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The Ancients — How Slavery Built the Roman Empire
Scout ratingSCOUT· 69%1h 07m·2026-08-16·History

How Slavery Built the Roman Empire

The Ancients · 694

Was the Roman Empire really made by conquest? Or was it powered by something much darker? For centuries, millions of enslaved people sacrificed their lives and their labour on the altar of Roman progress, an integral cog in the grinding imperial machine. And so today on The Ancients, Tristan Hughes is joined by Dr…

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What people are saying

“I appreciate this channel facing difficult conversations head on. I’m sure some in the comments will respond out of reactive emotions, but they are important topics so thank you!”

— @Brad14397 · YouTube comment

“No Rome without enslaved people? How about, no _United States of America_ without enslaved people?”

— @5amH45lam · YouTube comment

“Slavery was absolutely normal in the classical age, the romans didn’t accept slavery, they took it for granted. Organised Slavery is also ubiquitous in virtually every single civilisation in the entire planet for all history except very mod…”

— @OutlawedSpank · YouTube comment

“the topic is definitely under-investigated due to lack of sources but it would be really interesting to have a discussion panel with different scholars sharing their perspectives on slavery of different areas of ancient world: Egypt, Greece…”

— @ulagudel · YouTube comment

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