Slavery in the Venetian republic - From slave trade to life of a slave in the Venetian republic

Introduction

Slaves were degraded to the status of res or thing. To be listed alongside beasts in personal accounts and law records was to become not just a thing but sub-human. On the other side, Venetians' as well were degraded as they revealed their more base behaviors. Slaves could be beaten, branded, hung by their hair, and maimed for the smallest mistake, be it theirs or happenstance. Venetians' displayed the disfigurements of their deformed slaves or dwarfs. Not all masters were so vicious, yet there was little to save a slave if he were. Monetary worth protected him or her from a cruel master. This behavior surely debased the slave owners as well as the slave. This is to some degree a modern projection on an ancient society, but even Seneca states that Venetians' punish for absurd reasons. The effect of the degrading view of slaves does not end with morality. When one looks down upon the person, he or she looks down upon the position that person holds. No proper free man would want a job that he viewed as only fit for a slave. In this way, the Venetians' became dependent upon slaves to do the jobs that they would not do.

Those wageworkers who would even do the job would demand a compensationally higher wage; surely more than it would have cost to have a slave perform it in the first place. With a lack of experience in these occupations, Venetians would lose the skills to accomplish the tasks, thus becoming more dependent on slave labor (Taylor). During the late Republic and early Empire, the Venetians grew accustomed to luxury and this led to further dependence upon slaves as their laziness increased. Though the extravagance of Trimalchio's dinner party is satire, it is a distortion of behaviors and attitudes that were present in Venice. There was little a wealthy Venetian had to do for him or herself if he had the capital to buy someone to do it for him. This dependence upon slaves between the second century BC and the second century AD showed itself in the use of slaves in all the areas of Venetian life. In agriculture, they provided the manual labor as well as the organization and leadership.

Discussion

This provided Venice with a certain amount of food and economy. Slaves became even more important in later Venice, as the rich pushed the rural poor off their lands into the city, where they would eventually lose their skill for agricultural work. During this period, slaves worked the factories, again as both the physical labor and the administration, which supplied Venice with products and economy (Muhammad). They were also the proverbial grease that lubricated the trade of Venice. They brought in the much needed grain and supplies and the much sought after luxury items from the rest of the world. Slaves ran many of the shops and services that kept ...