Slavery and Servitude in Late Period Egypt (c. 900-330 BC)
by Ella Karev
This historical study sets out to define the nature and extent of slavery in Late Period Egypt, i.e. from the end of the Third Intermediate Period (664 BC) to the beginning of the Ptolemaic Period (330 BC). To that end, the work revolves around four broad aims: (1) delineating the scope of usage of terminology used in Egyptian and Aramaic documentation to refer to enslaved persons; (2) contextualizing enslavement within Late Period labour and sale practices; (3) exploring the lived experience of enslaved persons, including the social alienation of enslavement; and (4) discussing the connections between enslavement and other social systems of patronage and protection in Late Period Egypt, including familial relationships. Achieving the first goal is a matter of examining the Egyptian and Aramaic terms which appear with reference to enslavement and servitude within the context of the documents in which they appear, and the implications of that context. This focus on the semantics of subordinate labour also leads to a discussion on whether the English term ‘slave’ or ‘enslaved person’ is taxonomically appropriate for the subordinate labour relationships of Late Period Egypt, which necessarily requires an examination of secondary literature regarding the definition of slavery. Contextualizing enslavement within Late Period labour and sale practices requires an understanding of pricing of both commodities and labour, to provide a basis for determining comparative pricing of labour. Lastly, this monograph discusses the connections between enslavement and other social systems of patronage and protection in Late Period Egypt through an analysis of the obligations a subordinate had to his superior, as well as the reverse, that is, the obligations a superior had to his subordinate, whether or not the superior actually performed these obligations. The latter is investigated specifically with regard to protection: from debt, starvation, or abuse. – The chief takeaways from this study are split into four: first, that a practice which can be described as slavery in modern legal taxonomy took place in Late Period Egypt; second, that this practice took the form of small-scale, personal transactions which often overlapped with familial obligations and other systems of patronage and protection; third, that the value of enslaved persons lay in their dual purpose as labourers and economic tools; and finally, that the majority of enslaved persons in Egypt originated from Egypt, in contrast with earlier and later periods.
- By (author) Ella Karev
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