The actor John Cleese has been wondering if we should destroy Greek statues because Greeks believed ‘a cultured society was only possible if it was based on slavery’. That was not a Greek belief, but might the existence of ancient slavery suggest that their statues deserve to be knocked down anyway?
Two points: first, the ancient world was one in which there were laws, but no concept of human rights, or of the sanctity of life; second, slavery was simply a universal fact of life, rather like hunting. Anyone could be enslaved at any time — captured in war or by pirates at sea — and many were born into it: all were the automatic private property of their owners. Few people thought twice about it.
Everyone who was anyone had slaves. Indeed, slaves who served their masters well and were freed — very common in Roman times, not in Greek — did not hesitate to buy slaves themselves.
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