Re:An intact slave's room found in Pompeii's ruins
by kragen on Saturday November 06, 2021 @11:40PM
(#29136354)
Surely the miners tried to not die, but, being enslaved, they were under the command of people who didn't care if they died or not. Many kinds of mining have historically had very high fatality rates; even 300 years ago the mita to Potosi was basically a death sentence.
Re:An intact slave's room found in Pompeii's ruins
by mulmen on Saturday November 06, 2021 @05:43PM
(#29134065)
Huh? So, if the mine was unstable the slaves would do what exactly? Go work at another mine?
Re:An intact slave's room found in Pompeii's ruins
by catlikesshrimp on Saturday November 06, 2021 @10:42PM
(#29136059)
They would go on a Hunger Strike. If not killed first.
Re:An intact slave's room found in Pompeii's ruins
by kragen on Saturday November 06, 2021 @11:42PM
(#29136365)
Roman culture considered pity and sympathy to be weaknesses and obedience to be a virtue. Hunger strikes would not have been very effective, and we don't have any evidence of them having been used in Classical times.
Re:An intact slave's room found in Pompeii's ruins
by hugh-avherald on Saturday November 06, 2021 @05:10PM
(#29133830)
WW2 had plenty of examples of essentially slave labour with high levels of mortality.
I don't believe that. People who work in any activity will always learn what's dangerous and take precautions to avoid dying. 2,000 years is not as long a time length as we sometimes think, people then were pretty much exactly like us, except for their culture. And I don't think there's any culture where people don't tend to try to not die.