Historical Reality and Context

Slavery was one of the most widespread institutions of the ancient world. In the first century BCE, when the Asterix stories are set, both Romans and Gauls lived in societies where slavery was considered a normal part of life. Enslaved people were essential to the economy, the army, agriculture, and household service. Understanding how slavery functioned in that era provides vital context for reading the Asterix adventures and for grasping how different, and yet disturbingly familiar, the ancient world could be.

Roman Slavery in the First Century BCE

Roman slavery reached its height during the late Republic, the very period of Caesar’s wars in Gaul. The Roman economy relied heavily on forced labor. Conquests brought tens of thousands of captives to Italy and beyond. The philosopher Seneca once wrote, “They are slaves? No, they are men,” a reminder that even in antiquity some Romans recognized the humanity of the enslaved, even if they did not question the institution itself.

Sources of Slaves

Most Roman slaves were prisoners of war. Every major campaign brought new captives into Roman markets. Julius Caesar’s conquest of Gaul alone may have resulted in hundreds of thousands of Gauls being enslaved. Others were born into slavery, as children of enslaved mothers automatically inherited that status. Pirates and traders also supplied the market, capturing people from the coasts of the Mediterranean and selling them to dealers in Delos, Ephesus, or Rome itself.

Debt slavery, known earlier in Roman history as nexum, had largely disappeared by this time for Roman citizens, but foreigners could still become slaves through debt or poverty. Self-sale, though rare, occurred in times of desperation.

Legal Status and Social Position

Under Roman law, an enslaved person was not considered a legal individual but property. The master had vitae necisque potestas—power of life and death—though by the late Republic, social custom and philosophy urged moderation. Slaves could not marry legally, own property, or appeal to the courts. Nevertheless, Roman slavery was diverse. Some worked in the fields and mines under horrific conditions, while others served as tutors, accountants, or doctors in the households of the wealthy.

Manumission, the act of freeing a slave, was common. A freed person, or libertus, could not hold high political office but could engage in business and even become wealthy. Their children were born free citizens. The poet Horace, one of Rome’s most celebrated writers, was himself the son of a freedman.

Everyday Life and Labour

Roman slaves worked in every sector of life. On large agricultural estates, or latifundia, slaves cultivated olives, grapes, and grain. In urban centers, slaves could be found in bakeries, workshops, bathhouses, or as personal attendants. In the mines of Spain and Sardinia, slaves endured deadly conditions extracting gold, silver, and other metals for the state. Educated slaves, often of Greek origin, could be trusted with teaching the master’s children or managing household accounts. Despite such differences, all were subject to sale, punishment, and complete dependence on their owner’s will.

Resistance and Revolt

The harshness of Roman slavery inevitably led to resistance. The first and second Servile Wars in Sicily during the second century BCE saw tens of thousands of slaves rebel. The third and most famous revolt was led by the gladiator Spartacus between 73 and 71 BCE. His army of escaped slaves defeated several Roman legions before being crushed by the general Crassus. In the aftermath, thousands of captured rebels were crucified along the Appian Way as a grim warning to others.

Cicero and other writers of the time saw these uprisings as threats to public order, not as moral crises. There was no abolitionist movement in the ancient world. Slavery was viewed as a natural and inevitable institution, sanctioned by custom and necessity.

Slavery Among the Gauls

The Gauls, before and during Caesar’s campaigns, also practiced forms of servitude. Julius Caesar describes Gallic society as divided into classes of nobles, druids, warriors, and commoners. Among the lower classes, debt bondage and dependence on powerful patrons were common. In Commentarii de Bello Gallico (Book VI), Caesar wrote: “The common people are almost in a condition of slavery; they give themselves into servitude to the nobles, who have all the power.”

Captives taken in intertribal wars were sold or kept as slaves, and debtors unable to repay their obligations could be forced into service. Archaeological finds—such as chains, shackles, and burial evidence—support the existence of slavery or severe dependence. However, Gallic slavery was less formalized than Roman slavery. The distinctions between a slave, a dependent, and a client could blur, depending on custom and region.

When Rome conquered Gaul, the practice of slavery expanded and became integrated into the Roman system. Many Gauls were taken as slaves to Italy, while others adopted Roman customs and themselves became slave owners.

No Movements to Abolish Slavery

It is important to stress that in the first century BCE, slavery was almost universally accepted. Philosophers like Aristotle had argued centuries earlier that some people were “natural slaves,” destined to serve others. Although Stoic thinkers such as Seneca or Epictetus (himself a freed slave) emphasized moral equality, they did not propose ending slavery. The idea that all people should be free was virtually unthinkable in the ancient world.

Comparison with Later Forms of Slavery

Although ancient slavery and modern slavery share the same core injustice—ownership and exploitation of human beings—there are major differences in ideology, structure, and scale.

The Roman system was not based on race. Enslaved people came from all parts of the Mediterranean world: Gaul, Greece, Syria, Africa, and beyond. They could sometimes be freed and even rise in social status. In contrast, the transatlantic slave trade of the 16th to 19th centuries was built explicitly on racial ideology. Africans were enslaved for life, their children born into slavery, and their freedom systematically denied. Race became the defining factor, a lasting scar on modern history.

The Arab slave trade, which extended from the 7th century to the 19th, involved millions of Africans, Europeans, and Asians. It often integrated slaves into households or military service, sometimes allowing paths to freedom or social mobility, but still perpetuated exploitation and human suffering.

In Asia, forms of servitude and bonded labor were also widespread, from India’s caste-related bondage to China’s penal slavery. In pre-Columbian and colonial South America, slavery and forced labour existed long before and after European conquest.

Today, slavery continues illegally in new forms. The International Labour Organization estimates nearly 50 million people worldwide live under conditions of forced labor or forced marriage. Although outlawed in every country, modern slavery persists in human trafficking, debt bondage, and child exploitation—proof that the struggle against slavery is not a relic of history but an ongoing moral battle.

Moral Reflections

The Romans themselves occasionally recognized the moral contradiction of slavery. Seneca advised his readers to treat their slaves kindly, writing: “Remember that the man you call your slave sprang from the same seed, enjoys the same sky, breathes the same air.” Yet he and others accepted slavery as inevitable. Freedom (libertas) was prized as a Roman ideal, but it applied only to citizens, not humanity at large.

In Gaul, as in Rome, freedom and dependence were relative concepts. A Gallic nobleman might command clients and slaves while being himself subject to a Roman governor. The idea of universal freedom would not emerge until many centuries later.

Slavery in Asterix’s World

Asterix and the Mansions of the Gods humorously reflects the tensions of slavery and freedom in antiquity. The Roman architects and their enslaved laborers. Though treated with humor, the story is rooted in historical truth: slaves built the monuments, villas, and infrastructure of Rome’s empire, and their longing for freedom was real. In Asterix and the Laurel Wreath Asterix and Obelix sell themselves as slaves. Slaves revolt and escape in Obelix all at Sea. In quite a few books we slaves at the oars of Roman galleys.

Conclusion

Slavery in the time of Asterix was a complex institution that underpinned both Roman and Gallic societies. It differed from later forms of slavery in its lack of racial ideology and its more fluid social mobility, yet it shared the same essential injustice: the reduction of human beings to property. By placing ancient slavery in its broader historical and global context, we gain a clearer understanding of how deeply rooted and destructive the institution has been throughout history—and why the freedom the Gauls so proudly defend in the Asterix stories carries such lasting meaning.