Eksport niewolników pochodzących z Europy barbarzyńskiej na teren cesarstwa rzymskiego

Abstrakt

N a obszarach Europy położonych poza granicami Imperium Romanum odkrywana jest ogromna ilość tzw. importów rzymskich, czyli różnego rodzaju wytworów wyprodukowanych na terenie państwa rzymskiego. Są to monety, naczynia metalowe, szklane i gliniane (terra sigittata), miecze i szklane paciorki. Trzeba też pamiętać, że pewne kategorie importów tylko wyjątkowo pozostawiają po sobie jakieś ślady, np. różnego rodzaju wyroby z materiałów organicznych, (tkaniny, wyroby drewniane, jak puzderka i skrzyneczki) oraz wino. Wyroby z brązu oraz z metali szlachetnych wykonywane na miejscu, w Barbaricum, były produkowane z surowca, który prawdopodobnie pochodził prawie w całości z terenu państwa rzymskiego. Wśród importów znajdowały się tanie, masowe wytwory rzemiosła rzymskiego, czasami należące nawet do kategorii tzw. tandety, z drugiej zaś strony wyroby cenne, a nawet czasami bardzo cenne.<br>EXPORT OF SLAVES OF BARBARIC EUROPEAN ORIGIN TO THE TERRITORY OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. It is difficult to determine what the Romans imported from Barbaricum in exchange for the goods leaving the borders of Imperium Romani. Dealing with the question of "the Roman foreign trade" we have to remember that there are two separate notions: longdistance and close to the border barter. From Barbaricum the Romans imported mainly amber. Furs became an important article in foreign trade no sooner than the second half of the 4th century, when barbarians started to settle on the territory of the Roman Empire. From Barbaricum the Romans also imported slaves. Information about this import is very scarce. In many cases we cannot be certain whether this was the result of trade in the bordering areas or far from the borders of the Empire. During some periods the Romans brought slaves from the wars fought on the territories over Rhone and Dunabe. The shackles, found recently in a German settlement in Bavenstedt, (the district of Hildesheim Lower Saxonia), are evidence for the import of slaves from Germania. In his Germania Tacitus writes about the existence of slavery among the Germanic people, or rather about a certain category of dependency. There are also a few literary texts and inscriptions mentioning German, Dacian and Sarmatian slaves brought to the Empire from out of the Roman borders. The import of slaves from abroad was important not only from the perspective of the Romans but also the barbaric world. The majority of slaves coming from Barbaricum were acquired as a result of wars among the Germanic peoples. Ancient sources give much information about different military conflicts in the barbaric world. This kind of information rarely found the way to the Roman historiography and only the cases when the event was of any interest to the Romans. The wars among barbarian peoples were the source of prisoners of war, who were later sold to the Romans as slaves. The Germans, according to Tacitus's Germania eagerly sold out slaves from among their own people. There also existed squads (comitatus) specialising in looting and in some cases operating in a vast area. They organised hunts for people, who were then sold to the Romans. Thus, there were possibilities of acquiring slaves on the territory of Barbaricum. We cannot be certain that some of them did not come from the territory of today's Poland, especially from its southern part.