Slavery+in+Egypt

In ancient Egypt, the great pyramids at Giza were built by manny thousands of foreign slaves, toiling under very harsh conditions over decades. The Principal and Oldest cause of slavey was being captured in war. In Egypt the general rule was that all captives including those outside of the military forces, became a royal resource. Kings most certainly did not keep all of these slaves, although some were resettled in colonies for labo, also grandter some of themto temples, to meritorious individuals and as booty for their soldiers. Prisoners of war and their descendants, they initially belonged to a social stratum superior to that of the Egyptian severants. The Egyptians who became slaves were normally free people who, having committed some sort of illicit acts, were forced to forefeit their liberty, perhaps including the liberty of their spouse and children. The birth of a child to a slave mother, whether or not the father was free, in resulted in slavery for the child. Abandon childern and newborn infints would also be taken and made into slaves. Another way that one could be come a slave was to actually to sign up on one own free will, but was rather the results of their inability to pay off debt. The creditor therefore accept the debtor as a slave, but not just the debtor will become a slave his childern and they will have to give up that they own. At other times they would have sold themselves into slavery for food and or shelter. Unlike other slaves of the other cocieties and periods, those of ancient Egypt were frequently better off than some of the poor, freemen. Information about slave trading is rare. Slaves were also acquired through inheritance. Demotic marraige agreement, the husban states that "To the childern you shall bear for me shall belong everything I won, [be it] a house, land, slaves, animals, chattels". upon the death of a slave holder, the slave could become co-owened by the beneficiaries or distributed separately. Each of the co-owners would be entitled to a fraction of the slaves work.the price orf slaves of sklaves did varier form age and sex. Masters might employ a slave in many different manners, such as in domestic services as the guardian of children, cooks, brewers or maids. they might be used as gardeners or field hands or in the stable. Some masters require the slave to learn a trade to improve his property.Slaves could become craftsmen, or attain a higher status. Slaves that could read or write was thought to rise the uincome of the master.

Although slaves were considered personal chattel and part of their master's property, and even though the master enjoyed a number of rights in their regard, the master was nevertheless held to some obligations. For example, the mistress of a household was responsible for nourishing the slave children and brining them up. Little information has survived related to the marriage, a union was apparently possible. this seems to have taken place as cohabitation sanctioned by the master. Slaves were also, at least in certain circumstances, allowed to marry non-slaves. Slaves, of course were frequently not happy being slaves. In ancient Egypet, there has so far never been any evidence to show that a slave ever purchased his freedom. When a slave escaped, the master could pursue the fugitive and ask the authorities for assistance in the recapture of the runaway. While the fugitive's best chance of escape was to leave Egypt altogether, this was not always as successful as it might at first seem. Being a Slave in Egypt made them better off than a freeman anywhere else at the time.