Surprising aspects regarding slavey's role in Roman society revealed in the Arms of Nemesis
... regard than property. He expected them to be submissive, mindless, and did not hesitate to bring them swiftly to punishment if he deemed it necessary. I was not surprised at all that a Roman man, especially of Crassus’ power, would organize the slaughtering of 99 slaves to provide some sort of justice to a questionable murder and to discourage any sort of slave rebellion. However, from the very first pages of the book, I began to realize that these beliefs were not the same for every individual of Roman society, and in fact, strikingly the opposite for many. I discovered through the book that there were a wide variety of slaves and slave owners. Some slaves were held by owners to be more important, caring, and beautiful than even free Roman citizens. Gordanius’ attitude of slavery was the opposite of what I had originally thought slavery in ancient Rome to be like. Gordanius referred to Eco, a slave that he basically raised, as his son throughout the entire book. He treated him with more love, dignity, and respect than anyone he encountered outside of his home. My previous assumptions were changed when more was unveiled regarding Gordanius’ passionate relationship with Bethesda, as well as the personal risk Olympias took to protect and love the slave Alexandros. I was completely shocked that in the end Gordanius officially freed Bethesda to marry her properly and start a family. This definitely changed my assumption that slaves were merely property, and definitely never equals. One quote in the book really struck me, and changed my assumptions. It is when Gordanius explained than only with Bethesda and around Apollonius did he experience the “rare moments when one senses not the surface of other men and women, but the very life force which animates their being, and by extension all life.” I found that line especially surprising because Gordanius was a free man of substantial wealth and power, yet the only two people who had been magnificent enough to allow him to see such a beautiful phenomenon were two slaves. To me, that is a beautiful quote, and a deep thought. It is an accepted norm to believe that love and deep, personal connections know no boundaries now, and apparently the same was true for at least some individuals in ancient Rome in times of s...