Nick Pell

and pool boys or something i don't know i guess i need to read up what did you watch spartacus this weekend i might have i might have watched something recently yeah it depends on what you mean by main use fields mines and mills were the biggest use of slaves and also kind of the worst i'm going to sound ridiculous when i say this there was no room for advancement

Yeah, so a lot of these guys were only enslaved because they owed a debt to somebody. So you pay off your loan, you're free. Or you buy yourself from your master and you're free. Or he sees you working as a towel boy or whatever. This guy's smart. I can have him do this for me instead. It's cool. I'm not a pool attendant anymore. I'm a valet or something. Yeah. Maybe your master just...

Yeah, so a lot of these guys were only enslaved because they owed a debt to somebody. So you pay off your loan, you're free. Or you buy yourself from your master and you're free. Or he sees you working as a towel boy or whatever. This guy's smart. I can have him do this for me instead. It's cool. I'm not a pool attendant anymore. I'm a valet or something. Yeah. Maybe your master just...

Yeah, so a lot of these guys were only enslaved because they owed a debt to somebody. So you pay off your loan, you're free. Or you buy yourself from your master and you're free. Or he sees you working as a towel boy or whatever. This guy's smart. I can have him do this for me instead. It's cool. I'm not a pool attendant anymore. I'm a valet or something. Yeah. Maybe your master just...

freeze everybody when he dies. That was reasonably common. Maybe he just likes you. That's another thing that was reasonably common. The master just likes the guy, so he frees him. Other than freedom, like I mentioned before, there's ways to work your way up the ladder, so to speak, by learning valuable skills.

freeze everybody when he dies. That was reasonably common. Maybe he just likes you. That's another thing that was reasonably common. The master just likes the guy, so he frees him. Other than freedom, like I mentioned before, there's ways to work your way up the ladder, so to speak, by learning valuable skills.

freeze everybody when he dies. That was reasonably common. Maybe he just likes you. That's another thing that was reasonably common. The master just likes the guy, so he frees him. Other than freedom, like I mentioned before, there's ways to work your way up the ladder, so to speak, by learning valuable skills.

So like I said, one day you're cleaning latrines and the next day you're the master's personal valet.

So like I said, one day you're cleaning latrines and the next day you're the master's personal valet.

So like I said, one day you're cleaning latrines and the next day you're the master's personal valet.

Yeah, so moving on from that one, we do know more about Roman slavery than many others, but it's not like they had a Bureau of Labor Statistics. So it's hard to tell exactly who did what and in what proportions. What we do know is that the majority of Roman slaves were in mines or fields, and they kind of got just worked to death because every time you got tired, somebody would beat you.

Yeah, so moving on from that one, we do know more about Roman slavery than many others, but it's not like they had a Bureau of Labor Statistics. So it's hard to tell exactly who did what and in what proportions. What we do know is that the majority of Roman slaves were in mines or fields, and they kind of got just worked to death because every time you got tired, somebody would beat you.

Yeah, so moving on from that one, we do know more about Roman slavery than many others, but it's not like they had a Bureau of Labor Statistics. So it's hard to tell exactly who did what and in what proportions. What we do know is that the majority of Roman slaves were in mines or fields, and they kind of got just worked to death because every time you got tired, somebody would beat you.

City slaves and household slaves had better lives. These are the ones who could buy their freedom. And after they bought their freedom or were freed through manumission, which is the fancy SAT word for your master freeing you, you were kind of like part of the extended family. Like you didn't usually leave the manor or whatever. You kept living with them.

City slaves and household slaves had better lives. These are the ones who could buy their freedom. And after they bought their freedom or were freed through manumission, which is the fancy SAT word for your master freeing you, you were kind of like part of the extended family. Like you didn't usually leave the manor or whatever. You kept living with them.

City slaves and household slaves had better lives. These are the ones who could buy their freedom. And after they bought their freedom or were freed through manumission, which is the fancy SAT word for your master freeing you, you were kind of like part of the extended family. Like you didn't usually leave the manor or whatever. You kept living with them.

I love you throwing in your little Groucho Marx jokes while we talk about slavery.

I love you throwing in your little Groucho Marx jokes while we talk about slavery.

I love you throwing in your little Groucho Marx jokes while we talk about slavery.

Yeah. So what we need to point out, there's no way that being owned by another human being can be considered, quote unquote, not that bad. Masters could do literally anything they wanted to their slaves, and they frequently did. With that said, at a certain point in Roman history, there are some improvements in the lives of slaves, period. Not, oh, I got lucky and this guy's a nice guy.