The Slaves
The Slaves
| Slavery always had a secondary function in the Egyptian economy. The
serving labour began only from the new reign, that is when the
pharaohs’
military campaigns in Nubia and in Asia led in Egypt many prisoners. The
soldiers received foreign slaves for their services and the temples and the
pharaoh’s possessions were enriched with slaves taken from the defeated people.
We know very little about these slaves’ condition. We read on a text: “the child is born to be taken from his mother, and when he’s an adult his bones are broken” (in a metaphorical way). Anyway we know about slaves married to free woman or masters with properties and slaves. A barber married his slave to his daughter and made him his heir. It happened that some slaves tried to escape; in this case they searched for him, but without too much determination, and if he was able to cross the border the case was dismissed. There were also slave markets: the purchase was official through an oath before witnesses and was recorded by a functionary. The foreign slaves, immediately received an Egyptian name and could also be set free. The incredible devotion shown by the slaves for their master, in Egypt was clamorous and to reward this extraordinary loyalty the pharaoh often raised to the class of royal favourites some foreign servants. The Ramses even integrated in their armies some prisoners of war and makes them (as the case of the Shardana and of the Mashawash) their own bodyguards or chosen warriors, as in particular Ramses II and Ramses III did. |
