As seen in the previous chapter, slaves might revolt at any time but the circumstances might not favour continued resistance for one reason or another. There was a good chance of a longer period of success when the slaves' masters were divided or at war. We do not know the circumstances of the breakout of the slaves on Chios, nor the exact date, although it seems probable that it was during the third century bce. We are told, however, that there were many slaves on Chios because Thucydides comments: “There were many slaves in Chios – more, in fact, than in any other city except Sparta”. Here, again, is one of the normal conditions for a successful breakout of slaves, that is, the presence of large numbers of them. It is more the maintenance of the revolt that concerns us here because, for once, we have some information about how the slaves maintained their rebellion. The slaves in Chios, unusually it would seem according to our evidence, entered into an agreement with their former masters to ensure their continued survival as a free group.

Athenaeus preserves this episode. In the voice of his interlocutor Democritus, in Deipnosophistae Book 6, he quotes the fourth to third century bce Greek historian Timaeus of Tauromenium, who had commented that in ancient times (ancient to him, that is) Greeks did not have slaves at all, but used younger members of their families to work for them.