The Greek Slaves

There were a lot of different slave jobs. Slaves were owned by other people, and had to work for their owners. They could not work for somebody else. If they did not work, their owner hit them. People who were slaves could not get married without their owner’s permission. And slaves could be sold at any time.
Most of the slaves worked in the fields, slaves worked for small farms. Other slaves worked on huge farms with hundreds of other slaves.Other slaves, both men and women, worked in factories or small shops, making shoes pots or cloth. Or slaves who had skills might be dancers or musicisns.

Some slaves worked as servants in the houses of their owners. They went to get water from the public fountains. Men worked taking care of horses, or as handymen or gardeners. Men went to the market to do the shopping every day.Some poor slaves worked on ships. They were kept down in the bottom of the ship and never saw the sun, and they were given bread and water to eat, and were beaten to make them pull the oars harder. Most men who worked as rowers didn’t live very long.

The worst job was mining for silver. It was mixed with lead and the slaves were poisoned and died.