Demosioi
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''Demosioi'' or ''Demosii'' (, singular ''Demosios'') generally referred to a class of public
slaves Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...
in the system of
slavery in ancient Greece Slavery was a widely accepted practice in ancient Greece, as it was in contemporaneous societies. The principal use of slaves was in agriculture, but they were also used in stone quarries or mines, as domestic servants, or even as a public ut ...
at
Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...
, who were bought and owned by the state itself. They may in some cases have been privately-owned slaves leased to the state. Their legal status in the Athenian state was complicated. ''Demosios'' was a word that meant "public" or "of the state", but when used in the plural generally referred to this social class of public slaves. However the word had other applications. Some priesthoods were referred to as ''demosioi'', presumably not because they were slaves, but on account of some state relationship. The word could also be used -- as in the phrase ''demosioi aethloi'' -- to refer to the various athletic games sponsored by the state.


Classes of ''demosioi''

Scholar S. Waszynski proposed the ''demosioi'' were divided into three classes: * ''scythai'', who formed a sort of
police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...
force * ''ergatai'', common workers who toiled at
forced labour Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, or violence, including death or other forms of ...
* ''hyperetai'', held positions of trust as assistants to the officials and governments of the state, or who were skilled in some exceptional way ''Scythai'', ''ergatai'', and some lower classes of ''hyperetai'' were compensated at subsistence levels and lived in barracks provided by the state, while some higher classes of ''hyperetai'' appear to have made a competitive daily wage and were accorded some measure of independence unusual for a slave.


Functions of ''demosioi''

''Demosioi'' held several different roles in public life, and performed a number of tasks useful to the state. There was apparently a "standard" punishment for ''demosioi'' who had committed some infraction or failed in their duties in some way, of fifty lashes.


Policing

The most numerous class of ''Demosioi'' were the ''toxotai'' (τοξόται) or ''scythai'' (Σκύθαι), a force of police armed with bows and also called ''Speusinioi'' (Σπευσίνιοι) from the first organizer of the service, who served under officers called ''toxarchoi'' (τόξαρχοι). Their duty was to preserve order in the assembly, courts, public places, and public works. They were at first encamped in tents in the
agora The agora (; , romanized: ', meaning "market" in Modern Greek) was a central public space in ancient Ancient Greece, Greek polis, city-states. The literal meaning of the word "agora" is "gathering place" or "assembly". The agora was the center ...
, and afterwards removed to the
Areopagus The Areopagus () is a prominent rock outcropping located northwest of the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. Its English name is the Late Latin composite form of the Greek name Areios Pagos, translated "Hill of Ares" (). The name ''Areopagus'' also r ...
. Certain of them were in personal attendance on officials, for example the
Prytaneis The ''prytaneis'' (πρυτάνεις; sing.: πρύτανις ''prytanis'') were the executives of the '' boule'' of Ancient Athens. They served in a prytaneion. Origins When Cleisthenes reorganized the Athenian government in 508/7 BCE, he rep ...
, Probuli--especially police-officers: Astynomi, Agoranomi The corps dated from the year of the
Battle of Salamis The Battle of Salamis ( ) was a naval battle fought in 480 BC, between an alliance of Greek city-states under Themistocles, and the Achaemenid Empire under King Xerxes. It resulted in a victory for the outnumbered Greeks. The battle was fou ...
, that is, 480 BCE, when 300 were bought; they were later increased to 1200.


Court functionaries

Execution Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in ...
ers and
torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons including corporal punishment, punishment, forced confession, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimid ...
rs and similar roles, whether police or not, were also slaves. ''Demosioi'' were also employed in subordinate places in the assembly and courts, as checking-clerks (''antigrapheis'', or ἀντιγραφεῖς); their amenability to torture making them especially serviceable for such duties. The state undertook their training.


Treasury functionaries

''Demosioi'' served as slave workmen in the treasury and
mint Mint or The Mint may refer to: Plants * Lamiaceae, the mint family ** ''Mentha'', the genus of plants commonly known as "mint" Coins and collectibles * Mint (facility), a facility for manufacturing coins * Mint condition, a state of like-new ...
, and in the mines. Exceptional ''demosioi'' were also at times singled out and put in charge of things like
weights and measures A unit of measurement, or unit of measure, is a definite magnitude (mathematics), magnitude of a quantity, defined and adopted by convention or by law, that is used as a standard for measurement of the same kind of quantity. Any other qua ...
for a municipality. This role persisted until very late in the history of the
Roman empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...
, as '' demosioi zygostatai''.


Healthcare

''Demosioi iatroi'', or "public slave doctors", are attested in several texts of
Roman Egypt Roman Egypt was an imperial province of the Roman Empire from 30 BC to AD 642. The province encompassed most of modern-day Egypt except for the Sinai. It was bordered by the provinces of Crete and Cyrenaica to the west and Judaea, ...
. These were elected or hired or (if they were indeed slaves) bought by the state, to secure the permanent presence of medical professionals in their city. These appear to have possessed honors or privileges that seem to distinguish them from slaves, which leads some historians to suppose ''demosioi'' weren't slaves after all. These may have been of the upper class of ''hyperetai'' that were accorded a measure of independence and freedom. They may also have fulfilled a role more like public health officer,
medical examiner The medical examiner is an appointed official in some American jurisdictions who is trained in pathology and investigates deaths that occur under unusual or suspicious circumstances, to perform post-mortem examinations, and in some jurisdicti ...
, or
coroner A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into the manner or cause of death. The official may also investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within th ...
, than that of a
physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...
. This role of ''demosioi'' appears to be absent in the Greek state.


Socially unacceptable tasks

''Demosioi'' were also put to work doing tasks that were considered unsuitable to free citizens. At Arginusae, ''demosioi'' rowed in the galleys. Elsewhere, they worked in waste disposal, removal of the dead, the upkeep of public roads and waterways, among other tasks.


Debate

Some historians, such as Luciano Canfora and Gérard Walter, have suggested the ''demosioi'' were not in fact slaves but instead were a kind of public appointment, and the belief they were slaves comes about from mistranslation and misunderstanding of the scant texts we have that discuss ''demosioi''. Other historians suggest that only some of the ''demosioi'' were slaves, and others were public appointments. While some historians demur, "public slaves" remains the dominant translation of the term in modern texts.


References

Slavery in ancient Greece Labor history {{italic title