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Fig 1. Loutrophoros of Polystratos, c. 380-70 BCE. National Archaeological Museum, Athens. NAMA 3743. Marsyas, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Description
Description
Marble loutrophoros (plural loutrophoroi) found in Piraeus, currently located at the National Archaeological Museum in Athens (NAMA 3743). Decorated with a relief depicting the deceased Polystratos dressed in his hoplite kit (centre) shaking hands with his father, Philopolis (left). A mourning woman (not pictured) stands behind Philopolis. An enslaved attendant (right) follows Polystratos, carrying his shield. The status of this attendant as an enslaved person is identifiable by their diminutive stature and Phrygian-style headwear.
Loutrophoroi are tall ceramic vessels primarily used to transport water for baths in marital rituals. They were also often placed in the tombs of those who had died before marriage. In both of these contexts the loutrophoroi would have been filled and carried by an enslaved servant. Large replicas of these vessels, like this one, carved out of stone were used as funerary stelae for those who died without getting married. Such monuments are decorated with paintings or reliefs depicting scenes of mourning, domestic relationships, and (for men) departures for war.
Context
Context
Like in most aspects of their society, the ancient Greeks relied heavily on the use of enslaved labour when waging war. The scene depicted on the Loutrophoros of Polystratos (Fig. 1) gives a glimpse into a crucial component of Greek warfare. The typical Greek army during the classical period consisted of hoplites, soldiers armed with a large shield and spear who fought in a tight formation called a phalanx. Each hoplite was accompanied by at least one enslaved attendant (Thuc. 3.17) who would carry the heavy armour and weapons of their enslavers when not in battle. The depiction of the enslaved attendant on the loutrophoros is intended to emphasise the wealth and prestige that Polystratos would have had as a hoplite, reducing the enslaved individual to a status symbol. In addition to these arms-bearers, there would have been many enslaved peoples working in the military encampments and supply trains. Thus the number of enslaved participants in any military campaign would have greatly outnumbered that of citizen soldiers.
In addition to acting as attendants, enslaved peoples were utilized as supplementary combatants in many Greek armies and navies. Enslaved warriors would have largely acted as light infantry to reinforce the heavily-armed hoplites. In his account of the Greco-Persian War, the historian Herodotus states that each Spartan warrior was accompanied by seven Helots (Hdt. 9.28.2), Peloponnesian Greeks who had been subjugated by Sparta. If Herodotus is to be believed, this would amount to around 35,000 Helots. The crews of naval ships were often comprised of many enslaved rowers. In crew lists of Athenian triremes (oar-propelled warships) found on the Acropolis (IG I3 1032), the names of enslaved peoples greatly outnumber that of citizens. The Athenian general and historian Thucydides notes the massive loss of enslaved seamen as being a major component in the downfall of the Athenian navy (Thuc. 7.13.2).
Despite the fact that enslaved peoples are understood to have been a major part of Greek warfare, they are largely overlooked by contemporary Greek sources. The Roman-era geographer Pausanias states that enslaved peoples never took part in war until the Battle of Marathon in 490 BCE (Paus. 1.32.3) even though evidence shows their involvement centuries prior. Some scholars argue that these omissions are due to incompatibilities in the ideology of the Greek polis (see Hunt, 1998). While the names of Polystratos and Philopolis are inscribed over their heads on this lotrophoros, the enslaved individual is left unidentified (Fig. 2). Many Greeks, especially the Athenians, were uncomfortable with the idea of enslaved soldiers as they believed that warfare was the realm of the warrior-citizen, who was defined by being the opposite of an enslaved person.
With the notable exception of the Spartan Helots, the vast majority of enslaved peoples in the Greek world would have not been Greek themselves. The outfit worn by the attendant of Polystratos suggests that this individual was originally from Asia Minor or Thrace. Many Greeks, such as Aristotle (Arist. Pol. 1.1252b), Hippocrates (Hip. Aer. 16), and Isocrates (Isoc. 4 181) describe non-Greeks as being “natural slaves”, people who are innately cowardly, weak and lazy. Such beliefs greatly contributed to the view that enslaved peoples were fundamentally unfit for war held by many Greeks, especially those of higher status.
Further Reading
Further Reading
Akrigg, B. 2019. Population and Economy in Classical Athens. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Brown, C.L., and P.D. Morgan, eds. 2008. Arming Slaves: From Classical Times to the Modern Age. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Ducrey, P. 2016. “Slaves and War.” In The Oxford Handbook of Greek and Roman Slaveries, edited by S. Hodkinson, M. Kleijwegt, and K. Vlassopoulos. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hunt, P.A. 1998. Slaves, Warfare, and Ideology in the Greek Historians. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press.
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