GENERAL INTRODUCTION
SECTION ONE
M. I. Finley (Ancient Slavery and Modern Ideology, Penguin, 1983) identifies three
conditions for the emergence of a slave society:
1. The private ownership of land, with enough of it so concentrated in some hands
that the permanent work-force has to be supplied from sources other than the
immediate family
2. Well-developed production of marketable commodities
3. The lack of an internal supply of labour.
[Regarding the third condition, it may reasonably be asked why there was not a
sufficient internal labour supply. The answer, according to Finley, seems to lie not
in insufficient population, but in the development in both ancient societies of the
concept of the ‘free man’ or citizen, with his own plot of land and defined as ‘one
who neither lived under the constraint of, nor was employed for the benefit of,
another’.]
These three conditions all existed in both Athens and Rome well before the periods
studied. Consequently, the demand for slaves in both societies preceded the supply.
This is an important point to understand, since it is often assumed that slavery
simply arose from warfare, the victors converting their prisoners into slaves as an
alternative to killing them. While the unceasing warfare which characterised the
ancient world did mean a constant supply of slaves, enslavement of prisoners was not
the reason why wars were undertaken - rather, it was a highly profitable side-line
which made successful generals fabulously rich. Other sources were needed to
maintain a steady supply, and this led to a highly-developed regular trade in
‘barbarians’, usually bought from their own chieftains in the same way that Negro
slaves were to be obtained in modern times.
Some general points about slavery in Athens and Rome
• Slaves were possessions, ‘things’, human implements under the absolute control
of their owners; it was not the slave’s labour, but the slave himself that was the
commodity. In Roman law the slave was a res (thing), while the Greeks described
slaves by the collective noun andrapoda (‘man-footed things’).
• Slaves were also persons (in Aristotle’s definition, ‘property with a soul’) so that a
human, emotional relationship often arose between master and slave; such
relationships were quite different from those between employer and employee;
they were always unilateral, unequal since a master’s treatment of his property
was his prerogative - for destiny or fate had made the slave an inferior human
being. A Roman historian, referring to a slave revolt in Sicily, writes: ‘even the
CLASSICAL STUDIES
1
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
disgrace of a war fought against slaves can be tolerated; for although slaves are
liable to any kind of treatment through force of circumstances, nevertheless they
form a class of human beings - albeit an inferior class.’ [Florus, 2.8.1]
This idea of inferiority was demonstrated by humanitarian owners who treated
their slaves like overgrown children, referring to them as pais (Greek for ‘boy’) or
puer (Latin for ‘boy’).
• Slaves could have neither wives nor children – they could merely breed offspring
for their owners, like cattle.
• In a slave society, conversion of a person into a ‘thing’ is tolerable only for
complete outsiders (including the children born to slaves).
• Enslavement of outsiders and their conversion into property meant deracination
(= complete destruction of roots); hence those who were enslaved suffered loss of
name, loss of all the normal ties of kin and nation, even loss of gods - all this was
replaced by new focuses of attachment provided by the master and his society.
This loss of control over his own person and individuality extended to the infinity
of time, to the slave’s children and his children’s children (unless there was
manumission).
• Numbers: in 1860 around 33 per cent of the population in the southern states of
the USA were slaves; in ancient Athens at the end of the Fifth Century BC it is
estimated that the slave population was approximately 60,000, while in Italy at the
end of the Republic the figure was some 2 million, these figures representing
about 30-35 per cent of the respective populations.
• In all large-scale urban and rural establishments, whether Greek or Roman, the
permanent work force was made up of slaves; both Greek and Roman societies
also employed free, seasonal labour, especially in agriculture.
• Slave ownership was widely distributed among the free, appearing well down in
the social and economic scale; owning a slave was like owning a car today.
Neither the Greek nor the Roman world could conceive of a civilised society
without slaves; just as most people today accept without question the basic
features of their own society as essential to their way of life, so the Greeks and
Romans accepted slavery.
The Roman world
Slavery existed on a vast scale in the Roman world for more than eight centuries.
