Slavery in Iran under the achaemenids

A History of slavery in Iran (Persia) during various ancient, medieval and modern periods is sparsely cataloged.

commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Record_of_the_sale_of_three_branded_slaves,_Achaemenid_Dynasty,_Iran,_c._455_BC_-_Royal_Ontario_Museum_-_DSC09610.JPG

Under the AchaemenidsEdit

In general, mass slavery as a whole has never been practiced by Persians, and in many cases the situation and lives of semi-slaves (prisoners of war) were, in fact, better than those of the commoner.^[1]

Slavery was an existing institution in Egypt, Media and Babylonia before the rise of the Achaemenid empire.

On the whole, in the Achaemenid empire, there was only small number of slaves in relation to the number of free persons and moreover the word used to call a slave was utilized also to express general dependence.^[2]Usually, captives were prisoners of war that were recruited from those that rebelled against Achaemenid rule.^[3]

Modern historians handle the book of Herodotus with care and according to Pierre Briant: "It is hard to separate history from fairy tale in Herodotus".^[4] Herodotus has mentioned enslavement with regards to rebels of the Lydians who revolted against Achaemenid rule and captured Sardis.^[5] He has also mentioned slavery after the rebellion of Egypt in the city of Barce^[6] during the time of Cambyses and the assassination of Persian Satrap in Egypt. He also mentions the defeat of Ionians, and their allies Eretria who supported the Ioniansand subsequent enslavement of the rebels and supporting population.^[7]

According to Dandamayev:^[8]

“

The basis of agriculture was the labor of free farmers and tenants and in handicrafts the labor of free artisans, whose occupation was usually inherited within the family, likewise predominated. In these countries of the empire, slavery had already undergone important changes by the time of the emergence of the Persian state. Debt slavery was no longer common. The practice of pledging one’s person for debt, not to mention self-sale, had totally disappeared by the Persian period. In the case of nonpayment of a debt by the appointed deadline, the creditor could turn the children of the debtor into slaves. A creditor could arrest an insolvent debtor and confine him to debtor’s prison. However, the creditor could not sell a debtor into slavery to a third party. Usually the debtor paid off the loan by free work for the creditor, thereby retaining his freedom.

Slavery in British India - Bengal

Slaves during the great Famine of Eastern India(above). Bengal trade, 1640-85. In Bengal the East India Company had established a factory at Hughly, hard by the dismantled Portuguese fortress; but were exposed to so much insolence and extortion from the Mogul authorities that they were prepared to leave Bengal rather than tamely submit to further oppression. The trade was enormously profitable, and had helped to defray the cost of the fortifications at Madras and Bombay. Saltpetre had been in large demand ever since the breaking out of the civil war between Charles the First and his parliament. Raw silk and opium were equally marketable, and all three products could be brought from Patna to Hughly by the river Ganges. At Dacca, the old capital of Bengal to the eastward of the Ganges, muslins were manufactured of so fine a texture that a piece sufficient for a dress might be passed through a wedding ring; and every young lady in the British Isles who aspired to be a bride w

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