What was the role of slavery in Greece and Rome?

Question: What was the role of slavery in Greece and Rome!?
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Greece and Rome actually had rather different viewpoints of slavery!.

Greece was enamored with all things Greek, more specifically with all things related to their city-state!. Slavery in these days were typically POWs, and it was a popular inspiration in Greek literature to have a frightened father searching frantically for his son, who had lost the battle and was sold into slavery!. Greece also imported their slaves from foreign countries, but those slaves typically never had such an opportunity for liberty that a Greek one did!.

The Romans were quite different!. Unlike the Greeks, who were notoriously jealous with their citizenship, Romans were not!. In fact, Rome was quite welcoming of more citizens!. In their mind, more citizens, more taxes, more soldiers!. Perhaps this is why Rome expanded so quickly!. In any event, because of this liberal attitude towards citizenship, Romans were also not jealous with their slaves!. In Rome, superior service could cause a slave to earn their citizenship!. Furthermore, it was considered good taste for a Roman man to free his slaves in his will!. These "freedmen" had some rights, in fact, most rights enjoyed by the citizens (including the safety from being enslaved again) but not all of them (like the right to vote)!. However, the children of Freedmen were always born as full Roman citizens, with complete suffrage and all the rights enjoyed by the Romans!.

At any given time, about 30% of the Roman Empire was made up of slaves!. This seems like an extremely high number until one considers that, at anytime in Roman history, roughly 10% of the population were freedmen!. That's a remarkable number, given that the freedman class did not perpetuate itself, its numbers would have had to have been constantly replenished with new freed slaves!.

Both Greeks and Romans used slaves in many of the ways that you would logically think Slaves would be used: as servants, farm hands, construction workers, and miners!. Rome, for example, had vast 'latifundas' which were massive farms that used cheap slave labour to produce vast quantities of food!. The bottom of the barrell were the mineworkers and the quarry workers, as that was the most backbreaking jobs!.

It should also be noted that the presence of slavery was a source of major contention among the Roman population, as the plebs saw slaves as taking their jobs!. This was an issue that went unresolved until Caesar Augustus established a welfare state to care for the unemployed!. This kept the plebs happy because now they were provided for, the aristocracy because they kept their slaves, and Caesar happy because it drew him near universal support in his empire!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

MJR notes that 30% of people in Italian peninsula once slaves!.
This is responsible for the unique Italian 'look', thanks to free interbreeding - So, Italians look like Spaniards or Egyptians; but Spaniards don't look like Egyptians!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Slavery stifled improvement in technology!.!.!.why bother when slaves were cheap!? So they used fewer horses, did not have good horse collars, used few windmills, etc!.Www@QuestionHome@Com