The conditions endured by many unskilled slaves were undoubtedly harsh; a life of
hard labour with the law merciless toward those who revolted or fled. However, over
such a long period of time there were developments. Inevitably there was a slow
decline in numbers as sources of supply dried up, and a greater reliance on homebred slaves rather than purchased foreigners. With this decline the attitude towards,
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CLASSICAL STUDIES
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
and treatment of, slaves became steadily more humane. The Stoic philosophy with
its doctrine of the brotherhood of man was particularly influential among the upper
classes and would have contributed towards a different perspective on slavery.
Augustus and his successors passed laws which protected slaves against the more
brutal forms of abuse: for example, although the testimony of slaves could be taken
only under torture, various restrictions, such as exemptions for women and children,
were gradually applied. The emperor Claudius removed from slave-owners the
power to kill or abandon sick slaves; Vespasian enacted that if a female slave was
made a prostitute, after being sold on the condition that she should not be made one,
she should be freed; under Hadrian private prisons for slaves were banned; the same
emperor sent a woman, who had shown excessive cruelty to her slave girls, into exile
for five years and made the killing of a slave without judicial sentence illegal; and
Antoninus Pius made anyone who killed a slave liable to prosecution for homicide.
The Christian writer Tertullian (2nd - 3rd century AD) records that masters began
to allow slaves to marry, while other evidence shows a growing tendency not to sell
slave-husbands separately from their wives and offspring.
The legislation of the emperors, and Tertullian’s comments also provide an
illuminating commentary on the way slaves must have commonly been treated. But
in all this it should be remembered that the institution of slavery was never
condemned, questioned or criticised. Rather the prevailing morality of the day may
have seen it as the good man’s duty to be a kind master, much in the way modern
society is concerned with issues of animal welfare and has initiated correspondingly
humane legislation. On the slave-side, it is impossible to assess what slaves
themselves thought of the institution – it would be wrong to assume a widespread
view among slaves that it was a social and natural evil. Probably the condition of
slavery was simply accepted by the vast majority of slaves; some would have accepted
their servitude in a mood of sullen reluctance; others may even have had a positive
outlook - for example, city slaves in rich households who enjoyed better conditions
than free paupers, and had the prospect of eventual manumission. Without some
such acceptance by the majority of slaves the institution could not have survived.
Aristotle’s justification of slavery
The common viewpoint of ancient society was that slaves were naturally inferior.
The philosopher Aristotle put this idea into a theory of slavery, of which the
following is an extract.
First of all let us speak about the master-slave relationship ... Some
people consider the function of a master as being a definite science, ...
while others view it as contrary to nature, since it is only by convention
that one man is a slave and another is free, and there is no natural
difference, and that therefore it is unjust since it is the result of
compulsion.
The nature and essential quality of the slave [is this]: one who is a
human being and belongs by nature not to himself but to another is by
CLASSICAL STUDIES
3
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
nature a slave; and one who, although a human being, belongs to
another, is an item of property. But next we must examine whether or
not anyone exists who answers to the above description, and whether or
not it is better, and a just thing, for a man to be a slave, or whether all
slavery is contrary to nature. It is not difficult to discover the answer both
by theoretical discussion and from factual experience. For one thing to
rule and for another to be ruled is not only in accordance with what is
necessary but also with what is advantageous, and indeed some things
right from birth are marked out to rule or to be ruled. ... It is in a living
creature that we first find it possible to distinguish the ruling principle,
both that of master and that of statesman; for the soul rules the body with
the rule of a master, and the intellect rules the appetites with the rule of
a king and a statesman. In these relationships it is clear that it is both
natural and advantageous for the body to be ruled by the soul, and for
the emotional side of our natures to be ruled by the intellect... equality
or a reversal of roles would be damaging all round. Again, this holds
true between man and the other animals: tame animals are better by
nature than wild ones, and for all these tame animals it is better to be
ruled by man, since this secures their safety. ... And the same principle
must also apply to mankind in general; all those human beings who differ
to the same extent as the soul does from the body and man does from
the beast (and this is the condition of those whose function is the use of
the body, and this function is the best to be got from them) these are
slaves by nature, and it is better for them to be ruled in the same way as
in the examples already given. For the ‘natural slave’ is the person who
is capable of belonging to another and because of that does, and who
shares in reason to the extent that he recognises it but does not possess
it.
