We have the impression that slaves are an exploited class, of low status, of starvation and freezing every day, of humiliation, and of the slightest carelessness that will be punished by their masters. Whipping, killing, and abusing them varied. Although these are common phenomena, what you don't know is that in slave society, some slaves were treated very well, and some even better than our ordinary people. So what's going on?
This phenomenon existed mainly in the Neo-Babylonian Kingdom, located in the Two Rivers Valley. Soon after the establishment of the Neo-Babylonian kingdom, the Alliance with the Median Kingdom destroyed the Assyrian Empire and divided the legacy of the Assyrian Empire.
Neo-Babylon, at the center of civilization, together with the legacy of the Assyrian Empire, can be described as a tiger, although the country's existence is short, but its economy is quite prosperous, the commodity money economy is developed, and the slave economy has also been greatly developed.
In Neo-Babylon, not only were slaves more numerous than in the past, but the exploitation of slaves by slave owners showed a tendency to diversify. It was characterized by the fact that slaves were left to run their own family businesses on their own.
For example, the slave owner will give the slave a part of his own property, which may be land, handicraft workshops, etc., and let the slave operate independently instead of himself, and part of the profits obtained from the operation will be handed over to his master as rent, part of it will be given to the master as personal rent, and some will be kept by himself. In this way, slaves also had their own private property. And when the slave's own private property was increasing, the slave could redeem himself, or the slave could hire his own slave to work for himself.
Of course, the slave owners were also intelligent people, and it was absolutely impossible for them to entrust their property to a clumsy and stumbling slave to manage, and the slave owner had to find some shrewd and flattering person to replace him. Such slaves were often very popular, and through the little start-up funds given by their masters at the beginning, they slowly grew larger and larger until they had a real family property, wife, and children.
Let's think of these slaves, who had their own slaves, who were covered by their masters on weekdays and who spent most of their time resting at home and not having to go to work. As for the production and housework, someone to take care of him, it can be said that they are eating and drinking spicy, so is their life better than some of us?
But do not envy them; these slaves, though they have their own family property, still belong to the slaves, and it is easy for their masters to take back their possessions; unless these slaves redeem themselves and become free men, they still belong to the exploiting class. Moreover, at that time, there were still very few such shrewd and capable slaves who succeeded in starting a business, and most of the slaves were still humiliated, and the slave owners did everything they could to persecute them.
Therefore, we in a civilized society should be fortunate. In this society, the word slave has long become a thing of the past, and as free people, we can freely do what the law allows, have children, travel and leisure. In short, compared to them, we have a really good life.
With the development of society and the changes of the times, the word "slave" has also been given a new connotation. It is extended to have some kind of personal attachment to some person or thing, thus losing independence and freedom and becoming subject to people at every turn. For example, our lives are inseparable from mobile phones and entertainment programs, and the brain's long-term acceptance of these things will often be suffocated and paralyzed by the air of entertainment, and thus become their slaves.
Author: Lone Star