Everyone knows that slavery is a system of relationships in society when one person has the right to own other people. However, not everyone knows that there are various types of this phenomenon. For example, patriarchal and classical slavery. Each of the species has its own conceptual differences. Let's find out how classical slavery differs from patriarchal slavery, and find out the essence of these concepts.
Definition of slavery
We need to understand what this term means as a whole, before we move on to the nuances that distinguish between classical and patriarchal slavery. We will try to give the definition of the concept as broadly as possible.
As mentioned above, slavery is the most severe form of subordination of one person to another when he passes into private property to a person called a slave owner. However, there were state forms of slavery. By and large, the legal status of slaves even in this case remains unchanged. Only the owner of the slave is not a man, but the state. But state power is often also represented by a separate person: the king, the emperor or another ruler. A similar form of slavery flourished in the Ancient East.
Position of marxism
According to the class theory of Karl Marx, slavery is the very first form of exploitation of one person by another. In fact, the slave was a means of production. It was production relations, based on the exploitation by the owners of slaves, that served as the fundamental basis of the slave system, which dominated the world until the middle of the first century AD.
Although at present the economic theory of Marx is criticized by many scholars, nevertheless most of them agree that the concept of slavery in the author of "Capital" is revealed quite accurately and thoroughly.
Sources of Slavery
There are a number of sources through which a stream of slaves went to the slave owners. The most common ones include:
- war
- piracy;
- debt slavery;
- selling themselves or family members into slavery;
- the transformation of free peasants into state slaves;
- birth in slavery.
A detailed description of the ways of conversion of free slaves
Wars are probably the source of slavery that arose before the rest. However, prisoners of war turned into slaves throughout the history of the Ancient World, and also partly in the Middle Ages and even in the New Age. Wars between different tribes took place even before the advent of statehood. At first, the prisoners were simply killed, because when they were used as labor, at best, one could hope that they could only feed themselves. But when the process of land production and cultivation reached a new technical level, the conditions were created for creating a surplus product, and, therefore, the prerequisites for the exploitation of one person by another. Although slavery received significant development only after the formation of states and the creation of a powerful coercive apparatus that could control slaves and suppress rebellions.
Piracy and kidnapping are also one of the first sources of slavery. However, in some regions of the world this form of conversion of free people into slaves exists to this day.
Debt slavery arose already during the existence of states. If a person could not pay for his obligations, then he and his family turned into slaves. The control over this process was entrusted to the state.
There have also been cases when a person was not able to feed himself or his family. Thus, he was forced to voluntarily sell himself into captivity. He could do this with any member of the family in which he was the head. Patriarchal slavery is precisely the completely dependent state of all family members on its head.
Also, the state could legislatively turn free peasants into slaves. Especially common was this form of slavery in the Ancient East.
The origin of patriarchal slavery
The patriarchal form of slavery, according to historians, originated in the Ancient East. It was there, on the lands of the so-called Fertile Crescent, for the first time that conditions were formed for the production of surplus product, and hence for the development of the slave-owning form of exploitation.
Patriarchal slavery is a form of slavery in which a slave lived with his eligible family. He performed the most complex and difficult work, and in some regions he worked on an equal basis with everyone. There were even cases when such a person was accepted into the bosom of the family. The full ownership of the slave belonged to the head of the family, who in later sources is called the patriarch, which from ancient Greek translates as “father’s authority”. Hence the term "patriarchal slavery."
But do not forget that patriarchal slavery is also the complete dependence of children on their father. Legally, the patriarch had the same power over his own children as over slaves. He could force them to do various work, sell and even kill. The power of the father over children in the patriarchal family is most clearly demonstrated in one of the books of the Bible, which tells how Abraham was going to sacrifice his son Isaac. However, in most cases, the attitude of parents to children was, of course, milder than towards slaves, but at the same time there were separate cases of selling into slavery and even killing their own offspring.
Further development of slavery in the Ancient East
With the emergence of states in the Ancient East, in particular, between the Euphrates and the Tigris, and also in Egypt, prerequisites were created for the further development and strengthening of slavery. The state apparatus helped the slave owners control slaves and suppress their revolts, which contributed to an even more severe form of exploitation of dependent people.
However, the state itself in the person of the king turned into the largest slave owner. It turned into slaves thousands until then free peasants, as well as prisoners of war. Especially vividly a similar form of slavery was manifested in Babylon. The king of this state, Hammurabi, legislated the position of slaves, including state ones, and established penalties for disobedience.
However, patriarchal slavery in Babylon was also quite common and did not cease to play a significant, if not leading, role in the economy of the state until its fall. Although in a much later period, this form of slavery was widespread in the East, and in some regions it actually exists to this day.
The classic form of slavery
Classical slavery in its traditional form arose much later than the patriarchal in Ancient Greece, but reached the greatest development in the Ancient Roman state. This form of exploitation was even more stringent. According to the concept of slavery in ancient Rome, the slave was considered just a talking thing, while in the East he was, although lower, but still almost a member of the family.
In addition, it should be noted that the work of slaves in ancient Rome was the basis of the economy of the state. At the same time, in the East, slavery, although it played a significant role in creating the product, was inferior in this respect to the labor of peasants. Ancient Rome is known for its latifundia - estates in which thousands of dependent people worked. Therefore, it is not surprising that the slave owner often even in person could not know their own slaves and, accordingly, absolutely did not have any feelings for them.
But patriarchal slavery in Rome existed only at the initial stage of the emergence of the state. Later it was completely supplanted by the so-called classic.
The main differences between forms of slavery
So, to summarize all of the above, we can conclude that patriarchal slavery is still a milder form of exploitation than classical. If in the first case slavery was only an additional mode of production, then in the era of classical slavery it became the main driving mechanism of the economy.
Currently, all forms of slavery are considered illegal and economically ineffective.