Reddit mentions of Slaves Without Masters: The Free Negro in the Antebellum South

I have a few answers, but they're all in a Roman context:

> How were ancient slaves acquired?

They were often acquired in battle, or as booty resulting from battle. During the Gallic wars, Julius Caesar sold tens of thousands of Gauls into slavery. Other sources existed. Some slaves were purchased by Romans as the result of conflicts that didn't involve Rome. Most slaves were probably born into slavery.

> Did they have a different legal status or social position [than slaves in the Americas]?

Yes and no. Roman slaves were sometimes quite educated and valuable. Others died in the bottom of a damp mine. The Romans did have a different outlook than later Europeans and that colored their relationships with their slaves. For example, it was perfectly acceptable for Roman men to have sex with their slaves, both male and female (so long as they adhered to the sexual norms, which is a whole different rabbit hole). While in the modern sense we would probably call this rape (especially since pederasty was also acceptable), in a Roman context these relationships sometimes created close, public, personal bonds between master and slave. A similar situation in the American South would have been, at least superficially, shameful for both parties.

Sexual or not, Roman citizens had many working relationships with slaves (in shops, at work, in the home) that were not as decidedly servile as the relationships of American slaves to their masters.

> What tasks were assigned to ancient slaves?

They were herdsmen, laborers, clerks, prostitutes, consorts, gladiators. The economy was quite dependent on slave labor.

> Did race or ethnicity play a role?

Not really, though there's no definite consensus (see endnotes). Romans had slaves from Africa and from Gaul. It largely depended on the slave's society and that society's current relationship with Rome.

> How were ancient slaves transported?

Boat, road and horseback. Sometimes by liter. The point being, there were slaves involved with all levels of Roman society and they came from all over Europe, Africa and Asia.

> Could ancient slaves be freed?

Yes. Slaves in Rome could become free men/women and once they did, they nominally enjoyed the rights of citizens. They could vote, hold property, etc.
But most of the same could be said about black slaves in the American South (minus the voting part: see endnotes):

> How did ancient slavery gradually evolve into the Atlantic slave trade.

I don't know if it did, directly. The European powers that created the triangle trade didn't have slaves through most of the middle ages. But I'm not certain on this point. If there's more to it, I'd like to know.




Racism in the Ancient world:
http://www.yale.edu/glc/events/race/Isaac.pdf

Free slaves in the South.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1565840283/ref=as_li_ss_til?tag=root04c-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=1565840283&adid=0ADYR57WR38GNEPJRR5Y


Edit: wow did I screw up the formatting

Comment was meant for the person above you, just a misclick on my part. But [here] (https://www.amazon.com/Slaves-Without-Masters-Negro-Antebellum/dp/1565840283) is one for you.


> Slaves Without Masters is a vivid and moving history of the quarter of a million free blacks who lived in the South before the Civil War. First published to great acclaim in 1974, Slaves Without Masters established Ira Berlin as one of the outstanding historians of African American life in slavery and freedom. It traces the lives of free black men and women, portraying their struggle for community, liberty, economic independence, and education within an oppressive society.


edit: added a quick synopses from the amazon page for others.