When we describe early economic history, we use labels like "traders from Venice" and "merchants from Greece" but in reality, these merchants were wealthy business men (and sometimes women) who traveled from place to place on dangerous voyages, earning their individual reputations with everyone who saw or met with them. To describe a trader only by their home civilization would be like calling Kim Kardashian "a merchant from the US" (example thanks to class discussion).
In the early bronze and iron ages, these traders would often exchange valuable items with one another, but it was important that these goods be highly valuable between the cultures and needs of many civilizations. The Etruscans are known by historians very well for two goods: metals (incredibly important to the /bronze/ and /iron/ ages) as well as salt from Etruscan salt mines, a valuable preservative. However, there is a third good which is much less comfortable to discuss, yet equally, if not sometimes more valuable: slaves.
The Etruscan model of slavery was very different from the common idea that exists in the modern world of the same term. Firstly, the manner of acquiring them was very different. While warfare and village raiding still happened like in any other civilization, the Etruscans found that valuable slaves were best chosen at a small scale or even individually. They valued unique physical attributes and beauty, sourcing the slaves from Thrace, the Middle East, and even Gaul. Another way slaves were sourced was via enemies of the traders. Kidnapping the wife or children of a rival was a show of great power, and if not sold for ransom would make incredibly valuable slaves. One young female slave was recorded to be worth as much as 20 cattle.
(Less than 20 cattle, but close enough.)
The fact that women and children were the prime selections brings us to the next attribute of Etruscan slaves: their purpose. Slaves were almost never used for hard physical labor, since such things would be considered a waste of a valuable asset. Slaves were used in the home, for light chores, entertainment, and sex. In fact, it is most likely the latter most use that caused the widespread sourcing and careful selection, for the purposes of extra reproduction. With unique features such as dark skin or red hair, the offspring of slaves would often be granted high status. It is likely that later portrayals of light haired Etruscan masters, seen in the photo below, are thanks to slaves from Gaul entering the gene pool.
While salt and metal may have been easy enough to find evidence of from archaeological digs, the proof for the existence and role of Etruscan slaves often rests in the negative space. Salt mines would have nearby graves of wealthy men but no evidence of slave work in them. Meanwhile, there was evidence for the trading of fine cloth, but in quantities that the wives and daughters almost certainly could not produce alone. It is interesting that we are so used to a singular idea of slavery that we have to remember that shackles and holding pens are not the only way to keep someone captive, because being isolated in a foreign culture can be just as confining. On that dark note, please enjoy some other blog posts!
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