tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2999204568891913461.post7518409619664058641..comments2023-10-21T02:22:31.743-07:00Comments on Roman History Made Easy: Roman Slavery - the mindsetAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03948445747512778607noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2999204568891913461.post-65870384617792116452013-01-17T15:22:24.605-08:002013-01-17T15:22:24.605-08:00Hmmmm...there was probably a bit of divide between...Hmmmm...there was probably a bit of divide between urban and rural slaves, with each group having different advantages and disadvantages - but the big slave revolts were driven by circumstances as much as they were by geography. The first Sicilian revolt came just ten years after the conquest of Carthage and Greece, so at the time there were plenty of disaffected army-hardened Punics and Greeks who were young enough to fight - and were gathered in large enough numbers on the big 'plantation' style farms to form into cohesive groups - something that indeed was next to impossible in a city. The Sicilian revolts were also isolated from the big Italian cities - so there wasn't really an opportunity for urban slaves to join them anyway. Spartacus came a little latter, this time with more recently captured Gauls and Pontics - many of his fellow gladiators and runaway slaves would have had military experience from the Mithridic wars. His initial power base was also very close to Capua, the second largest in Italy - lots of urban runaways would have come from there, and plenty would have come from Rome. <br /><br />Still, at a guess, I'd imagine most Romans would have preferred their household staff to lack military experience so it's probable a greater percentage of farm slaves were captured combatants than those found in the suburbs...so that may have been part of the problem at the time. However, by the 1st-century AD the big slave revolts more or less became history - the lack of foriegn wars produced less military-experienced slaves and the manner of slave aquisitions in peace time probably produced a lot more slaves who just wanted to do their time and become a Roman citizen. That's my take on it anyway. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03948445747512778607noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2999204568891913461.post-75094746236520850972013-01-17T04:53:59.984-08:002013-01-17T04:53:59.984-08:00To what extent do you think there was a divide bet...To what extent do you think there was a divide between urban and rural slavery, given that the large scale slave revolts we know about in Sicily and under Spartacus were largely drawn from slaves working the land? Simon Joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06798733767120473569noreply@blogger.com