Since republican times, Rome sustained and expanded its economic power through the constant acquisition of land and slaves. By combining these two practices, the Romans guaranteed agricultural and manufactured products at a low price and achieved very significant profit margins. By some estimates, the Roman economy, until the end of the Republic, had an extensive population of over two million slaves.
When the third century arrived, all this situation of prosperity and expansion ended due to the great dimension reached by the territories, the high cost involved in carrying out other annexations and the constant pressures exerted by the dominated populations and neighbors. In this situation, the government of Rome limited itself to strengthening the borders that were already in its domain. In this way, the flow of slaves that cheapened costs and increased profits no longer had the same force.
Furthermore, we can note that Roman policy towards conquered peoples also played a big role in the slavery crisis. Over time, several of the conquered peoples achieved the rights reserved to Roman citizens. More than promoting a legal equivalence, this tolerant posture restrained the process of obtaining new slaves. Thus, there were administrative and military factors contributing to the shortage of labor in the Roman domains.
Moving on to another universe of justifications, we can also understand the presence of a strong relationship between the slavery crisis and the spread of Christian ideas in the Roman world. With freedom as a gift of divine order, many who converted to the new religion believed that the release of their slaves would be a way to achieve spiritual salvation. It is also worth remembering that many slaves converted to religion, incorporating values contrary to Roman society.
With the passage of time, we see that the crisis that was already shaping up, became potentialized as the large landowners came to see that maintaining a vast population of slaves became economically impracticable. In such a way, several aristocrats began to divide their lands into smaller lands that were leased by commoners out of the cities or by slaves who obtained their freedom through the system of settlement.
By Rainer Sousa
Master in History
Brazil School Team
Ancient Rome - Old age
General history - Brazil School
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/historiag/a-crise-escravismo-no-imperio-romano.htm