The use made of slaves is much the same as that made of animals: from
both comes help through their bodies for our essential needs. Therefore
nature intends to make the bodies of freemen and the bodies of slaves
different - the latter strong for necessary service, the former upright and
useless for such tasks, but useful for a life of citizenship. ... But actually
the opposite often occurs, with some having the bodies of freemen but
not the souls, and others the souls but not the bodies.
[Aristotle, Politics, 1253b-1254]
The psychology of slavery: a modern view
Because a slave was owned property, he was an inferior being. And
since this inferiority of one man made another man, his owner, a man of
power, the master consecrated that power by holding that the slave’s
inferiority was a fact of nature. A slave, it was said, is sub-human by
fate and not by accident. Today’s closest psychological analogy to
ancient slavery is racism. Furthermore, the master’s power over his
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GENERAL INTRODUCTION
human implement was not governed by rules; it was absolute. The
personal relation between master and slave was therefore unlike the
relation between employer and employee; the slave was a devoted
servant who obeyed in his very soul. Though unequal, the master-slave
relationship involved two human beings. The master ‘loved’ his slave,
for what master does not love his dog, what employer does not love his
good workers, what colonist does not love his natives ?
[Paul Veyne, A History of Private Life, From Pagan Rome to Byzantium, p.52]
CLASSICAL STUDIES
5
LITERARY SOURCES
SECTION TWO
It is important in any consideration of sources for social conditions in the ancient
world not to over-generalise from them. Slavery in both Greece and Rome as an
institution existed over a period of many centuries, and like all institutions it was not
static in any of its aspects. Changes in the way slaves were treated or regarded
obviously took place as society evolved and developed. For example, runaway slaves
were for centuries branded on the forehead; in 315 AD the emperor Constantine
forbade such branding except on the hands and legs ‘so that the face, which is
fashioned in the likeness of divine beauty, should by no means be disfigured’. This
decree was obviously made under the influence of Christianity. In the same way
Christian emperors were to abolish the crucifixion of slaves because it was
considered to profane the symbol of the cross. It cannot, however, be concluded that
slaves were better treated in early Christian society – on the contrary, available
evidence seems to indicate the reverse. We simply do not have sufficient data to
chart the developments in the institution of slavery as they occurred; all we can
observe from the sources we have is the presence of certain conditions at one point of
time and the existence of other conditions at another point of time. Similarly we
must be cautious when assessing evidence for the treatment of slaves, since it has
been rightly observed that every example of cruelty towards slaves can be countered
with one showing kindness.
1. Supply and numbers of slaves
Athens
A slave in ancient Athens, as in Rome, was, by definition, a man or woman who had
no legal rights, being merely an item of property at the complete disposal of his or
her owner. Conditions for slaves must have varied greatly – many ordinary citizens
kept a few slaves to work beside them or as domestic servants, and such slaves would
in general have enjoyed reasonable treatment. The Scythian Archers, slaves
employed by the state as its police force, were a privileged group, as also would have
been skilled craftsmen. Other slaves, however, were forced to endure brutal
conditions in the silver mines at Laurion. The Athenian participative democracy
could not have functioned without slavery – ownership of slaves gave even humble
Athenians the leisure which was needed to take part in the proceedings of the
Assembly, the law-courts and other democratic institutions.
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CLASSICAL STUDIES
1.1. ... we regard it as right to use barbarians as slaves.
[Isocrates, 4.181]
1.2. A person is not termed ‘master’ because he possesses a certain branch
of knowledge, but because he possesses a certain character, and the
same applies to the terms ‘slave’ and ‘freeman’.
[Aristotle, Politics, 1255b]
1.3. The Athenians killed all the adult males whom they captured, and
enslaved the women and children.
[Thucydides (capture of Melos), 5.116.4]
War and piracy are traditionally said to have been the main sources of slave supply in
both Athens and Rome. However these could not have maintained the regular flow
needed by both societies; the trading activities of professional slave-dealers were
essential for this, bringing in a steady supply of ‘barbarians’ since foreign countries
regularly sold off surplus slaves or unwanted populations. We can only guess at the
numbers supplied by breeding.
