Antičko grčko ropstvo u novijoj perspektivi

Abstract

Ovaj rad je preglednog karaktera, njegov cilj je da ukratko izloži i objasni novije trendove i pristupe u istoriografiji o ropstvu u antičkoj Grčkoj. Istoriografska produkcija posvećena ovoj instituciji je ogromna i poslednjih godina se nalazi u fazi značajnog preispitivanja i promene. Studije ropstva tradicionalno nisu uspevale da se odvoje od svog kulturnog, ideološkog pa ni političkog konteksta, a često je i danas tako. Pojam antičke Grčke u ovom slučaju je shvaćen široko, obuhvatajući arhajsku i klasičnu Grčku, helenističke države, ali i helenofone gradove i zemlje Rimskog carstva. Izvestan prostor u radu je posvećen odnosu između grčkog i bliskoistočnog ropstva. Antičko rimsko ropstvo, s druge strane, predstavlja široko istraživačko područje za sebe, i ono nije direktnije razmatrano u ovom tekstu, izuzev ukoliko istraživački rad u oblasti rimskog ropstva ima direktan uticaj na razumevanje ove institucije u grčkom svetu.

The amount of scholarly literature on the subject of ancient Greek slavery is beyond any single person's ability to read it in their lifetime. This paper is an attempt to identify and briefly present main strands of the current views and debate. Of late, this field is in a state of turmoil, the old orthodoxies are being examined with the increasingly critical eye, while new ideas and approaches are being forwarded. The single most dramatic change is, without a doubt, a gradual revision and, perhaps, even abandonment of the model of slavery proposed by British-American scholar Moses I. Finley, some sixty years ago. Finley believed that slave societies are rare and peculiar historical phenomenon, that occurred in earnest only five times in the world history, and only twice during Antiquity (Classical Greece and Rome). According to Finley, slavery played a role of little importance in the Ancient Near East and the early Greek history, developed ("chattel") slavery being an invention of the late Archaic Greece. Slaves were primarily used in agriculture, the only section of the economy that carried real weight. There was a clear connection between the rise of slavery and the rise of democracy, the Greek cities that were most free also employed the greatest number of slaves. All of this is now being challenged. It is now more likely that Greeks had a fully developed slave system already in the 8th century BC, Homeric poems clearly showing the importance of the slave laborers on the elite estates. The rise of slave society seems not to be connected with the rise of democracy, many of the more successful slave owning cities being oligarchies. The very idea that there was something new or unique about the Greek system of slavery now seems increasingly difficult to maintain. Recent studies have emphasized a high level of development of slavery and massive numbers of slave workforce in many 1st millennium BC societies, such as Carthage, Israel, the late Assyrian Empire or the 6th and 5th century BC Babylonia. The long standing belief that importance of slavery was in decline during the Late antiquity is now being reexamined as well, as is likely to be abandoned.