The Roman Supply of Slavery
The institution of slavery was arguably the definitive hallmark of ancient Roman society. In this sense, it helps to shed light on the academic and literary sources suggesting the heterogeneous sources of slavery in the Roman Empire.
First of all, there were several instances of human enslavement and bondage in which hundreds of thousands of people(if not more, at times) were kept as prisoners of war. For example, during the Second Punic War (218–202 BCE) anywhere from 172,000–186,000 persons were captured. Over the course of a single raid on Epirus in 167 BCE, 150,000 people were got hold off.
Following the Republican period, the records show themselves to be less meticulous in their calculation of captured slaves: of course giving heed to shaky conjecture in estimations and factual embellishment across the board, it is worth pointing out that so-called “round” numbers (1000; 10,000; 50,000; 100,000 etc.) preponderate in imperial historiography, which is indicative of less overall accuracy, great exaggeration and, at a more general level, poor numeracy for the population at large, including some well to-do elites.
It is suggested that Julius Caesar (100 BCE–44 BCE) disclosed the enslavement of close to a million Celts during his campaign in Gaul, overwhelmingly inflating the already well-established precedent of supplying Celtic slaves to Rome, given that the estimation is trustworthy.
Even the invasion of Dacia in 106/105 CE under the watch of Trajan presumably subjugated a putative stock of 500,000 slaves, which sounds rahter implausible.
The causes of this generalized enslavement process? Neglected theaters of war in Spain and Northern Italy etc.; the enslavement of the Cimbri and the Teutones under Mariuss’ lead; the Mithridatic Wars; the Jewish Wars; various other conflicts, you name it!
However, although the Romans made great strides in their war-driven enslavement project throughout the Mediterranean and its hinterlands going on for an entire millennium, it was by no means curtailed to that avenue alone.
There’s been a long-standing debate in the academic community of ancient history centering around the sources of slavery: was it mainly due to natural reproduction among the slaves themselves (up to 70–80% of the overall supply, as is claimed), or are there other causes, such as continued war bondage, the enslavement of street orphans, debt slavery, etc.?
The eminent scholar Walter Scheidel avers that, as time progressed and the slave segment of the Roman population grew ever larger, natural reproduction came to taper off the significance of war captives’ contribution to the slave supply.
Suffice to say, even the inhabitants of the empire itself weren’t left unscathed, save their neighbours through the heavily militarized and commercialized slave trade.
References:
“Vespasian and the Slave Trade” by A.B. Bosworth, UWA (2002)
“The Roman Slave Supply” by Walter Scheidel, Princeton University (2007)
