奴隶的人身、权利与生产生活资料属于奴隶主，是奴隶主的私有财产，从事生产与劳动，其生杀予夺之权尽归于奴隶主。奴隶在中国商周时期的社会记录中占据重要的篇幅，在当时主要的书写载体——甲骨中刻写了很多关于奴隶的字。通过观察这些字的字形可以了解其造意及其蕴含的文化含义。本文选取的尾、隶、奚、仆羌五个字，从其甲骨或金文字形的构造出发，通过商周时期奴隶的异族着装特征、奴隶的外族属性、奴隶的捕获方法与途径、奴隶的刑罚以及古时特有的奴隶的人牲人祭的角度分析了其各自所含有的文化意蕴。在本文的分析中，“尾”由原始部落图腾崇拜演变为代表奴隶身份重要的服装特征;“隶”蕴含着奴隶制度下奴隶不堪重压不断逃亡的反抗史;“奚”与商周时期异族奴隶迥异于华夏民族的辫发习俗有关;透过“仆”的构造可以窥见商周奴隶遭受的刑罚;“羌”字则最为鲜明地表现了奴隶制度的血腥和奴隶无法拥有自主人权的本质特征。
China was a slave society in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties. There are many words about slaves in the existing oracle bone inscriptions.By observing the form of these characters, we can understand their meanings and the cultural meanings contained in them. This paper selects five characters: wei, li, xi, pu and qiang,and analyzes the structure of its oracle bone inscriptions or bronze inscriptions.This paper analyzes the cultural implication of the slaves in the Shang and Zhou dynasties from the characteristics of the slaves foreign clothing, the characteristics of the slaves foreign nationality, the methods and ways of the slaves‘ capture, the punishment of the slaves and the unique human sacrifice of the slaves. In the analysis of this paper, “Wei” has evolved from the totem worship of primitive tribes to an important costume feature representing the identity of slaves. “Li” contains the history of the slave‘s resistance to escape under the pressure of slavery. “Xi” is related to the custom of braiding hair of slaves of different nationalities in Shang and Zhou dynasties. Through the structure of “Xi”, we can see the punishment of slaves in Shang and Zhou Dynasties. “Qiang” is the most obvious expression of the bloody slavery system and slaves can not have the essential characteristics of human rights.
1. 绪论
2. 商周时期的奴隶制度
3. 商周奴隶相关的古文字分析
4. 结语