1.4. The following inscription records the compulsory sale of property
belonging to a man convicted of sacrilege in 415 and clearly shows the
foreign origin of slaves (the figures record the amount raised in
drachmas from the sale of each):
The property of the metic Cephisodorus:
165 dr.
Thracian female
144 dr.
135
Thracian female
121
170
Thracian male
153
240
Syrian male
174
105
Carian male
72
161
Illyrian male
301
220
Thracian female
151
115
Thracian male
85
Scythian
Illyrian
Colchian
Carian boy
Carian infant
Syrian male
Maltese male
Lydian female
[Meiggs and Lewis, Greek Historical Inscriptions, 79.33-46]
1 drachma was the daily wage of a skilled worker - hence, as the table shows,
slaves were relatively cheap to purchase.
1.5. Those who are able to buy slaves buy them to share their work with
them.
[Xenophon, Memorabilia, 2.3.3]
1.6. One slave might be worth 2 minas, another less than half a mina,
another 5, another as much as 10; Nicias is said to have paid a talent
for a slave to be manager of his silver mines. [1 mina = 100
drachmae; 1 talent = 60 minae]
[Xenophon, Memorabilia, 2.5.2]
CLASSICAL STUDIES
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LITERARY SOURCES
1.7. A small number of slaves was produced by breeding:
Oedipus:
Shepherd:
Look at me and answer all my questions. Were you once in
Laius’ service?
Yes. I was not a bought slave, but I was born and brought
up in the palace.
[Sophocles, Oedipus, 1122]
1.8. I also showed her [my wife] the women’s quarters which were kept
separate from the men’s by a bolted door, to prevent anything being
removed from them which should not be, and to stop the slaves breeding
without our permission. For if good slaves are allowed to breed they
usually become more loyal, but if bad slaves breed they become more
ready to cause trouble.
[Xenophon, Economicus, 9.5]
Estimates of numbers vary, but probably between 25 and 33 per cent of
the total population of Athens was made up of slaves.
Rome: Prisoners of war
1.9. The city and camp were plundered. The following day the cavalry and
centurions drew lots for one prisoner each to be their slave, those who
had shown conspicuous bravery, receiving two; the rest were sold ‘under
the chaplet’ [ie by auction].
[Livy, 4.34 (the capture of Fidenae in 437 BC)]
1.10. As many as 10,000 freemen were made prisoners ... The artisans
numbered about 2,000: these he made by decree state-slaves of the
Roman people.
[Livy, 26.47 (the capture of New Carthage in 209 BC)]
1.11. Augustus never inflicted too severe a punishment on those who revolted
... he sold them as captives, with the condition that they should not be
slaves in an area near their homes, and should not be manumitted for
30 years.
[Suetonius, Divus Augustus, 21]
Capture by pirates
1.12. And now the pirates contemptuously attacked the actual coasts of Italy,
around Brundisium and Etruria, and captured and carried off some
women of noble families who were travelling there, and two praetors
with their insignia of office.
[Appian, Roman History, 12.14.93]
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CLASSICAL STUDIES
LITERARY SOURCES
Slave breeding
1.13. I have exempted from work and sometimes set free very fertile female
slaves after they have borne many children ... For a woman who has
three sons, the reward is exemption from work; freedom is the reward
for a woman who has more.
[Columella, De Agricultura, 1.8.19]
1.14. ... a crowd of young home-bred slaves, sure proof of a prosperous
farmer.
[Tibullus, Elegies, 2.1.23-24]
Slave dealing
1.15. [Contract of sale ] This boy is guaranteed to have been handed over in
good health, to be guiltless of theft or other crimes, not to be a vagrant,
a runaway or an epileptic ... Bellicus, son of Alexander, declared that he
received from Dasius 600 denarii as the price for the aforesaid boy.
[CIL, 3. 2215]
1.16. Slaves were easily caught, and a large, rich slave-market existed not far
away on the island of Delos. Delos could receive and process on the
same day 10,000 slaves.
[Strabo, Geography, 14.5.2]
1.17. In the Edict of the Curule Aediles, in the part where provisions are made
regarding the sale of slaves, the following clause is written: ‘Be sure that
the sale placard of individual slaves is written in such a way that it can be
exactly understood what disease or defect each slave has, who is a
runaway or vagabond or still liable for criminal prosecution.’
[Gellius, 4.2.1]
1.18. The cheapest sort of chalk is the kind we use ... to whiten the feet of
imported slaves at auctions.
[Pliny the Elder, 35.199]
1.19. [Epitaph] To Aulus Memmius Clarus. Dedicated by Aulus Memmius
Urbanus to his fellow freedman and dearest friend. My dear fellow
freedman, I cannot remember any quarrel between us. By this epitaph, I
call upon the gods of heaven and the underworld as witnesses that we
first met on the slave-dealer’s platform, that we were given our freedom
together in the same household, and that nothing ever parted us but the
day of your death.
[CIL, 6.22355a]
1.20. The highest price paid for a person born in slavery was ... for a skilled
linguist called Daphnis. Marcus Scaurus bid 700,000 sesterces for him.
[Pliny the Elder, 7.128]
CLASSICAL STUDIES
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LITERARY SOURCES
1.21. [during the reign of Nero, 57 AD] the tax of 4% on the purchase of
slaves was abolished - an apparent rather than a real benefit, because
since the vendor was ordered to pay it instead of the buyer, it was added
on as part of the price for the buyers.
[Tacitus, Annals, 13.31]
2. Slaves in the economy
Athens
The most slave-intensive area of the Athenian economy was the silver mines at
Laurion from which Athens derived as much revenue as it did from the corn trade.
The mines were leased out to private individuals and syndicates who used gangs of
slaves to mine them, working in extremely unhealthy and dangerous conditions.
Fairly large groups of slaves of anything up to 120 would also be found in workshops
manufacturing weapons, lamps, pottery and utensils, and on public building
projects, where inscriptional evidence shows that they worked alongside free citizens
as stonemasons, sculptors and carpenters. Large numbers of slaves were owned by
the state for the purpose of repairing temples, constructing and maintaining roads,
operating the state mint and providing the police force (Scythian Archers).
The rest of the slave population would be found in private homes doing domestic
tasks, and engaged in the extensive prostitution business.
2.1. Nicias owned 1,000 men in the silver mines. He hired them out to
Sosias on the following terms: Sosias was to pay him at the rate of 1 obol
per day for each slave of the 1,000 and to be responsible for keeping
up the number at that figure. Hipponicus similarly had 600 slaves for
hire on similar terms and this brought him in 1 mina a day net. ... At the
present moment there are hundreds of men in the mines hired out on the
same terms. ... It is amazing that with so many private individuals
growing wealthy the State has failed to imitate them. Just as the
individual who owns a gang of slaves has a permanent source of income,
I would propose that the State in like manner should own a gang of
slaves to the number of about 3 or 4 per citizen of Athens [ie to rent out
as a method of increasing revenue]. ... Nothing could be easier: all the
Council has to do is invite by public proclamation all whom it may
concern to bring their slaves, and then purchase them. Once this has
been done, people will not hesitate to hire slaves from the State rather
than from private owners.
[Xenophon, Poroi, 4.14-18]
2.2. He said that he had a slave working at Laurion, and that he had occasion
to go to collect a payment due to him from his labour.
[Andocides, Mysteries, 38]
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CLASSICAL STUDIES
LITERARY SOURCES
2.3. Gentlemen of the jury, my father left two thriving work-shops. One
manufactured swords and employed 32 or 33 slaves, mostly valued at 5
or 6 minas each, with none at less than 3 minas. From this work-shop
he received a net income of 30 minas a year. The other manufactured
beds and employed 20 slaves.
[Demosthenes, Against Aphobus, 9]
2.4. Other offices elected by lot are: 5 road-menders whose job it is to keep
the roads in repair with the assistance of state-owned slaves.
[Aristotle, Constitution of Athens, 54.1]
2.5. [Hecuba, wife of King Priam of Troy, has been captured by the Greeks
and is talking about her fate.] And finally, to crown all my miseries, I
shall have to go to Greece in my old age as a slave woman; they will put
on me, the mother of Hector, all the tasks that are most intolerable to the
aged - keeping the door, looking after the keys, making the bread.
[Euripides, Trojan Women, 489 ff.]
