User:Aaronshneider/sandbox

Literary Distinctions between Ancient Greek and Roman Slavery

Depictions of Slavery in Ancient Greece

Depictions of Slavery in Ancient Athenian Tragedy

One of the main staples of ancient Athenian literature are the surviving tragic plays which highlight the adversity and ultimate failure of Athen's heroes. The goal of Athenian tragedies was to embody the struggles of humankind through showcasing a display of a revered protagonist's misfortunes and struggles, making it clear that even heroes in high places are eternally susceptible to human flaws and errors. Perhaps the most celebrated example of this genre is Oedipus Rex, written by the legendary Athenian playwright Sophocles. In the story, Oedipus, the wise king of Thebes, who was clever enough to outwit the Sphinx itself, cannot see past his own willful ignorance of his past misdeeds. The Theban king, caring deeply for his people, goes on a desperate search for the murderer of his predecessor, king Laius, at the behest of the Oracle at Delphi. The play resolves with king Oedipus discovering that he was the murderer of his father all along, having unwittingly married his mother after the fact. Oedipus, the wise king that could not see, tears out his eyes and begs for exile, now the rubble of a once great man. Such is the general tenor of Athenian tragedy, where the imperfection and moral corruption of fallen and disgraced heroes are made clear for all to see.

It is precisely for this reason, however, that slave characters are featured relatively infrequently in Athenian tragedies. If the role of the protagonist and main characters were to be reserved for those deemed societally important and noble, it would simply be counterintuitive to fill the roster with slaves. This tendency reflected the general Athenian mindset that slaves, while not wholly unimportant to the proper function of society, marked the lowest tier of the cultural hierarchy. Therefore, playwrights like Aeschylus and Sophocles, celebrated for their constant dedication to presenting an idealized set of larger-than-life characters, would typically exclude slave characters from their tragedies.

Euripides, however, a tragedian famous for his attempt make his plays more relatable by presenting more realistic scenarios and characters, included several slaves in a few of his productions. One particularly noteworthy instance in which Euripides employed slaves within his tragedies was in the production of Hippolytus. One particularly interesting facet of this play is Euripides's use of two choruses, one of the local women from Troezen and another of Hippolytus's own slaves. This is particularly insightful, as the typical purpose of the chorus was to orient the audience without drawing too much of its attention away from the action of the play. Since Euripides was inclined to include more realistic scenarios, characters, and settings into his stagecraft, it stands to reason that he would have attempted to fill his choruses with the most overlooked members of Athenian society, slaves and women. Also, in addition to his choruses, Euripides included individual slave characters within the story. One such example, despite remaining nameless throughout the entirety of the play, is Hippolytus's slave, who warns his master of the potential consequences of selectively worshipping and ignoring certain gods.

The play Hippolytus begins with the protagonist, after whom the play is named, Theseus, choosing to revere Artemis, the goddess of the hunt, while consciously ignoring the goddess of love, Aphrodite. Hippolytus, having chosen a life of chastity, resents Aphrodite for her domain of passion and lust. Although his slave warns him against slighting the powerful deity, Hippolytus remains unfazed, leaving his slave to worship the goddess of love alone while instead attending to the idol of Artemis. This disregard for the Olympian goddess inspires her spiteful rage, as she hatches a plan to revenge herself upon Hippolytus by using her powers to make Phaedra fall in love with the protagonist. Phaedra, cursed by Aphrodite, begins to starve herself in an attempt at suicide rather than give into her lust for her son-in-law. After struggling with her emotions and her laborious hunger strike, Phaedra finally informs her nurse of her crisis. Unfortunately for Phaedra, however, the nurse, in a good-natured attempt to help, tries to convince Hippolytus to sleep with his mother-in-law, thus relieving her urges. Hippolytus, sworn to chastity, reacts in disgust, and Phaedra, now hopeless, hangs herself after swearing the chorus of Troezenian women to secrecy. When Theseus makes his return in the aftermath of his wife's suicide, he discovers her note accusing his son of raping her and triggering her reaction. The grief-stricken husband curses his son to exile, completely convinced by Phaedra's note. The play ends with Hippolytus dying as a result of his banishment and Theseus being informed too late by Artemis of his son's innocence. A chorus of Hippolytus's slaves chants a sorrowful farewell to Hippolytus, claiming that citizens will cry floods for the tragedy of the hero.

