Slavery was practiced in almost all ancient communities. The Eastern Slavs were no exception, although in many ways the oppression was much less than in other slave countries. For example, a slave could eventually become a full member of society, and even marry a local girl. But with the same success it was possible to fall on the sacrificial altar, by his death obtaining for the owners good luck in battle and a bountiful harvest in the fields.
The captive slave is a potential pagan victim
A straw scarecrow that is torn to pieces or burned during the "farewell to spring" is nothing more than an echo of the custom of ritual sacrifice. In modern conditions, the rite does not require murder. But in a bygone era, the place of the stuffed animal was taken by a living person. His death, according to the ancient Slavs, helped to appease the gods.
Scarecrow of Maslenitsa.
The material for ritual sacrifices often became prisoners captured by the Slavs during successful military campaigns. Many unfortunates went to the sacrificial altar immediately after the battle. So, at the end of the battle of Prince Svyatoslav with the Greeks at Dorostol (971), many prisoners were killed to carry out the funeral rite of their own dead soldiers. Leo the Deacon, who wrote about these events, claimed that women, men and children were used for the ceremony.
During the burial, the corpses of the dead soldiers were collected in one place and burned. At the same time, according to Slavic custom, they killed many adult prisoners, then several babies and roosters were strangled.
Human sacrifice took place not only at funerals. Titmar of Merseburg notes that the Pomor Slavs, upon their return from successful campaigns, certainly thanked their gods for success with the help of a bloody ritual.
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Slavery was not life-long
The surviving Polonyans could hope to return to their native lands. The Slavs had a tradition of releasing slaves, receiving a ransom. This outcome was considered the most favorable, as it was an effective and acceptable form of enrichment. The Roman and Byzantine elites took advantage of this opportunity, offering sometimes impressive sums to the Slavs for their relatives.
A prisoner could become a full member of society.
The use of slave power in running their own household was also practiced. But this outcome was less attractive. The main goal of the Slavs was the reward for the slaves who did not fall by lot on the sacrificial altar.
Slaves began to more often stay to work with the new master after the formation of large princely courts. But even having remained to work in a foreign land, without rights and property, the slaves had a real prospect of gaining freedom. As the Soviet historian V. Mavrodin writes, the captives did not remain slaves for life. After the expiration of the established period, such people became full members among the ants and sklavins, could have a family, and participate in public life. There was also an opportunity to return to their homeland, but if the ransom was not paid by relatives, then it had to be paid by yourself. Then the road home is open.
It should be noted that not only prisoners could become slaves, but also criminals, impoverished peasants, runaway purchases (peasants who took out a loan).
Vladimir Krasnoe Solnyshko was the son of a slave
Slavery did not mean hopeless poverty and humiliation for descendants, this was how ancient Russian society differed from other peoples, where stricter social precepts for children of slaves were dictated. A striking example of this was Vladimir Svyatoslavovich, the Baptist of Rus. The mother of an iconic historical personality - Malusha - was a slave. She served Princess Olga as a housekeeper.
The housekeeper of Princess Olga gave birth to Vladimir Svyatoslavovich, the Grand Duke and Baptist of Russia.
Sometimes the ram was valued higher than the meadow grass
Human trafficking was profitable, so the Slavs continued to make military campaigns, including capturing live goods. According to the provisions of the Raffelstetten customs regulations, the fee for a slave was approximately equal to the fee for a horse.
It was possible to buy a girl at the price of cattle, and sometimes even cheaper, depending on the market situation and geography.
Manages to get an idea of the individual value of the slaves. On average, the Kiev price of a man was an amount identical to 45-90 grams of gold, women were sold much cheaper - their cost was 50-70% lower, and no more than 10 grams of gold was given for an old man or child. In the Constantinople slave market, the price of living goods doubled, as was the case in the Mediterranean megalopolises specializing in the slave trade.
The farther from the big cities, the cheaper it was to buy a slave. Also, the fall in prices was affected by the success of the campaign and the number of newly captured. So, in the middle of the XII century, when the Novgorodians enslaved especially many people from the neighboring principality, a slave girl could be purchased for 2 legs. This is 3 times cheaper than a pig or a sheep.
There were no slave markets in Russia
Although the slave trade was a profitable business, it did not become one of the most significant areas of the economy in the Old Russian state. The merchants exported mainly traditional goods: sables, tin, wax and "a number of slaves." This testimony of the traveler Muhammad Ibn Hawkal confirms that the slave trade in Russia has not received much development.
One of the largest in the world was the slave market in Rome. In the Old Russian state, such markets did not function.
This is also evidenced by the lack of specialized markets. Live goods were transported to Constantinople, Bulgaria or the Crimea, where human trafficking was carried out much more actively.
The slave market in Constantinople.
Careful exploitation of slave labor
The working conditions of slaves in the Old Russian state cannot be compared with those in Greece or the Roman Empire. Meager disgusting food, exhausting work, coercion with a whip, premature death from exhaustion - this did not threaten slaves in Russia.
Slaves in Russia were not mutilated and were well fed.
According to historians, the Slavs exploited slave labor without harming the health of a powerless person. A slave could be entrusted with hard work, or one that was considered unworthy for a full member of the community. But in this case it is impossible to talk about exhaustion or injury. As a rule, the slave worked together with his master.