Rome
As in Athens slaves were used extensively in the Roman economy. Publicly owned
slaves were involved in public construction and maintenance work, such as roads,
baths, aqueducts, temples, etc. Mines, factories and mills were manned by slaves, as
well as the huge ranches (latifundia) owned by the ruling classes. The houses of the
rich employed vast numbers of slaves as cooks, gardeners, hairdressers, tutors, litterbearers, butlers, seamstresses, cleaners, and so on, just as wealthy establishments in
18th- and 19th-century Britain employed armies of domestic servants. Slaves were
also purchased to be trained as gladiators or, as in Athens, to serve as prostitutes.
Numbers
2.6. On one occasion it was proposed by the Senate to use dress as a way of
distinguishing between slaves and freemen; then it became apparent how
great would be the danger if our slaves began to count our number.
[Seneca, De Clementia, 1.24]
2.7. Gaius Caecilius Isidorus, the freedman of Gaius, ...... stated in his will
that, although he had suffered great losses during the civil war, he was
still able to leave behind 4,116 slaves.
[Pliny, Hist.Nat, 33.10.135]
Occupations
2.8. M. Agrippa served as a kind of permanent supervisor of public works...
and kept his own private gang of slaves for the maintenance of the
aqueducts, reservoirs and collection basins. Augustus inherited this slavegang from Agrippa and handed it over to the State as its property.
[Frontinus, 2.98]
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LITERARY SOURCES
2.9. The slaves who labour in the mines produce for their owners revenues in
sums defying belief.
[Diodorus Siculus, History, 5.36]
2.10. My advice is not to appoint as a foreman on your estate ... that type of
slave who has been engaged in the soft occupations of the city ... this
slothful and dozy kind of slave is used to lounging around the Campus
Martius, the Circus Maximus, the theatres, the gambling-dens, the bars
and the brothels and never stops dreaming about such idiotic pastimes;
when he carries these over to farming, the master suffers loss in his
whole estate. Therefore, you should choose someone who has been
hardened to farm work from his infancy and tested by experience.
[Columella, De Agricultura, 1.8.1-2]
2.11. I would give the same advice about the slaves who will help in raising the
boy as I gave about the nurses. About the choice of pedagogue I will
make this further point - pedagogues should either be thoroughly welleducated ... or know that they are not well-educated.
[Quintilian, Inst., 1.1.8]
2.12. [Epitaph] Secunda, midwife, slave of Statilia the Elder.
[CIL, 6.6325]
2.13. The rich man will be carried above the heads of the crowd by his tall
Ligurian litter-bearers.
[Juvenal, 3. 239-40]
2.14. [Epitaph] To Musicus Scurranus, a slave of Tiberius Caesar Augustus,
superintendent of the Gallic Treasury for the province of Lyon: dedicated
to their worthy master by those of his under-slaves who were with him at
Rome when he died:
Venustus
buying-agent
Decimianus
treasurer
Dicaeus
attendant
Mutatus
attendant
Creticus
attendant
Agathopus
physician
Epaphra
in charge of silver
Primio
in charge of wardrobe
Communis
chamberlain
Pothus
attendant
Facilis
attendant
Anthus
in charge of silver
Hedylus
chamberlain
Firmus
cook
Tiasus
cook
[ILS 1514]
2.15. My name is Januarius. I am the slave of Dexter, Recorder of the Senate,
who lives in the Fifth Region at the field of Macarius.
[ILS 8726]
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LITERARY SOURCES
3. Treatment of slaves
In a 19th-century summary of laws relating to slavery in the USA, the writer
comments on the treatment of slaves as follows:
I speak of the case of slaves generally. Their condition will, no doubt, in
a greater degree, take its complexion from the peculiar disposition of
their respective masters, - a consideration which operates as much
against as in favour of the slave.
[Quoted in M. I. Finley, Ancient Slavery and Modern Ideology]
The same obviously applies to ancient Athens and Rome.