While slave characters still comprise a minor presence in the play, their respective roles within the narrative still inform the audience of the functions slaves played in ancient Athenian society. For example, Hippolytus's slave remaining nameless indicates to the viewers the lack of attention society paid to slaves in everyday life. Euripides, while including the presence of slaves in his work, never provided them any definition. Slave characters, faceless and unnamed, seem to be completely interchangeable within the context of the story. It barely matters which slave, in particular, warns Hippolytus about spiting Aphrodite, as long as the foreshadow is present within the narrative. Also, this idea is reinforced with the second chorus, as their only function is to lament the tragic fate of their master. Euripides, in this sense, only ever illustrates slave characters as extensions of their master, with their entire existence being predicated around the needs of their owners.

Depictions of Slavery in Ancient Athenian Comedy

Some major differences between the ancient Greek and Roman institutions of slavery can be interpreted from their depictions in literature. These accounts of Roman and Greek citizens can be used as reasonable primary sources, therefore giving their audience a first-person account of slavery in their respective times. Unfortunately, due to a lack of preservation, many of the sources which would have given scholar's insightful evidence are unrecoverable. Many of the remaining evidence about ancient Athenian society comes from their comedies, most notably written by legendary playwright Aristophanes.

Aristophanes's comedies often make light of slavery in ancient Athenian society. Many of his plays heavily feature characters which are slaves, demonstrating their humorous interactions with their masters. While these accounts may not be the most accurate, they still, much due Aristophanes's norm-breaking comedic style, demonstrate cultural standards in regards to the relationship between masters and slaves.

One comedy in which such norms are demonstrated is Aristophanes's Clouds, where the protagonist Strepsiades is shown interacting with his slave. Strepsiades, shown to have very little control over his affairs, is depicted as a somewhat powerless, rustic characterization of a more traditional Athenian generation. Deep in debt and burdened by a disobedient, shopaholic, and useless son, Pheidippides, Aristophanes makes it clear that Strepsiades lacks authority within his household. Strepsiades's relationship with his slave confirms this narrative, as his slave is demonstrated to be disobedient and disrespectful towards his master. In his first monologue, Strepsiades notes how his slaves are oversleeping and later, when he moves to reprimand his slave, the slave runs away, abandoning Strepsiades. Strepsiades's lack of control over his slaves is interpreted by the audience sign of weakness, implying that a strong Athenian man would have unrelenting authority over his slaves and affairs.

Another depiction of slavery by Aristophanes comes in his play Frogs, where the main character, the Greek god Dionysus, goes on a quest with his slave, Xanthias, to recover a legendary Athenian tragedian. The relationship between Dionysus and Xanthias, however, is much more developed than any other of Aristophanes's master/slave relationships. Xanthias's character is used by Aristophanes to be a comedic foil to Dionysus. Similar to Clouds, however, Aristophanes plays up Xanthias's antics in order to demonstrate Dionysus's weakness and cowardice. This, perhaps, is made most clear when Dionysus, dressed up as Heracles, is constantly confronted by people angry at the Greek hero. Mistaking Dionysus for Heracles, they repeatedly threaten him, but when the cowardly Dionysus exchanges Heracles's clothes with his slave to save his own skin, the slave is instead greeted by enticing women who invite him to feasts. This process repeats itself multiple times, hammering home the conclusion that the slave Xanthias is much more of a man than Dionysus, the god. Aristophanes, however, does include certain Greek norms pertaining to the role of slaves in his play, most notably when Xanthias wasn't allowed on Charon's boat, instead having to walk across around the lake.

Aristophanes is known as a comic who draws humor from inverting societal norms and turning the status quo on its head. His depiction of slaves in his poetic work is a good example of such comedy, as Aristophanes uses the contrast between the slave and master characters to highlight the shortcomings of his protagonist. If Dionysus were Heracles, Xanthias would not dare talk back to his master, and if Strepsiades was more of a man, his affairs would not be so out of order. If anything, the cheery back-and-forth shown between Dionysus and Xanthias in the text would be nearly nonexistent in Athens. The opposite relationship is more realistic, one of unyielding servitude with fierce consequences for disloyalty.

