WORLD HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -How did someone become a slave? Most slaves were people captured in times of war. As the Roman Empire expanded, they often captured slaves from new lands they conquered. Other slaves were bought from slave traders and pirates who captured people from foreign lands and brought them to Rome.

Detailed explanation-2: -In Ancient Egypt, slaves were mainly obtained through prisoners of war. Other ways people could become slaves was by inheriting the status from their parents. One could also become a slave on account of his inability to pay his debts. Slavery was the direct result of poverty.

Detailed explanation-3: -Roman slavery was not based on ideas of race. Slaves were drawn from all over Europe and the Mediterranean, including Gaul, Hispania, North Africa, Syria, Germany, Britannia, the Balkans, Greece, etc.

Detailed explanation-4: -The Romans had various sources of slaves-war, birth, piracy, and the long distance trade from outside the empire. Of these, war, the enslavement of Rome’s defeated enemies, was one of the most important. The commanding general determined the fate of war captives, whom the Romans considered part of the plunder.

Detailed explanation-5: -Ancient Rome threw prisoners into the Colosseum to die in staged battles or be eaten by wild animals. Brutality was the norm through the Dark Ages, when the Crusaders butchered 2, 500 Muslim prisoners at the siege of the Palestinian port of Acra in 1105.