>Why build machines at great scale when there is so much almost free human labor?
Slaves weren't free. At least in the early United States, slaves were considered a significant investment; only rich plantation (land) owners could afford them. If they were cheap, then everyone would have had one. Here's an interesting article about the topic:
A typical slave in the US in the early 1800s cost several hundred dollars, which in today's dollars is between $60k and $184k. Obviously, this isn't something typical people can afford.
I'm not sure if slaves were this expensive back in ancient Greek or Roman times, but I suspect it probably wasn't that different.
Industrialization would have completely changed the economics of these places.
>I'm not sure if slaves were this expensive back in ancient Greek or Roman times, but I suspect it probably wasn't that different.
The price fluctuated heavily. After a successful conquest slaves were way more affordable. Generally, a lot of people were able to afford slaves, so it was cheaper on average too. It was also place-dependent, compare for example Athens where roughly half of the population was free, and Sparta, where most of the population was enslaved.
And of course even when slaves were expensive, most economically important labor was done by them anyway.
If the slaves in Sparta far outnumbered the native population of Spartans, what exactly kept them from revolting and taking over? Was it just because the Spartans were all trained as warriors?
My point though was about the early days. There were no machines like that available, just slaves and animals. As long as there were slaves was there an incentive to develop this level of mechanization?
Slaves weren't free. At least in the early United States, slaves were considered a significant investment; only rich plantation (land) owners could afford them. If they were cheap, then everyone would have had one. Here's an interesting article about the topic:
https://www.measuringworth.com/slavery.php
A typical slave in the US in the early 1800s cost several hundred dollars, which in today's dollars is between $60k and $184k. Obviously, this isn't something typical people can afford.
I'm not sure if slaves were this expensive back in ancient Greek or Roman times, but I suspect it probably wasn't that different.
Industrialization would have completely changed the economics of these places.