ABSTRACT
Slavery is a cruel institution, however, in the ancient world, it was common practice to own slaves. Some slaves would live with a family and do domestic work, while others would work for their owners in small businesses. Most evidence for slavery comes from Athens. Slavery existed in other Greek states but, in Sparta, slavery took an unusual form. Greeks believed passionately in their own freedom, yet they accepted the concept of slavery. For example, today's society disapproves of the evil of slavery, but the fact that slavery was normal in Greek times does not mean that one should dismiss everything that the Greeks achieved. Some of these slaves carried out ordinary roles such as road building or street cleaning. Others were used to guard prisoners and carry out executions. There were also ten temple repairers at the sanctuary of Eleusis, and slaves with the responsible role of clerks or keepers of the city archive.
