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Hattix t1_jedk4jn wrote

Reply to comment by locri in TIL of Cáin Adomnáin, dubbed "Europe's first human rights treaty". Created in the year 697, was a set of laws - which kings across Ireland and parts of Scotland mutually agreed to follow - that guaranteed the safety of non-combatants in warfare. by Madbrad200

When we think of slavery, we think of commercial, industrialised, chattel slavery.

That's a uniquely modern thing. Slaves back then (even earlier, in Rome) were not workers. Nobody lost their job or livelihood to a slave like how the Americans surrender their jobs to dollar-a-day convicts today. You'd never see a slave at a forge, at a kiln, at the wainwright, working the docks, or sewing clothes. It'd be insulting to everyone to imply a slave was appropriate for any of those roles.

They were wives, they were domestic servants, errand boys, messengers. The only real "job" they were allowed to do was in subsistence agriculture, but everyone in the community did that anyway at harvest and sowing time.

Slaves were another mouth to feed and very few people, but for the richest and most powerful, wanted that.

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tsaimaitreya t1_jedt1vn wrote

Americans are really into downplaying slavery to make their version more significant...

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locri t1_jedl5dq wrote

What?

So you're a yeoman with a bit of land to farm on or a hunter or a fisher for your village one day and the next you're... What? You're definitely not in the same place and same status.

It's all the same, the reason people viewed it differently isn't because slavery was worse but because bronze age people didn't view those of other tribes as really anything like them, like animals. This is likely due to isolation and lower amounts of contact between tribes and people, they had tin trade but this was hardly globalisation. Even then, in each city state they'd probably maintain this tribalism right into the iron age. Consider how long it took people who could forge steel to treat everyone equally.

Honestly, at some stage you really do have to say the ancients were just a little primitive. I'm sorry, I know that's a history no no, but this is a slavery conversation. This time you're dealing with it.

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Hattix t1_jedmakh wrote

Who did you mean to reply to?

You've accidentally replied to me. Who was the Redditor saying slavery wasn't the lowest of castes? It definitely wasn't me, and I'd like to see the best in people so I think you just replied to the wrong person.

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