The articles imported by the Athenians from the Euxine Sea, besides corn,
were timber for building, slaves, salt, honey, wax, wool, leather, and
goat-skins; from Byzantium and other ports of Thrace and Macedonia, salt
fish and timber; from Phrygia and Miletus, carpets, coverlets for beds, and
the fine wool, of which their cloths were made; from the islands of Egean
Sea, wine and different fruits; and from Thrace, Thessaly, Phrygia, &c., a
great number of slaves.
The traffic in slaves was, next to that in corn, of the greatest
consequence to the Athenians, for the citizens were not in sufficient
numbers, and, if they had been, were not by any means disposed, to
cultivate the land, work the mines, and carry on the various trades and
manufactures. The number of slaves in Attica, during the most flourishing
period of the republic, was estimated at 400,000: of these the greater part
had been imported; the rest were natives of Greece, whom the fate of arms
had thrown into the hands of a conqueror irritated by too obstinate a
resistance. The slaves most esteemed, and which brought the highest price,
were imported from Syria and Thrace, the male slaves of the former country,
and the females of the latter: the slaves from Macedonia were the least
valued. The price of a slave seems to have been extremely low, as Xenophon
mentions that some were sold at Athens for half an Attic mina, or rather
more than thirty shillings: those, however, who had acquired a trade, or
were otherwise particularly useful, were valued at five minae, or about
fifteen pounds.
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