Chattel slavery’s name should tell you it’s ancient. The Old French chatel comes from Latin capitalis, meaning “of the head”. Chattel referred to movable property in general—the word “cattle” also comes from capitalis. In ancient Rome, slaves and cows were both chattel—or to use another word from the same root, they were both capital, wealth that can be bought and sold.
Slavery has always been horrible, and where slaves were cheap, their lives were short and brutal. In Africa and the Americas, the unluckiest slaves were killed in displays of their owners’ wealth or religious devotion. The British Museum’s Slavery in ancient Rome tells us: