Roman Slavery

In Our Time

BBC

History

4.6 • 9.2K Ratings

🗓️ 5 April 2018

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the role of slavery in the Roman world, from its early conquests to the fall of the Western Empire. The system became so entrenched that no-one appeared to question it, following Aristotle's view that slavery was a natural state. Whole populations could be marched into slavery after military conquests, and the freedom that Roman citizens prized for themselves, even in poverty, was partly defined by how it contrasted with enslavement. Slaves could be killed or tortured with impunity, yet they could be given great responsibility and, once freed, use their contacts to earn fortunes. The relationship between slave and master informed early Christian ideas of how the faithful related to God, informing debate for centuries. With Neville Morley Professor of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Exeter Ulrike Roth Senior Lecturer in Ancient History at the University of Edinburgh And Myles Lavan Senior lecturer in Ancient History at the University of St Andrews Producer: Simon Tillotson.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is the BBC.
0:02.0	Thanks for downloading this episode of In Our Time.
0:05.0	There's a reading list to go with it on our website and you can get news about our programs
0:08.8	if you follow us on Twitter at BBC In Our Time.
0:12.2	I hope you enjoyed the programs.
0:14.2	Hello, for a civilization that valued liberty so highly, Romans are the spectacular number
0:19.4	of slaves.
0:20.4	They captured them and their hundreds of thousands after victories.
0:24.1	They bred them and they bought them without compunction.
0:27.3	And to their minds, why shouldn't they?
0:29.0	Aristotle thought slavery was a natural state and poorer Romans took comfort that no
0:33.6	matter how bad their lot might be, at least they weren't slaves.
0:37.7	Yet some Romans also gave the supposedly inferior people the greatest responsibilities.
0:42.9	Trusting slaves to be loyal when citizens were not and using them to raise their children.
0:48.0	Sometimes they would set them free to have slaves of their own.
0:51.2	The system possesses a parable of millennium informing the ideas that Roman Christians had
0:55.8	about their relationship with God.
0:58.1	Did we discuss Roman slavery?
1:00.0	Are, Neville Morley, Professor of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Exeter
1:04.2	Ulrich O'Rote, Senior Electro in Ancient History at the University of Edinburgh
1:08.2	and Mars Lavin, Senior Electro in Ancient History at the University of St. Andrews?
1:12.8	Neville Morley, how entrenched was slavery around the Mediterranean when the Romans started
	...

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