Depictions of Slavery in the Roman Republic and Empire

Depictions of Slavery in Roman Comedy

One classical counterpart to Aristophanes was the Roman comic Plautus. Plautus, like Aristophanes, often utilized slaves in his comedies to act as a foil for his protagonists. One of Plautus's most common tropes when incorporating slaves into his comedies was to have the master rely upon the help of his clever slave in order to escape a sticky situation. Though the slaves in these situations displayed loyalty to their masters by helping them out of their trouble, they also displayed playful insolence towards their masters, often forcing them to beg for help before agreeing to intervene.

One such play in which Plautus demonstrates the “clever slave” motif is in the Pseudolus. In this Roman comedy, Calidorus beseeches his slave, Pseudolus, to assist him in freeing his lover, a prostitute. Phonecium, Calidorus's lover, has been sold by her pimp, and Calidorus, having no money of his own, is forced to utilize the craftiness of his slave. Pseudolus, however, also demonstrates a degree of self-interest, making a bet with his master Simo, Calidorus's father, over his ability to retrieve Phonecium. After successfully rescuing the girl by disguising himself as Harpax, the slave of her new master, Pseudolus boasts triumphantly of his successes to Simo. At the end of the play, Pseudolus successfully invites his master out for a drink, having to convince Simo that it isn't a trick before his master agrees to come.

The motivations for the trope of the “clever slave” are still unclear. Several interpretations claim that this representation of the master/slave relationship pays a certain homage to the slave character, demonstrating that such individuals are far from worthless despite their station in the household. By refusing to accept his master's conception of the familial hierarchy, Pseudolus was shown to have transcended the authority of Simo. Also, it would have been funny for Romans of the time to be amused by the debauchery of characters which would not have been capable of such feats in real life. Perhaps a more accurate depiction of Roman slavery was described by a different role in the play, the minor character of Ballio's slave boy hopelessly searching for a present to give to his master. The boy tells the audience that torture awaits him if he fails to give his master a present by the end of the day, but such a feat is impossible as the slave boy has no money. Though there is a stark difference in the presentation between this slave boy and Pseudolus, both describe the norms of the same institution. While Pseudolus is a loyal slave, he would be in no position to scheme against his masters for his personal amusement, as such behavior would have gotten him punished under the watch of a vigilant model Roman citizen. Ballio's slave boy, while not as humorous, provides a more realistic interpretation of slavery in these times.

Other uses of the "clever slave" trope in Plautus's writing is the slave Tranio from the Mostellaria. Tranio helps his master, Philolaches, avoid his father's wrath, as he had taken out a massive loan to free his slave lover. Tranio hides the couple in the house while spinning a web of trickery for both Theuropides, the father, and the banker who loaned Philolaches the money. Tranio misdirects Theuropides by insisting that he avoid the house due to an ancient crime that has been committed there. Then, to explain away the banker asking for his money, Tranio makes his master believe that Philolaches bought a house with the money. Although the ruse ultimately fails, one of Philolaches's friends agrees to pay off the debt, sparing Tranio from punishment.

According to certain interpretations, along with the one shared by Professor Kathleen Mccarthy, author of Slaves, Masters, and the Art of Authority in Plautine Comedy, Tranio combines traits of both the "good slave" and the "bad slave". While Tranio was fiercely loyal to Philolaches, demonstrating aspects of a good, obedient slaves, he was forced into a corner. In order to protect Philolaches, Tranio had to be mischevious, tricking Theuropides multiple times in the process. These situations provide for rich comedic material because the "good slave" must become the scheming "bad slave" for the good of his master. Other interpretations, such as the one described in Women and Slaves in Greco-Roman Culture, suggest that the humor of the slave characters in Plautus's comedies relies on the audience's subconscious awareness of social roles. The slave characters, motivated towards malevolence due to their low social standing, become tricksters who attempt to manipulate individuals with power, elevating themselves above their masters. This, the author insists, generates hilarity through a classic case of role reversal, which is a regular staple of Plautus's plays.

