Slavery
According to Roman law slaves had no head in the State, no name, no title, no register, they had no rights of matrimony, and no protection against adultery, they could be bought and sold, or given away, as personal property. They might be tortured for evidence, or even put to death, at the discretion of their master. Estimates for the prevalence of slavery in the Roman Empire vary. Some estimate it was approximately 1/3 of the population in the 1st century. The Roman economy was certainly heavily dependent on slavery, but was not (as is sometimes mistakenly stated) the most slave-dependent culture in the history of the world. That distinction probably belongs to the Spartans, with helots (the Spartan term for slave) outnumbering the Spartans around seven to one. A high proportion of the populations in Italy, what is today Tunisia, southern Spain and western Anatolia was slave. The actual proportion may have been less than 20% for the whole Empire, 12 million people but we cannot be sure. Since there was a labour shortage in the Roman Empire, there was a constant need to find slaves to tie down the labour supply in various regions of the Empire. In the Later Empire emperors tried to tie people into hereditary occupations to secure vital services as the supply of slaves dried up.
Slaves lived then within this class with very little hope of a better life, and they were owned and exchanged just like goods by free men. They had a price as human instruments, their life had not and their patron could freely even kill them. Most of the gladiators were slaves. One of them Spartacus, formed an army of slaves that battled the Roman armies in the Servile War for several years. Slaves however could be extraordinarily expensive, and the Roman household slave certainly had a different fate. The price for a male slave in Rome at the time of Augustus has been quoted at 500 denarii. A female could go for as much as 6,000 denarii. One recorded price in Pompeii at 79 AD indicates that a slave sold for 2,500 sestertii or 625 denarii. The expense of slaves made it lucrative for the smart Roman to treat them well and keep them healthy. Even in the case of gladiators, which is often misrepresented historically to show a non stop flow of blood and Roman decadence, it was considered a horrible disaster to lose a Gladiator to death or career ending injury. These slaves were worth their weight in gold, and while still kept closely guarded, they could also be afforded the greatest of luxuries when appropriate. Great fame and fortune could not only come to the owner, but the gladiators as well, and the best of the best were treated as such. Some Romans would even sell themselves into slavery, including the arena, in order to pay off tremendous debts or in an effort to become famous.
Under Nero, slaves were given the right to complain against their masters in court. Under Antoninus Pius a slave could claim his freedom if treated cruelly, and a master who killed his slave without just cause could be tried for homicide. At the same time it became more difficult for a person to fall into slavery under Roman law. By the time of Diocletian free men could not sell their children or even themselves into slavery and creditors could not claim insolvent debtors as slaves. Freedmen and freedwomen called liberti formed a separate class in Roman society at all periods. Their symbol was the Phrygian cap. These people were not numerous, but Rome needed to demonstrate at times the great frank spirit of this civitas so the freed slaves were made famous, as hopeful examples. Freed people could not hold certain high offices and they could not marry into the senatorial classes. They might grow rich and influential, but were still looked down on by free-born Romans as vulgar nouveaux riches. Their children had no prohibitions. This improvement is often credited to the influence of Stoicism and Christianity. The Stoics taught that all men were manifestations of the same universal spirit and thus by nature equal. Both the Stoics and the early Christians opposed the ill-treatment of slaves, rather than slavery itself. Many Christian leaders often called for good treatment for slaves and condemned slavery.
Slavery in Greece
Greece consisted of many independent city-states each with its own laws. All of them permitted slavery, but the rules differed greatly from region to region.
Greek slaves had some chance at escape, as they could become suppliants in temples and change their masters in case of maltreatment. In
Athens in case a maltreated slave become suppliant in a temple, his master was forced by law to sell him to another master. This law protected
slaves though a slave's master had the right to beat him at will. And a slave's testimony would be taken under torture - fear of the fact that a trusty slave may protect his masters secrets or fear of his master might otherwise make him lie, which reveals the kind of relation slaves had with their masters.
Slaves in Athens were highly encouraged to save for their freedom, and there are records of slaves operating businesses by
themselves with only a fixed tax payment to their masters. There was also a law in Athens, forbidding the striking of
slaves, if a person struck someone who seemed to be a slave at Athens, the person might be hitting a fellow
citizen because many citizens dressed no better.
Other than flight resistance from slaves was rare. First they came from various regions and spoke various languages. Second that a slave holder could rely on the support of fellow slaverholders if his slaves offered resistance.
House slaves lived in their master's home and worked at home or land or shop. Freelance slaves didn't live with their master but worked in their master's shop or fields and paid him taxes from money they got from their own properties (as long as property was allowed to be owned by slaves). Public slaves worked as police officers, ushers, secretaries, street sweepers, etc. War captives (andrapoda) were primarily used in unskilled labour at which they could be chained: for example, rowers in commercial ships or miners. The miners' work was very hard and their living conditions very bad.
Sparta in particular treated her slaves very harshly. We are told the Spartans blooded their young men by having them go out and kill some helots. Helots were compelled to get drunk, to demonstrate the ill consequences of drunkenness and any Spartan might beat any helot at whim. The Spartans did take perioikoi (and in some cases helots) with them to war, where they usually had light arms and freed the helots afterwards - especially during the difficult parts of the Peloponnesian Wars. After the peace however some thousands of these neodamodeis disappeared one night and were never heard from again. Spartan severity has been accounted for by the constant fear of an organized rebellion of the Helots and at least one such rebellion actually occurred in 464 BC.