“Modern Slavery” vs. “Slavery of the Greeks:” A Comparison and Contrast, Essay Example

According to Platt and Mathews, “Greek citizens of Hellenic times, then, were proud of their own polis, where they participated in civic functions and religious rites. However, despite the many commonalities among the Greek poleis—language, ancestry, history, and Homer—they never shared a politically united Greek world” (Platt and Mathews 66). This is an appropriate starting point in our exploration of slavery practiced in ancient Greece because it addresses one common method of becoming a slave in the Old World, through warfare. Consider Lahanas’ contention as he states:

There were many different ways in which a person could have become a slave in ancient Greece. They might have been born into slavery as the child of a slave. They might have been taken prisoner if their city was attacked in one of the many battles which took place during these times. They might have been exposed as an infant, meaning the parents abandoned their newborn baby upon a hillside or at the gates of the city to die or be claimed by a passerby. (Lahanas)

Whereas classical Greece remained in a perpetual state of warfare and expansion for their perceived survival, the society itself depended on slavery immensely. This interplay proved vital to the Greek world. In further illustration of the significance of slavery in classical Greek life, Platt and Mathews assert how “The Hellenistic economic order rested on specialized luxury crafts and professional occupations, international trade and banking, and an abundant and cheap supply of slaves. The large ports exported and imported basic agricultural commodities such as grain, olive oil, wine, and timber, exchanging them for expensive goods like pottery, silks, jewelry, and spices” (Platt and Mathews 94).

In the modern era, many practices of slavery still remain. Moreover, despite contemporary sensibilities, and notions of slavery ending with Abraham Lincoln’s 1864 Emancipation Proclamation here in the United States, chattel slavery, debt bondage, sex slavery, and forced labor are cited as prevalent forms in wide operation to the very moment of this writing (iAbolish). Upon close examination, one will find similarities between slavery of classical Greece and that practiced today throughout the world. The most consistent parallels are economic indicators binding such relationships, ethnic points of departure, and the particular and vicious impact on women and children.

The economic parallel can be seen by looking into how local exploitation, through slavery, impacts goods being sold on the world market at cheaper rates. A likened to the aforementioned Greek example of marketability of goods, consider Hernandez’ analysis of where tomatoes come from. She notes, “If it’s a Florida tomato, it may have started in the hands of a fruit-picker who gets paid 45 cents for every 32 pounds of tomatoes picked, has no overtime, and is subject to beatings, chains, sexual assault or harassment, and deplorable living conditions” (Hernandez). Moreover, the ethnic point of departure parallels as well. In the Greek example, competing and bordering city-states enslaved one another through war. Notwithstanding, so is the case in parts of northern Africa today. “Chattel slavery is typically racially-based; in the North African country of Mauritania, for example, black Africans serve the lighter-skinned Arab-Berber communities. Though slavery was legally abolished there in 1980, today 90,000 slaves continue to serve the Muslim Berber ruling class” (iAbolish). Lastly, the particular impact on women and children must be examined.

It is reported that sex slavery is a major epidemic throughout the world, usually brought on by promises of legitimate work, but results into forced prostitution (iAbolish). These occurrences are pronounced in the eastern and central parts of Europe, southwestern Asia, and, indeed, here in the United States. The case of Sara Kruzan illustrates horrific examples associated with slavery’s exploitation of women and children. As an eleven-year-old girl, Kruzan’s story is most alarming. The following excerpt of Liliana Segura’s interview with the imprisoned victim is shocking.

GG was there — sometimes, “she said.” He would talk to me and take me out and give me all these lavish gifts and do all these things for me …” Before long, he started talking to her about sex, giving her his expert advice on what men were really like and telling her that she didn’t “need o give it up for free.” Unbeknownst to her, GG was grooming Kruzan to be a prostitute. When she   was 13, he raped her. “He uses his manhood to hurt,” Kruzan recalls, “Like, break you in. I guess.” Kruzan worked for GG as a prostitute for three years. The hours were 6 p.m. until 5:30 or 6 in the morning. She and “the other girls” would come back and hand over their earnings to him. “He was, like, married to all of us I guess,” she says. ” … Everything was his.” (Segura)

This form of slavery did have consequences, however, as young Kruzan ultimately murdered her “owner.”

Whereas any comparison of contemporary and historical subject matter must take into account context of the times, it is important that the assessment under review does as well. Although economic indicators binding slave relationships, ethnic points of departure, and particular and vicious impacts on women and children are comparable, one should not lose site of the fact that slavery as an institution, unlike in Hellenistic Greece, is no longer recognized as an acceptable practice. We can be certain that slaves in the former Greece rebelled at varying levels, just as Kruzan in the latter case did. From such assessments as this, one is exposed to organizations and entities interested in eradicating modern-day slavery. Furthermore, studying the legacy of slavery in ancient Greece, as a point of reference for understanding contemporary forms, makes the meaning of both periods come alive.

Works Cited

Hernandez, Nicole. “Florida as Bloody as a Tomato.” The Florida Times Union: Jacksonville.com, 26 March 2010. Web. 1 June 2010.

iAbolish. American Anti Slavery Group, n.d. Web. 1 June 2010.

Lahanas, Michael. Slavery in Ancient Greece. n.p., n.d. Web. 2 June 2010.

Platt, Dewitt, and Roy Mathews. The Western Humanities. New York: McGraw-Hill, Print.

Segura, Liliana. “16-Year Old got Life without Parole for Killing Her Abusive Pimp—

Should Teens Be Condemned to Die?” AlterNet, 31 Oct. 2009. Web. 1 June 2010. .