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Notes

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[1] The Athenians never had the absurd armies of house slaves which characterized Imperial Rome; still the numbers of their domestic servants were, from a modern standpoint, extremely large.

[2] For example, the survivors, after the capture of Melos, in the Peloponesian War.

[3] A small but fairly constant supply of slaves would come from the seizure of the persons and families of bankrupt debtors, whose creditors, especially in the Orient, might sell them into bondage.

[4] There was probably next to no market for old women; old men in broken health would also be worthless. Boys and maids that were the right age for teaching a profitable trade would fetch the most.

[5] Xenophon, "Memorabilia," ii. 5, § 2.

[6] Who, however, could not be trusted to cook a formal dinner. For such purpose an expert must be hired.

A Day in Old Athens

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