From Antiquity to the Seventeenth Century
Human slavery has been a feature of many different civilisations, from ancient times to the present day, providing one of the abhorrent mechanisms by which the unequal distribution of wealth and the demand for labour is resolved across the earth’s surface. Early Athenian society was notably reliant upon the labour of slaves and whilst slavery for Athenians was abolished by Solon in 594 BCE the practice of enslaving the people of other races continued throughout antiquity. Slaves comprised about one third of the population in the fifth to third centuries BCE and their lack of freedom and poor remuneration enabled the leisured Athenian elite to philosophise about the arts, democracy and liberty. Athenian slavey was mainly ended by Lycurgus after
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Citation: Pagnoulle, Christine. "Slavery, Slave Trade, The Triangular Trade". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 11 March 2005; last revised 29 April 2005. [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1020, accessed 25 November 2024.]
