works projects, which list the status of the laborers, provide
ample evidence for this. Household slaves were generally bet-
ter off than those who worked in the fi elds, and their duties
could include child care and education. Th e loyal household
servant became a common character on the dramatic stage.
Buying a living human being was not very expensive: in-
scriptional evidence from the late fi ft h century b.c.e. shows
prices below 100 drachmas (perhaps three months’ wages
for a semiskilled worker), so slave owning was widespread.
Th e slave population in Athens is estimated to have been at
a third of the total inhabitants of the city, perhaps 100,000
in the late fi ft h century b.c.e.; even states with less developed
industry must still have had a large percentage of slaves. Th e
absence of large-scale slave revolts is perhaps a consequence
of the ethnic diversity of the slave population. Revolts were
more likely when large numbers of slaves shared a common
language and culture, as the major slave revolts in the Roman
world and the Helot rebellions in Sparta made clear. While
organized resistance was rare, running away was not: some
20,000 Athenian slaves escaped during the chaos caused by
the Spartan capture of Dhekélia. Many of those who escapedwere said to have been skilled craft smen who would presum-
ably have sought employment elsewhere as freemen. Profes-
sional slave catchers were as much a part of the slave economy
as were slave traders.
It was possible for Greek slaves to obtain their freedom,
t hou g h t h i s wa s not ne a rly a s com mon a s i n t he Roma n world.
In some cases slaves were freed in their owners’ wills, and
in others they were able to purchase their freedom; typically
they were denied citizenship and would have a status equiva-
lent to that of other free noncitizens. Th e case of Pasion, an
extremely wealthy freed slave and banker of the fourth cen-
tury b.c.e. who was granted Athenian citizenship because of
his generosity to the city, was exceptional, as was the granting
of freedom to slaves who fought on behalf of Athens in the
battle of Arginusae.
Th e intellectual revolution of the late fi ft h century b.c.e.
brought the institution of slavery into question for the fi rst
time. Aristotle’s defense of slavery can be seen as a response
to these issues: He refers to slaves as “animate tools” and ar-
gues that some people are by nature suited to slavery, which
runs counter to the usual Greek perception that anyone couldApollo (left ), a Scythian slave (middle), and the satyr Marsyas (Alison Frantz Photographic Collection, American School of Classical Studies at Athens)992 slaves and slavery: Greece0895-1194_Soc&Culturev4(s-z).i992 992 10/10/07 2:30:41 PM