Egyptian Slave Trade example essay topic

Enslavement was a pretty big issue in the Ancient World, mainly because there were many of them. There are a few reasons why the Egyptians became slaves. One was because of debts or they sold themselves to escape poverty. If they were considered an indentured slave they did not lose all their civil rights; and sometimes the economic security they gained through their new status might seem to be worth giving up some freedoms for.

Debt slavery was abolished in the late dynastic period. Another reason why Egyptians became slaves in the ancient world was because of the war. While there had been slaves in Egypt since the beginning of its history, their numbers greatly increased during the New Kingdom, when the pharaohs were committed to a policy of foreign involvement and conquests in Nubia, Canaan and Syria brought in many prisoners of war. The least fortunate captives were sent to work as slaves in the dreadful gold and copper mines of Nubia and Sinai, where, according to the Greeks, water was rationed and men died in great numbers from exhaustion and dehydration in the desert heat. On the other hand not all the prisoners were enslaved: some were absorbed into the army. Many slaves labored on the estates of the pharaohs, the nobility and the priests.

The slaves who found themselves serving the royal family or the nobility were generally the lucky ones. Their life was often less hard than that of the native peasants. The children of a few of these slaves, foreigners or Egyptians, who had exceptional ability, made themselves indispensable to their masters and rose to high positions in the bureaucracy or married into their former owners' families after being set free. There were a few ways Egyptians became slaves that didn't happen as often as being in debt or coming out of the war. These were by birth, or if they were captured.

In the Roman Empire the offspring of slaves inherited their parents's tat us. At times, similar circumstances seem to have ruled the destinies of Egyptian slaves. Similar occurrences took place all over the ancient world: Travelers could easily and often illegally be captured in foreign lands where nobody knew them, and sold into slavery; and there was often no one they could appeal to for help. Slave trade was popular at this time.

Unlike in ancient Rome for instance where the trade in slaves was often in the hands of rich merchants and took place in slave markets, the Egyptian slave trade was on a small scale. During paranoiac times no slave markets seem to have existed. But even if slavery was never as pervading in Egypt, as it was to be in other ancient societies, such as the Greek or Roman, it appears that slaves were traded widely from the New Kingdom onwards. Slaves were sold all over the Middle East. Egypt was an, albeit insignificant, partner in these exchanges.

Slaves were traded internationally when they had special qualities or exotic looks such as those of the dark-skinned Nubians who were sent to Hattie as a gift. Prices of slaves were usually an issue. Male slaves were at times significantly cheaper than these accomplished females, probably depending on their abilities and the uses they were going to be put to. Their price could be as low as 20 kit of silver.

Prices during the 21st dynasty were not the same as those during the New Kingdom. Slave population is based more on guesswork than knowledge. In paranoiac times their part in the population may have been greatest during the expansionary stage of the New Kingdom empire, when whole populations were enslaved at times. Given the small size of armies - generally thousands rather than tens of thousands of soldiers - most of these prisoners must have been civilians. The Egyptians may have preferred to make slaves of the able bodied soldiers of defeated enemy armies than of the inhabitants of captured cities, the majority of them were children and women. There usually was a preference for males because of the more hard labor they could perform, but the most cherished and expensive were generally those who had special or rare skills.

Compared with the vast empires of the Persians, Macedonians or Romans the Egyptian conquests in Africa and the Middle East were not very extensive. The populations were pretty small. Once these territories were 'pacified', the number of prisoners of war that could be enslaved was limited. The temples, above all those of Amen, enjoyed unprecedented prosperity during the New Kingdom. Except during the Amana episode, they were generously endowed with land and people to work it. They must have owned hundreds of thousands of slaves.

If the slaves were near the bottom of Egyptian society, their lot was rarely as bad as that of slaves in other societies. As servants in a temple or in the household of a rich family it was often better than that of the "free" peasants. Treating a slave well was a moral precept, but the very fact that decent treatment of slaves was a moral duty means that they must have been treated badly quite often. In the Book of the Dead two of the dead person's virtues recited in order to join the company of the gods among others like not having inflicted pain or not having committed murder are "I have not domineered over slaves", and "I have not vilified a slave to his master". The slaves filled a wide range of positions, from lowly laborers to government administrators. Slaves could be sold, given as presents or bequeathed in wills.

Slaves regained their freedom through their own efforts, by somebody else's munificence, or by a combination of the two.