Athens
As in Rome, there would have been wide variations in treatment. Domestic slaves
were probably the best treated, since in most cases a personal relationship with their
masters or mistresses would have been unavoidable. The comedies of Aristophanes
show easy-going relationships between masters and slaves, although, as with Roman
comedies, one should be cautious in drawing conclusions from this sort of evidence,
since incongruity is a comic technique (that is, depicting people acting outwith the
norm; the impudent slave more intelligent than his master could be seen as a comic
type). As far as the law was concerned, a slave had no rights and, as in Rome, could
not give evidence in court except under torture.
3.1. [imaginary dialogue between two slaves]
Slave
Slave:
Xanthias
Xanthias:
Slave
Slave:
Xanthias
Xanthias:
Slave
Slave:
Xanthias
Xanthias:
Slave
Slave:
Xanthias
Xanthias:
Slave
Slave:
Xanthias
Xanthias:
Slave
Slave:
Xanthias
Xanthias:
Slave
Slave:
By Zeus the Saviour, your master is a splendid fellow - a real
gentleman !
Of course he is - seeing that he only knows about swigging and
screwing !
It’s amazing he didn’t beat you up when you were clearly found
out to be impersonating your master.
He would have regretted it !
That’s the kind of talk a slave can be proud of - the kind of thing I
like.
Excuse me, what do you mean by ‘the kind of thing you like’ ?
I’m never happier than when I’m calling curses down on my
master behind his back.
What about muttering and grumbling when you go out after you’ve
been given a thrashing ?
Great !
What about poking your nose into his affairs ?
By Zeus, there’s nothing to beat it !
Zeus of kinship ! we’re twins ! and eavesdropping on your
master’s private chatter?
Yes, yes ! it drives me mad with pleasure !
CLASSICAL STUDIES
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LITERARY SOURCES
Xanthias
Xanthias:
Slave
Slave:
Xanthias
Xanthias:
What about blabbing it about outside ?
Blabbing it ? By Zeus, whenever I do that,I can’t contain myself !
O Phoebus Apollo, give me your right hand ! Embrace me ! And
now tell me, by Zeus, my fellow-rogue ...
[Aristophanes, Frogs, 739-56]
3.2. Menexenus found the slave here in the city, and after he had seized him
demanded that he give evidence under torture...
[Isocrates, Trapeziticus, 13]
3.3. I approached him [ie the accuser] with witnesses, saying that I had all my
slaves ..... and I was ready to hand over any he wanted to examine
under torture... But he refused, claiming that evidence from slaves was
unreliable. That seems strange to me: for slaves examined under torture
will not make damning statements about themselves knowing well that
they will be put to death, but against their masters, to whom they are
naturally very ill-disposed; and it would be strange if they chose to
endure being tortured rather than to denounce their masters and by so
doing get release from the ills of their present condition of slavery.
[Lysias, 7.223-236]
3.4. Both in private and in public matters you consider examination under
torture the most reliable evidence; whenever slaves and free men
appear in court, and it is necessary for the truth about some matter
under investigation to be discovered, you do not use the evidence of the
free men but by examining the slaves under torture you thus seek to
discover the truth of what has happened.
[Isaeus, Concerning the Estate of Ciron, 12]
3.5.
Xanthias
Xanthias:
Aeacus
Aeacus:
Xanthias
Xanthias:
What’s more, I’ll make you a very gentlemanly offer: take this
slave and examine him under torture, and if you catch me out as a
wrongdoer, take me away and kill me.
And what methods can I use to torture him ?
Every method: you can tie him to a ladder, suspend him, whip him
with a porcupine, flay him, stretch him on the rack, pour vinegar
down his nostrils, heap bricks on him, and subject him to all the
other kinds of torment.
[Aristophanes, Frogs, 615-621]
Since a slave was the property of a master, the latter was responsible for bringing a
case where a slave was injured, since the slave could take no action for himself.
Similarly, masters were responsible for losses incurred by their slaves:
3.6. ...the owner for whom a slave is working at the time is liable for any
losses and offences committed by the slave.
[Hyperides, Against Athenogenes, 22]
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3.7.
Socrates
Socrates:
Aristippus
Aristippus:
For who would want as a slave in his house a man who was
quite reluctant to work but delighted in a luxurious lifestyle? Let
us consider how masters treat such lazy slaves. Do they not
restrain their lustfulness by starving them, and prevent them
from stealing by locking up places from which things could be
taken? Do they not use chains to prevent them running away,
and flog them to keep them from idleness? Or what do you
do when you discover that one of your slaves is like that?
