Slavery, Virtue, and Democracy in Ancient Greece

Introduction: Slavery as a Foundation of Greek Society

Slavery was an essential element of ancient Greek society. Social life — in the domains of family, commerce, and politics — was heavily dependent on a class of people who fulfilled tasks their masters considered degrading. Although the concept of slavery represented a fundamental aspect of the practical construction of democracy, it is not the only factor that led to the development of this complex political institution, which remains the basis of modern constitutional systems. Other issues to consider include developments in philosophy, the urbanization of Greece, and the extraordinarily strong interest that the population took in politics. After all, the Greeks were as devoted to philosophy and politics as the Romans were to law. Each of these factors was essentially shaped by slavery, which, as a firmly established institution, made possible the development of all political systems in ancient Greece — and of Athenian democracy in particular.

The Greeks were divided into classes that formed an elaborate yet clear social structure, encompassing all types of people — from the wealthy, influential aristocracy (aristoi, meaning "the best") to a lowly and powerless population of slaves. It is ironic that the slave class might be considered as socially significant as the aristocracy, given that it was an integral part of Greek society and that the right to own another person was rarely questioned in Greece. Slavery in a more primitive form originated in Mesopotamia, reached its classical manifestation in ancient Greece and Rome, continued to exist in various forms throughout the Middle Ages, and was officially abolished during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

In ancient Greece, a man of distinction was not expected to perform tasks considered fit only for slaves and foreigners. Foreigners constituted the main source of slaves: wars were often fought specifically to replenish the slave population, and warriors who survived along with any remaining civilian population would be converted into slaves. Romans, notably, were even known to enslave foreign visitors to Rome simply on the grounds that they were not Roman citizens.

Social Stratification and the Role of Slaves

Aristotle, who may be considered, if not the greatest, then at least the most balanced of all Greek thinkers, was the clearest exponent of the ideas on which Greek society was founded. The class of artisans was excluded from citizenship because their occupation was held to debar them from the characteristic excellence of men. These ideas first appeared in Plato's Republic and were upheld by his disciple Aristotle. In that context, if artisans — who were, after all, Greeks — were denied the right of citizenship, at least in theory, then slaves could expect a far more oppressive treatment.

The concept of virtue (arete) helps explain how the Greeks understood the nature of man, citizenship, and slavery. Slaves were not regarded as what they were simply because they were foreigners, but because they were deemed unworthy of being considered full human beings. The syllogism — a form of reasoning that Aristotle himself systematized — was straightforward: foreigners are unworthy; unworthy human beings are slaves; therefore, foreigners should be slaves. The same logic could be applied to certain Greeks as well.

Slavery was still an important contributor to ancient Greek democracy in practical economic terms. The use of slaves increased wealth, which allowed individuals to move beyond subsistence farming into other pursuits, such as commerce or philosophy. The city-state was itself a slave-owner — one of the earliest forms of public ownership. These state-owned slaves, referred to as hierodouloi, were responsible for a large share of the bureaucratic activity of the state, as well as for providing a police force. The state maintained sound economic policy by keeping slave wages extremely low. The viability of the state as an entity was thus greatly increased, and the urbanization of Athens and similar city-states was significantly accelerated.

Aristotle on Virtue, Reason, and Slavery

As far as philosophy is concerned, it was a constant companion of politics in ancient Greece. It was widely believed that men capable of contemplating the meaning of life and the universe were the most fit to rule and to shape the political atmosphere of the city-state. Plato declared that "the state is but man writ large," while Aristotle's Politics compiled a great collection of constitutions gathered from his journeys to various Greek city-states — all of which have since been lost except for the Athenian constitution. The influence of these philosophers was immense. Aristotle's breadth of ideas and the number of disciplines shaped by his thought are so numerous that it is very difficult to trace the full historical reach of his work. His writings provided a framework for the discussion of politics for nearly two thousand years.

Aristotle is a defender of slavery. He believed that slavery is the natural condition for certain persons, and that for such persons slavery is in fact advantageous. They belong by nature not to themselves but to someone else. Aristotle holds that the principle of rule and subjection is universal in nature, and that it is equally beneficial and, most importantly, inevitable.

Aristotle discusses slavery in his Politics. His views are extremely important for a thorough understanding of his conception of freedom, virtue, and the relationship between the two. Aristotle does not support slavery in a conventional sense, but only in those instances where slaves are slaves by nature. The assumption that such a category of natural slaves exists does not, however, follow strictly from his logical argument — it is simply an empirical claim. Aristotle's arguments can be challenged by demonstrating that this initial assumption is false. Aristotle did not possess the conception of inherent human dignity and, as a consequence, had no grounds for assuming that human beings are free and equal by nature.

Freedom is not explicitly discussed in the Ethics or the Politics, but it is nonetheless an essential concept because of its relationship to virtue. Aristotle examines the opposite of freedom — slavery — and thereby gives the reader the opportunity to understand what he meant by freedom. A natural slave is, in Aristotle's conception, one "who participates in reason only to the extent of perceiving it, but does not have it" (Politics 1245b1). Freedom, by contrast, presupposes the correct use of reason, which directs man toward the ultimate end of his existence. Aristotle believes that human action is done for a purpose and has a definite goal. The ultimate goal in life is happiness, toward which all human actions aim, either directly or indirectly. The definition of happiness involves the analysis of man's highest function — one that only man can perform — described in the Ethics as "the activity of the soul according to reason." Freedom requires acting in accordance with right reasoning, and right reason leads one to virtue. True freedom, for Aristotle, consists in being virtuous. Since slaves are not free, they cannot be virtuous, and vice versa. Indeed, the inference that slaves, being without virtue, cannot be free constitutes the foundation of classical Greek slavery.