contains a section specifically on managing slaves (55-73).
What other householding management and agrarian land-holding manuals were there in antiquity?
Manager (Economics), and Ps. Aristotle’s Household Management (Oikonomia), both from fourth-century BC Athens. Philodemus’ Oikonomia (first century BC). Also numerous lost works
Closely related “Agrarian” Latin works which describe agricultural estate management: Cato the Elder (second century BC), Varro (first century BC), and Columella (first century AD).
What did Bryson think on the nature of slaves and who was this based on?
“The slave ‘by nature’ has a strong body and endures toil.”
Aristotle’s theory (based on ethnicity - Greeks being the only natural free race, everyone else is a natural slave)
What can we learn from this quote from Bryson?
“Therefore the man must protect his servants as he protects his limbs, and this involves thinking about them in two ways: first,the species which unites him with them; second, what they have suffered. If he thinks about their species, he realises that they are people just like him, and capable of understanding what he understands […]”
The humanity of slaves: ideal of Seneca
System of exploitation, despite his acknowledgement of their humanity, he is writing on how to best exploit and hurt a group of people
What can we learn from this quote from Bryson?
“If the servant makes mistakes, the master should ignore him the first time and correct him the second time. Correcting him should initially be done with censure, warning and admonishment; if he does it again, with anger; if he persists, with blows. […] if the servant does wrong, he should only be punished as the master’s son is punished when he does something similarly wrong.”
Paternal view of slavery - slaves are seen as children, ideology of slaves/children as naturally inferior and subservient
Summarise Bryson’s section on slavery:
Slaves are crucial to estates and to society in the Roman empire generally and their management is an important issue
Different kinds of slave characters which are more or less suitable for a variety of roles (management, servants, labourers), and it is important for masters to judge which they are
Slaves are humans and should be treated kindly and fairly. This is to the masters benefit morally and in terms of the work he gets out of slaves.
BUT Slaves also compared to younger relatives (see Greek word for slaves – pais) and animals
Slaves who are disobedient or do something wrong should be punished
Loyal slaves should be rewarded (with distinction)
Slaves should be trained from youth
Slaves should be of a different race to their master.
What do other ancient sources say on the ethnicities of slaves?
Avoid having too many slaves of the same nation, for this is a fertile source of domestic quarrels (Varro 1.17.5).
We should, moreover… avoid the practice of purchasing many slaves of the same nationality, as men avoid doing in towns (Pseudo-Aristotle, 1.1344b).
