Slave Market

In the ancient world, prisoners of war were often sold into slavery. Those captured by barbarians were just as unlucky as those taken by the 'civilised' races. Many of the Celtic words for slave have their roots in the Latin word 'captus', meaning captive, and this may be an indication that the custom of taking slaves was introduced to the tribes by either the Romans or the Greeks. These civilisations held very different views on slavery. In Greece a slave, be he born into servitude or captured as a prisoner of war, could never become a Greek citizen. The Romans on the other hand, gave their slaves complete freedom after manumission, becoming a 'libertus' - gaining political freedom and even the opportunity to run for public office.