Certain sources insist that Plautus's persistent inclusion of slaves in his texts directly corresponded to the vast increase of the Roman slave trade which took place during his lifetime. While early Roman slavery mostly consisted of masses from the Italian peninsula, the expansion of the Roman Republic immensely diversified their origins. This brought with it an influx of Greek slaves from the East, specifically sought out for their high intellect. Greek slaves, imported to groom and refine the education of Roman nobility, became more ingrained and represented in Roman literature as they increased in number. In fact, Plautus's depiction of the trickster slave likely stems from Roman wariness of these new Greeks, as their intelligence gave them the capacity to manipulate Roman citizens. Plautus, in many ways, painted the fears of average Roman citizens by characterizing his slave characters to have the treacherous tendency of deception, although his portrayal of many of these slaves as protagonists also hints at a certain appreciation of these newcomers. Despite these concerns, however, the apparent fondness for slave characters in Roman comedies stems from the Republic's social mobility. Although it was rare for slaves in Greek city-states to gain their freedom, in Rome this was a standard occurrence. Therefore, while Plautus creates humor through mocking slave characters, it was societally understood that such characters had a decent chance of future freedom. Thus, although the slave characters represent the lowest among the Romans, it was widely acknowledged that slaves had the opportunity to turn their lives around. It was even fairly common for Roman slaves to become full-fledged citizens.

Other Depictions of Slavery in Roman Literature

There were several sources of Roman literature, however, in which slaves were the celebrated protagonists. One such story which reshaped Roman culture and its attitude towards slavery was that of Spartacus. Spartacus, whose exploits were documented by the great historiographer Plutarch in his work The Life of Crassus, was a Thracian-born gladiator who led his comrades in a revolt against the Republic. After escaping Lentulus Batiatus's gladiatorial school in Capua, the gladiators, led by Spartacus, proceeded to rout the Roman military in several battles, massively outnumbered every time. After defeating several Roman praetors and their many legions, the Roman senate finally ordered the general Crassus to deal with the revolting force. The conflict between Crassus and Spartacus consisted of several battles, with both commanders attempting to outwit the other. Crassus, building a sizable wall around Spartacus's forces, began to drain the rebels of their provisions and supplies. By this point, however, Pompey, the legendary Roman general, had already announced his intentions of coming to Crassus's aid. Crassus, desperately attempting to retain sole credit for the defeat of Spartacus, dispatched the entirety of his forces, which finally cut the rebel down after a long and bloody battle.

The story of Spartacus revolutionized the Roman conception of slaves, as it was previously uncommon to associate model behavior and noble deeds with the lowest members of the societal hierarchy. The legendary story of Spartacus, however, challenged the traditional Roman motif of the slave. Although the Roman military was perhaps the most sophisticated and intimidating fighting force in the world at the time, a group of haphazardly trained gladiators was able to hold its own in one of the biggest revolts in the Republic's history. Furthermore, Plutarch describes Spartacus as being both honorable and highly intelligent, capable of outflanking and outthinking several military commanders before finally losing to Crassus. While it was not out of the norm for slaves to possess education and intelligence, as such slaves were used to groom Roman nobility for leadership, it was a rarity for gladiators to be so resourceful. In short, Romans, while being oriented with both brave slaves and smart slaves, were fundamentally unprepared for slaves which combined those qualities. This is because the Romans specialized their slave trade, seeking certain cultural qualities from a certain region's slaves. Greek slaves, for example, were sought out for their education. In fact, while Spartacus was a Thracian, a people commonly used as gladiators by the Romans, Plutarch insists that he possessed many Greek qualities. This may be Plutarch's method of explaining Spartacus's combination of intellect and fighting ability.

--Peer Review-- Hi Aaronshneider! You have a great start here. To bulk up your information and find more research you could check out the book "Women and Slaves in Greco-Roman Culture" by Sandra R. Joshel and Sheila Murnaghan. I used this for some of my research and found there to be a lot of information that could be relevant and useful for your submission and further research. Also you could definitely mention Spartacus and include a link to his page that already exists on Wikipedia. This could then evolve into information regarding slave uprisings and discontent. Other than that, great work! ~~jennyhaley96