Editing Slavery (section)

==== Ancient Greece and Rome ====
{{Main|Slavery in ancient Greece|Slavery in ancient Rome|Black Sea slave trade}}
[[File:Schnorr von Carolsfeld Bibel in Bildern 1860 038.png|thumb|250px|''[[Ishmaelites]] purchase [[Joseph (Genesis)|Joseph]]'', by [[Schnorr von Carolsfeld]], 1860]]
Records of [[slavery in Ancient Greece]] begin with [[Mycenaean Greece]]. [[Classical Athens]] had the largest slave population, with as many as 80,000 in the 6th and 5th centuries BC.<ref>{{Cite journal |editor-last=Berneker |editor-first=Erich |date=August 1, 1957 |last=Lauffer |first=Siegfried |title=Die Bergwerkssklaven von Laureion, I. Teil |trans-title=The Mine Slaves of Laureion, Part I |journal=Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte: Romanistische Abteilung |volume=74 |issue=1 |page=916 |doi=10.7767/zrgra.1957.74.1.403 |s2cid=179216974 |issn=2304-4934 |language=de}}</ref> As the [[Roman Republic]] expanded outward, entire populations were enslaved, across Europe and the Mediterranean. Slaves were used for labour, as well as for amusement (e.g., [[gladiator]]s and [[sexual slavery|sex slaves]]). This oppression by an elite minority eventually led to [[slave rebellion|slave revolts]] (see [[Roman Servile Wars]]); the [[Third Servile War]] was led by [[Spartacus]].

By the late Republican era, slavery had become an economic pillar of Roman wealth, as well as Roman society.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dl.ket.org/latinlit/mores/slaves/ |title=Slavery in Ancient Rome |publisher=Dl.ket.org |access-date=August 29, 2010 |archive-date=February 22, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100222010557/http://www.dl.ket.org/latinlit/mores/slaves/}}</ref> It is estimated that 25% or more of the population of [[Ancient Rome]] was enslaved, although the actual percentage is debated by scholars and varied from region to region.<ref name="Harper2011">{{cite book |last=Harper |first=Kyle |title=Slavery in the Late Roman World, AD 275–425 |url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=IPU8ZAcrOtIC|page=59}} |access-date=August 11, 2016 |year=2011 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-1-139-50406-5 |pages=59–60}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/romans/slavery_01.shtml |title=Resisting Slavery in Ancient Rome |publisher=[[BBC News]] |date=November 5, 2009 |access-date=August 29, 2010}}</ref> Slaves represented 15–25% of [[Roman Italy|Italy]]'s population,<ref name="Scheidel">{{cite web |url=http://www.princeton.edu/~pswpc/pdfs/scheidel/050704.pdf |title=The Roman slave supply |first=Walter |last=Scheidel |author-link=Walter Scheidel |publisher=[[Stanford University]]}}</ref> mostly war captives,<ref name="Scheidel"/> especially from [[Gaul]]<ref name=Joshel545560>{{Cite book |last=Joshel |first=Sandra R. |url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=ovvgg3EyTyQC|page=55}} |title=Slavery in the Roman World |date=August 6, 2010 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-0-521-53501-4}}</ref> and [[Epirus]]. Estimates of the number of slaves in the [[Roman Empire]] suggest that the majority were scattered throughout the [[Roman Province|provinces]] outside of Italy.<ref name="Scheidel"/> Generally, slaves in Italy were indigenous Italians.<ref>{{cite book |last=Santosuosso |first=Antonio |year=2001 |title=Storming the Heavens |publisher=[[Westview Press]] |isbn=978-0-8133-3523-0 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/stormingheavenss00sant_0/page/43/mode/2up |pages=43–44}}</ref> Foreigners (including both slaves and freedmen) born outside of Italy were estimated to have peaked at 5% of the total in the capital, where their number was largest. Those from outside of Europe were predominantly of Greek descent. Jewish slaves never fully assimilated into Roman society, remaining an identifiable minority. These slaves (especially the foreigners) had higher death rates and lower birth rates than natives and were sometimes subjected to mass expulsions.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Noy |first1=David |title=Foreigners at Rome: Citizens and Strangers |date=2000 |publisher=Duckworth with the Classical Press of Wales |isbn=978-0-7156-2952-9}}</ref> The average recorded age at death for the slaves in Rome was seventeen and a half years (17.2 for males; 17.9 for females).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Harper |first1=James |title=Slaves and Freedmen in Imperial Rome |date=April 1972 |journal=[[The American Journal of Philology]] |publisher=[[Johns Hopkins University Press]] |volume=93 |issue=2 |pages=341–342 |jstor=293259 |doi=10.2307/293259}}</ref>