Black Peoples of America - What is Slavery?
A slave is someone who is owned by another person.
A slave has:
A slave has to do what is asked of him by his master, usually this is work of some kind. Slaves are punished for not following their master's orders, working too slowly, or attempting to runaway. When we think of slavery today we think of the black Africans who were captured, sold into slavery and taken to the Americas to work on the plantations there.
This picture shows a slave who has been muzzled. Probably as a punishment for talking too much.This picture shows a slave who has been muzzled. Probably as a punishment for talking too much.
Slavery, as an institution, has a very long history. Indeed slaves were used to build the pyramids by the ancient Egyptians, by the Romans and by the Ancient Britons. Slavery was abolished in Britain in 1807.
This picture shows slaves in ancient Egypt carrying stones used to build the pyramidsThis picture shows slaves in ancient Egypt carrying stones used to build the pyramids
Sadly, slavery is not a thing of the past. In 1999, the International Labour Conference condemned the government of Myanmar (Burma) for their " ..widespread use of forced labor.." And throughout our modern world, women and young girls are forced into prostitution, while both children and adults work in near slavery conditions in sweat shops producing goods for the western world.
The Neo-Assyrian Empire used earthen ramps, siege towers and battering rams in sieges; the Greeks and Alexander the Great created destructive new engines known as artillery to further their sieges, and the Romans used every technique to perfection. That is to say, the Romans were not inventors, but they were superb engineers and disciplined, tough soldiers who fought against great odds and won, repeatedly.... Read More
Demetrius I, King of Macedon, invented many siege engines including battering rams and siege towers. For the Siege of Rhodes, he created the Helepolis, the Taker of Cities, a huge armored siege tower containing many heavy catapults.
The island city of Rhodes maintained its neutrality among the warring nations of the time, although it remained friendly to Ptolemy I of Egypt, the enemy of Demetrius of... Read More
In the first part of this series, we noted the siege equipment of the Assyrians consisted of complex battering rams, earthen ramps and a dedicated corps of engineers and sappers. Alexander the Great and the Greeks would take the next steps in the evolution of siege warfare. The Greeks had invented the catapult circa 399 B.C. Alexander innovated by fastening catapults and ballistas on the decks of ships to breach... Read More
While sieges had taken place earlier than the Neo-Assyrian Empire, such as that between Egyptian Pharoah Thutmose III and Canaanite rebels led by Kadesh at the Megiddo fortress in the 15th century B.C., the Assyrians perfected the art of siege warfare during the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 911 to 609 B.C.
Through war and conquest, Assyria became the most powerful empire the world had yet seen. After the... Read More
For one thousand years, chariots rolled through the Middle East, terrifying armies, destroying infantry lines and changing the face of war. Sumerians used heavy battlewagons with solid wheels drawn by wild asses around 2600 B.C. Until the innovation of spoked wheels, the weight of the battlewagons hindered their utility in war. The domestication of the horse inspired further chariot innovation as horses... Read More