Well, here's an example of what Pad is talking about.
Generally, mass slavery as an institution did not begin in Rome until the Punic Wars. The Romans weren't too big on enslaving fellow Italians but the Carthaginians brought lots of Spanish, Libyan and Gallic soldiers into the mix. If you win a battle and take a shitload of prisoners your options are somewhat limited.
You can,
A) Pardon them (which is generally what the Romans did when expanding in Italy but obviously did not feel the same confidence in barbarians.)
B) Release them... (not a great idea in the middle of a war.)
C) Imprison them... useful for the nobility, especially if you want to ransom them back. No one would give a shit about the common soldiers. Expensive solution.
D) Enslave them and make some money on the deal.
E.) Exterminate them.
In this sequence, enslaving them is a morally superior solution to the problem than mass murder.
And, before anyone says "who would do that?"
http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/historian...otami.html
Generally, mass slavery as an institution did not begin in Rome until the Punic Wars. The Romans weren't too big on enslaving fellow Italians but the Carthaginians brought lots of Spanish, Libyan and Gallic soldiers into the mix. If you win a battle and take a shitload of prisoners your options are somewhat limited.
You can,
A) Pardon them (which is generally what the Romans did when expanding in Italy but obviously did not feel the same confidence in barbarians.)
B) Release them... (not a great idea in the middle of a war.)
C) Imprison them... useful for the nobility, especially if you want to ransom them back. No one would give a shit about the common soldiers. Expensive solution.
D) Enslave them and make some money on the deal.
E.) Exterminate them.
In this sequence, enslaving them is a morally superior solution to the problem than mass murder.
And, before anyone says "who would do that?"
http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/historian...otami.html
Quote:The The Battle of Aegospotami (405 B.C.), a great naval victory of Sparta over Athens, effectively ended the Peloponnesian War. The fleets of the two Greek rival powers faced each other in the Hellespont for four days without battle, until on the fifth day the Spartans under Lysander surprised the Athenians in their anchorage off Aegospotami. Conon, the Athenian commander, escaped with only 20 of his 180 ships, and the 3,000-4,000 Athenians who were captured were put to death.
