In the Ancient world, most of the slaves were usually foreigners, prisoners of war, debt slaves, and children sold for or of slaves. Merchants or pirates captured and traded them from shore to shore. Slaves usually had their own skills dedicated to a private household, mines, factories, farms, royal administration, or the government's city projects. Despite the era, slave lives were either fairly treated or inhumanely mistreated by whipping or branding as property of their owners, and the owners would never be punished for it. However, in some places, slaves had the ability to be freed. For example, in Rome, it was known as the manumission, when the slaves could be freed and granted a citizenship after some time of dedicating their work to the owner or paying a desirable amount of money to the owner and Egypt also granted freedom after serving for their owners even though the slave trade was limited in this region.

1. General Nature of Ancient Slavery