History Buffs - question on slavery, and not just in the US

Historically, when slaves were caught and sold into slavery, were they "marked" in any way to note that they were slaves? I mean like with a permanent tattoo, branding, or some other device?

I'm asking this because I'm running a D&D game where the players are fighting against slavers... so, I was wondering if somebody that is a slave, or had been a slave in the past, would have some sort of marking on them to indicate their status? (i.e., the players find a group of escaped slaves who are planning on conducting a raid into the lands of the evil slave-trading theocracy - the escaped slaves have bonded to each other by getting a slash tattooed over their slave markings)

Thanks

In the US slave states, it was assumed that any person of color was a slave.

I dont know of any groups that used tattoos, but I suppose it is possible. I believe the Romans used iron collars to show who was a slave. Collars, manacle, and chains were pretty common in a lot of societies.

If you are studying this for a D&D campaign, I might suggest reading the Guardians of the Flame series by Joel Rosenberg. The main characters in that series fight a long campaign against slavery. In that fantasy world, slaves are made to wear gold plated collars.

if they had a gold collar and escaped, they would obviously try to take it off as soon as possible. The same with any manacles or similar.

he gets pretty detailed about the slave guild, politics, and slavery as an economic force; and what happens to them when slavery is outlawed/removed.

Unfortunately, that means I might get around to actually reading it some time in 2012 or 2013... :-(

I'm sure it would mean some drastic changes if slaves were suddenly freed on a massive scale. But, freeing the slaves and toppling an evil theocracy bent on world domination are laudable goals.

magical ability, Girdles of Giant Strength, Ioun Stones, and Portable Hole filled with Artifacts.

:7

each a tooth of Vecna, so they keep their numbers at an even 32...

and maybe a Deck of Many Things as well.

had a story on what appeared to be a large "coin."

Turns out it was a marker identifying the wearer as the slave of a carpenter here in NC. It was worn like a dog tag.

Although, that might not be as dramatic as a tattoo or a brand for your story.

(mainly Africans) slaves during the period of trans-Atlantic enslavement (or Maafa). Sometimes there were several brandings, e.g. for the Portuguese crown and the (consecutive) private owner(s), an extra cross after baptisement) as well as by African slave catchers.
To a slaveowner it would be logical to mark his property on two legs just like cattle, or even more since humans are more adroit at escaping.

The Greeks branded slaves with a Delta, Δ, for Δουλος doulos "slave".

Runaway slaves were marked by the Romans with the letter F (for fugitivus)."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_branding

I had googled "slave markings" or similar and ended up finding a bunch of sites that were not very appropriate for viewing at work (like S&M type sites)