Question for February 2018

A very small percentage [Prof Warwick Bray suggests ‘about two per cent’ *- Ed.], and apparently they contributed almost nothing to labour - unlike in ancient Greece or Rome.
Editor’s Note:-
The Franciscan friar Diego Durán, writing in the 16th century, listed several ways in which an Aztec could become a slave:-
• Thieves could be sold as slaves to pay for the goods they had stolen
• Gamblers who risked their all on dice or other wagers risked being subject to slavery in some circumstances
• A child who was considered ‘beyond the pail’ could be sold into slavery, with the consent of judges, as an example to others
• Someone who borrowed valuable items and failed to return them by the due date could be sold by his creditors for the amount of the loss
• A man who killed another man, even if condemned to death for the crime, could, if pardoned by the widow, become a slave to serve her and her children
• In times of famine, the destitute could sell themselves and/or their children into slavery in order to survive. It was possible to buy out of slavery later by returning the original purchase price.

Mexica (Aztec) slaves wearing collars, Codex Mendoza, fol. 66r