![]() Some believe that most serf populations originated when Dorian invaders subjugated the native inhabitants of Greece, from 1100 BC onwards, in which case the Messenians were exceptional in being conquered so late. ![]() Serfs were created for the last time in mainland Greece, it is thought, when the Messenians were forced into servitude by Spartan conquest around 700 BC. Such serfs are generally regarded as creatures of the Dark Age, a primitive form of unfree labour destined to be replaced by the more modern institution of chattel slavery in the archaic period. The Greeks, for once, did not have a word for it, but we may call this status “serfdom”. In many parts of the Greek world, the typical agricultural labourer was neither a free man nor a slave, but something in between.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |