ANCIENT GREECE AND ITS SLAVE POPULATION. 



By S. Zaborowski, 

 Professor of Ethnography, School of Anthropology, Paris. 



The manipulation and the preparation of ordinary articles and of 

 food products were at fii*st carried on in Grecian homes exclusively 

 by members of the family, and later the service of slaves was utilized 

 for such work. Domestic industry was more general up to our time, 

 and it decreased and gave way only because of the enormous im- 

 provements of manufacture in shops and on a large scale, and the 

 increase in facilities of communication and for transport. 



In ancient Greece domestic industry was the common custom. 

 The poorest did not hesitate to have at least one or two slaves for 

 grinding their grain, for making their bread, as well as for reaping 

 and for weaving garments. 



Artisans were at first forced to practice several trades at once to 

 gain a living. In small cities the same class of workmen made bed- 

 steads, doors, plows, tables, and even built houses. 



The division of work depended on commerce and its demands. 

 And during the great epoch in Greece one even saw the cooks, just 

 as they do in our day to the detriment of the middle class, acquiring 

 an individual reputation each for a specialty — one for the frying of 

 fish, another for lentil bread, etc. In the potteries there were special 

 workmen for vases; others for making only lamps, and others for 

 statuettes. This was a step toward trade and manufactures, prop- 

 erly so called. 



Many cities specialized in certain products, due to favorable local 

 conditions, to the possession of trade secrets. Thus commerce de- 

 manded from Megara only ''exomides" or the coarse clothes for 

 slaves which all needed, and all the inhabitants of Megara were sup- 

 ported by their manufacture. Likewise, gauze robes, "chlamides," 

 were the specialty at" Miletis and perfumes and pottery at Athens. 

 The skill of the bronze workers of Corinth was wonderful. 



But it would be incorrect to assume that the citizens of these 

 places, either as a whole or in great part, were themselves actually 



1 Translated by permission from Revue Anthropologique, Paris, vol. 21, 1911, pp. 245-258. 

 85360°— SM 1912 39 597 



