The article “Degrees of Freedom: Slavery in Mid-First Millennium BC Babylonia” the author, H.D. Baker examines slaves of the Egibi family in Babylonia throughout the sixth and fifth centuries BC. Baker points out the status of slaves, the ways of gaining slaves, the freeing of slaves, the work and the age of beginning to work for slaves, the escaping of slaves, and the ownership of slaves by women. While there is not a lot mentioned in the status of slaves, it is made clear that there different levels of slaves even among themselves. Slaves could come to reside in a house through a slave being born in that house, which most were as revealed by the sales of whole families, as well as a slave who was purchased; Baker brings up the topic of enslavement
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The research can easily interpreted by more than just the academic community, however the research has a greater relevancy to those within the field. The research can be used by more generalized audiences to understand human though process and what can be viewed as being important in ownership. The article also suggest that society was not as completely harsh as one might perceive from documents like Hammurabi’s code, regardless of the age differences. The idea of an eye for an eye is the common place reference when referring to …show more content…
The author never really made any sort of argument about the family or the slaves with in. The author’s greatest folly was the manner in which he wrote the topic of slave status, he left more questions about where exactly a slave of a wealthy family might differ from a slave of a poor family or a slave of a royal family. The author left the reader with “The status of slaves and their role in society must be inferred from close examination of the sources and the terminology used, since no contemporary description is available”. Baker does a magnificent job in the explanation of the sections Manumission, The identification of slaves, Slaves at work, and Women as slave owners. These sections provided a clear understanding of the subjects. The author’s data while all being of the same subject doesn’t seem to flow well, the way in which the author presented the information seems disjointed only presenting the information for each section without any regard to the other sections of the article. The data allows for the information regarding more of the under workings of the Mesopotamian
The research can easily interpreted by more than just the academic community, however the research has a greater relevancy to those within the field. The research can be used by more generalized audiences to understand human though process and what can be viewed as being important in ownership. The article also suggest that society was not as completely harsh as one might perceive from documents like Hammurabi’s code, regardless of the age differences. The idea of an eye for an eye is the common place reference when referring to …show more content…
The author never really made any sort of argument about the family or the slaves with in. The author’s greatest folly was the manner in which he wrote the topic of slave status, he left more questions about where exactly a slave of a wealthy family might differ from a slave of a poor family or a slave of a royal family. The author left the reader with “The status of slaves and their role in society must be inferred from close examination of the sources and the terminology used, since no contemporary description is available”. Baker does a magnificent job in the explanation of the sections Manumission, The identification of slaves, Slaves at work, and Women as slave owners. These sections provided a clear understanding of the subjects. The author’s data while all being of the same subject doesn’t seem to flow well, the way in which the author presented the information seems disjointed only presenting the information for each section without any regard to the other sections of the article. The data allows for the information regarding more of the under workings of the Mesopotamian