From: Arnaud Fournet
Message: 60919
Date: 2008-10-15
----- Original Message -----
From: "bmscotttg" <BMScott@...>
>
>> Communis opinio is that it didn't happen in Rome because they had
>> plenty of slaves, so why bother?
>
> I doubt that it's communis opinio amongst historians. The
> technological prerequisites for an industrial revolution were
> unavailable. I also suspect that the Romans lacked the economic
> resources to industrialize.
>
> Brian
>
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The notion that Rome had "plenty of slaves" is questionable.
The death rate among slaves can be estimated at 20 to 35% per Year
depending on the harshness of their conditions of living.
So there was more a permanent shortage than a surplus of slaves.
And I suppose Romans or Greeks had no idea that machines could make slave
work easier.
Arnaud
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