Timeline Event
Númenóreans begin to enslave the Men of Middle-earth (estimated date)
Event Type: Military/Strategic
Age: Akallabêth/Last Alliance
Year: 3269
Description:
... Death did not depart from the land, rather it came sooner and more often ... And men took weapons in those days and slew one another for little cause; for they were become quick to anger, and Sauron..., went about the land setting man against man, so that the people murmured against the King and the lords, or against any that had aught that they had not; and the men of power took cruel revenge.
Nonetheless for long it seemed to the Númenóreans that they prospered, and if they were not increased in happiness, yet they grew more strong, and their rich men ever richer. For with the aid and counsel of Sauron they multiplied their possessions, and they devised engines, and they built ever greater ships. And they sailed now with power and armoury to Middle-earth, and they came no longer as bringers of gifts, nor even as rulers, but as fierce men of war. And they hunted the men of Middle-earth and took their goods and enslaved them, and many they slew cruelly upon their altars. For they built in their fortresses temples and great tombs in those days; and men feared them, and the memory of the kindly kings of the ancient days faded from the world and was darkened by many a tale of dread.
Thus Ar-Pharazôn..., grew to the mightiest tyrant that had yet been in the world since the reign of Morgoth, though in truth Sauron ruled all from behind the throne.
The Silmarillion, Akallabêth
Thus the fleets of the Númenóreans moved against the menace of the West; and there was little wind, but they had many oars and many strong slaves to row beneath the lash.
The Silmarillion, Akallabêth
[Note: the date is an estimate, set to follow the event Númenóreans begin to sacrifice the Faithful in the Temple.]
Contributors:
Elena Tiriel 15Nov05
