y difficult. The custom was not made illegal until AD 374. Abandoned children usually either died or were made slaves. The owners themselves sometimes found the infants, either by accident or design. At other times they received them from finders who knew of their need. But there are also signs in the papyri of the availability of infants on request. Individuals who were part of the slave trade either collected abandoned babies for later sale themselves or bought them from others who found them.
             Some of the methods that were used in Greco-Roman slavery were also employed in Africa. The earliest slaves were captives taken in warfare. Most slaves appear to have been the property of kings, priests, and temples, and only a relatively small proportion were in private possession. They were employed to till the fields and tend the flocks of their royal and priestly masters but otherwise seem to have played little role in economic production, which was mostly left to small farmers, tenants, and sharecroppers and to artisans and journeymen.
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