Slavery in Dacia

Slavery in Dacia was widespread both among the Dacian and Getae tribes and after the Roman conquest of Dacia.

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Slave trade

There is limited evidence of slaves being used in the economic system of the Dacians.^[1] The lower classes of Dacia (comati) were free men; however, the widespread warfare in the region made it one of the most important sources of slaves for the Roman and Greek world,^[1] with which they engaged in slave trade.

Herodotus wrote that the Thracians (which he considered to include the Getae) sold their children in slavery to traders.^[2] Polybius wrote that the Greeks brought slaves "of best quality" from the peoples living on the shores of the Black Sea.^[3]

During the late Roman Republic (roughly between 130 BC and 31 BC), large numbers of Roman denarii were imported into Dacia.^[4] There are over 25,000 such coins in Romanian collections, most of which were found in large hoards, a far higher number than anywhere outside the Roman Empire.^[4] An explanation for this large amount of imported Roman silver would be that the Dacians exported large numbers of slaves to Rome.^[4] Based on the number of coins, Michael Crawford estimated in 1977 that perhaps as many as 30,000 slaves were exported each year to Rome between mid-60s and 30s BC.^[4]

Notes

^ ^a ^b Oltean, Ioana A. (2007-08-14). Dacia: Landscape, Colonization and Romanization (1 ed.). London; New York: Routledge. p. 114. ISBN 9780415412520.
^ Herodotus, V
^ Polybius, IV. 38
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Crawford, p.117-124

References

Ancient sources

Herodotus, History, Book V
Polybius, The Histories, Book IV

Modern works

Crawford, Michael H. (1977-01-01). "Republican Denarii in Romania: The Suppression of Piracy and the Slave-Trade". The Journal of Roman Studies. 67: 117–124. doi:10.2307/299923. JSTOR 299923.

This page was last edited on 17 October 2023, at 00:28

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