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How Are Athenian Slaves Treated

Decent Essays

First off, let take a look at the slavery in Athens. It would be indecent for me to say that these slaves had an easy life because slavery is simply cruel and inhumane. However, Athenian slaves were the least ill-treated. There were two types of Athenian slaves; privately owned and state owned. For privately owned slaves, depending on the master, the slave either had domestic responsibilities or was a tutor and caretaker of the master’s children. “Slaves purchased by the master of the household were received into the household community with a ceremony, attended family ceremonies, adopted the family’s religion and were buried in the family graveyard” (Bowman, 2007, p34). We can say that Athenian slaves were very well integrated into their master’s family, it even seems like they were treated pretty similarly to their owner’s children. …show more content…

State owned slaves had the ability to work in certain higher positioned jobs such as “secretaries, bankers, and law enforcement” (Bowman, 2007, p34). They were also paid with small allowances or with clothing. State slaves had the right to marry and own property while private slaves could not properly marry, but if the master permitted, they were allowed to live with their partners. However, any children they made belonged to the

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