paved the way for the emergence of large settlements, has
been attributed to the agricultural revolution that took place
on the continent some 200,000 years ago. Slavery in ancient
Africa is akin to that in other parts of the world: It involved
physical, emotional, and psychological containment. By and
large, the master of a slave had the power of life and death
over the slave. A slave, like chattel, could be sold and bought
by someone who occupied a privileged position in the pre-
vailing power confi guration.
It is important to diff erentiate between slavery and other
forms of servitude. In Africa pawnship was a form of subor-
dination that diff ered from slavery. A person could be pawn
as a collateral security for debt. People could surrender them-
selves to pawnship because of the need to raise money for
marriage, a funeral, or another purpose that required a lot of
money. A pawn was most likely a member of the community
where he or she served, but a slave in most cases was brought
from another community. While slaves were not likely to be
free throughout their lifetime and their masters could enslave
their children, a pawn was automatically free aft er rendering
the services equivalent to the debt owned. A master could not
exercise any form of control over the relatives of a pawn. A
master did not have the power of life and death over a pawn
but could kill a slave at will.
Th e condition of a slave was degrading; a slave could be
asked to perform any type of labor, and the most unpalat-
able works were reserved for slaves. A Yoruba proverb from
West Africa that highlights the diff erence between slavery
and pawnship is Ohun t’o ni oun o so ni d’eru, bio ba so, ni
d’ iwofa, ki a dupe, meaning, “If what threatens to make us a
slave makes us a pawn, we should be thankful.” Only in rare
instances did slaves manage to remove the yoke of domina-
tion and rise to important positions. Royal slaves in some
communities, such as the western Sudanese region of West
Africa, were said to have been able to gain freedom, inherit
the property of their dead masters, and emerge as prominent
members of the place were they had previously served as non-
entities. Aside from this exceptional situation, former slaves
could not remove the stigma of being formally enslaved.
Th ere were many sources for slaves in ancient Af-
rica. People accused of antisocial behavior, such as mur-
der, thievery, and witchcraft , were sold into slavery. Wars,
kidnapping, and raids also produced slaves as part of the
booty. Th ere is limited evidence, however, to suggest that
wars were fought for the sole purpose of acquiring slaves.
Although a trans-Saharan slave trade had already existed,
the act of waging wars primarily for the purpose of enslave-
ment came largely through the advent of the trans-Atlantic
slave trade, which did not begin until the second decade of
the 16th century.
Ancient Africa was predominantly agrarian, and the
use of slaves for agricultural purposes was important. Slaves
could also be part of tributes that a subordinate state paid
to an overlord. Aristocratic families had slaves, and slaves in
some palaces were eunuchs (castrated men) who watched overthe large harem of royal wives. Others performed domestic
functions associated with royalty. A master had control over
a slave’s sexual relations and reproduction. Th is implies that
a slave could not get married without the knowledge of his or
her master. Unsanctioned copulation among slaves carried a
serious degree of punishment. A male slave master could use
his slaves as concubines, which partly explains why female
slaves were more expensive or highly priced than their male
counterparts. Th e off spring produced from such a union be-
came free upon birth, and the status of the mother improved
considerably compared with others who did not have chil-
dren for their masters.
Slaves could serve religious functions. Th ere is much
evidence that slaves were killed and used as off erings during
periodic sacrifi ces to the gods. In fact, in most parts of Af-
rica slaves of diff erent ethnic groups were traditionally used
to appease the gods and goddess. Th ere is an important con-
nection between this aspect of the religious use of slaves and
African belief in life aft er death. Th e oral history of people of
Africa is replete with references to how slaves were killed and
buried with kings and important rulers. According to one
belief, dead kings entered another realm, where they lived
and communed with the gods and ancestors. In this realm or
world they would need the services of domestic servants.EGYPT
BY MARIAM F. AYAD
In its most basic defi nition, slavery implies a loss of freedom,
regardless of the degree or nature of this loss. Th ere is little
doubt that in ancient Egypt certain groups of people enjoyed
less freedom than others. Egyptian slavery, however, was
very diff erent from forms of slavery experienced centuries
later in Europe and North America. In Egyptian there are no
words for slave or slavery. Th e word sometimes translated as
“slave,” hem, was also used to indicate “servant.” Th us, the
Egyptian word for “priest,” hem-netjer can be translated as
either a “god’s servant” or a “god’s slave.” Inherently, the word
hem did not necessarily indicate servitude. It was used, for
example, to refer to the king of Egypt. Hem-ef, traditionally
translated as “his majesty,” may also be rendered as “his in-
carnation” or “his body.”
Meret, a collective noun, is another term that may refer
to a group of people without complete freedom, in particu-
lar, agricultural workers who could be owned by individuals
or temple estates. Mostly found in legal and administrative
documents, the term meret is closely linked with the transfer
of property, especially land and cattle, from one owner to an-
other. Like other kinds of property, people who were consid-
ered meret could be passed down from father to son as part of
an individual’s inheritance. Meret may have referred to serfs,
a special kind of conscripted workforce.
Th ere were several diff erent sources of slaves in ancient
Egypt. War and conquest was the principal and oldest way to
acquire slaves. Some information about enslaved prisoners of986 slaves and slavery: Egypt0895-1194_Soc&Culturev4(s-z).i986 986 10/10/07 2:30:40 PM