Livestock was also a sound.
investment which would include sheep and goats. Their main agricultural crops were.
grain, vines, or olives. These were the three main staples of their lives. Some farms were.
run by sharecropping but this involved constant surveillance to make sure no one was.
cheating. Another alternative was slave labor. Some were shackled and some were not. .
These slaves were encouraged to breed because their offspring could either be raised to.
work on the farm or could be sold at a good price. Some mothers were even rewarded.
with freedom for having four children. .
Although most of the farms were huge operations, there were still peasants around.
that would raise grain, vines, and vegetables for the local markets. Most of the larger.
farms weren't run by their actual owners, but by tenants or slaves.
The farmers practiced dry farming where they would plow their land at least three.
times a year. The plow would barely break the soils surface so that no moisture would.
escape from the land.
The livestock was not too different from that of today's. There were sheep and.
goats, and often pigs. They kept honey bees for the ancient world's sugar. Their work.
animals included oxen that plowed fields and pulled carts. Horses were rarely used for.
work because they were very expensive.
Their tools are all familiar just not as high tech as ours. They would use a plow,.
harrow, spade, mattock, hoe, rake, scythe and sickle, and a threshing board.
.
The Slave.
In the beginning slavery was started after war when a winning side decided to.
capture all the losers and make them work instead of killing them. In the beginning of the.
sixth century B.C. there was a change. They were no longer just had regular jobs like.
maids, gardeners, or nurses, they now worked in mines and fields. It didn't all change.
though. Some were cashiers, clerks, or even the captain of a cargo or ship. .
Most of these slaves led a different kind of life than what I would think of as slave.