I use every form of punishment until I compel them to submit.
[Xenophon, Memorabilia, 2.1.16]
3.8. If I showed you how in some estates almost all the slaves are kept in
chains, but still frequently run away, while in others they are not kept in
chains, but are willing to remain and work, would this not be an
important point I was showing you in the way in which estates are
managed ?
[Xenophon, Economicus, 3.4]
Rome
3.9. Slaves become more eager to work when they are generously treated
with regard to food, or more clothing or time off.
[Varro, I.17.1]
3.10. As for the care and clothing of the slaves, the estate foreman should
consider usefulness rather than appearance, taking care to protect them
against wind, cold and rain, all of which are warded off by long-sleeved
leather tunics, garments of patchwork or hooded cloaks. If this is seen
to, no weather is so bad that no outdoors work can be done.
[Columella, 1.8.9]
3.11. As soon as supper was finished, Cato used to go about with a leather
thong and flog those who had been careless in preparing or serving it.
Those who were thought to have committed an offence worthy of death
he had all their fellow-slaves judge them, to be executed if convicted.
[Plutarch, Life of Cato, 21]
3.12. [Slaves in a Grain Mill] Their skin was everywhere tattooed with purple
bruises from their frequent beatings; their backs were not so much
covered as shaded by their torn patchwork garments. All of them had
branded foreheads, half-shaved heads and chains round their ankles.
[Apuleius, 9.12]
3.13. Cubicles for unchained slaves are best built facing south; for chained
slaves there should be an underground prison ... receiving light through
some narrow windows built sufficiently high from the ground that they
cannot be reached with the hand.
[Columella, 1.6.3]
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3.14. The slaves [in the Spanish silver mines] are physically wrecked, their
bodies exhausted from labouring day and night in the mine-shafts. Many
die because of exceptional maltreatment. They are allowed no rest or
break from their labour, but are compelled by the whiplashes of their
overseers to endure the most horrible hardships.
[Diodorus Siculus, History, 5.38.1]
3.15. Although Crassus [a famous Roman millionaire] had many silver mines,
and very valuable land, yet one might consider all this as nothing
compared to the value of his slaves, such a great number did he possess
- readers, amanuenses, silversmiths, stewards and table-servants. He
himself directed their training, and took part in teaching them,
considering it the chief duty of a master to care for his slaves as the
living tools of household management.
[Plutarch, Life of Crassus, 1-6]
3.16. You say, Rufus, that your rabbit has not been properly cooked, and you
call for a whip. You prefer to cut up your cook, rather than your rabbit.
[Martial, 3.94]
3.17. Poor Psecas [slave-girl], her own hair torn out by her mistress and her
clothes ripped from her shoulders and breasts, arranges her mistress’s
hair. ‘Why is this curl too high ?’ screams the mistress, and immediately
a whip of bull-hide is used to punish the girl for this crime of the curlingiron and sin of a hairstyle.
[Juvenal, VI.490-493]
3.18. Vedius Pollio, a Roman knight and friend of the Emperor Augustus, found
that lamprey eels gave him a chance to demonstrate his cruelty. He
used to throw slaves sentenced to death into ponds of lampreys, not
because wild beasts on land were incapable of killing slaves, but because
with any other type of animal he could not enjoy the sight of a man being
completely torn to pieces, in one instant.
[Pliny the Elder, Natural History, 9.39.77]
3.19. .... Sassia ... decided to hold an inquiry into her husband’s death. She
bought from Aulus Rupilus - who had been her husband’s doctor - a
certain Strato... This Strato and Ascla, one of her own slaves, she said
she was going to question under torture. Moreover, she also demanded
the slave Nicostratus for interrogation under torture. ... The inquiry was
conducted in a most rigorous manner using all forms of torture. But
despite the use of promises and threats to make them say something
under torture, nevertheless ... they stood by the truth and said that they
knew nothing.
[Cicero, Pro Cluentio, 176]
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3.20. [The incident described took place in 61 AD.] Not long afterwards the
city prefect Pedanius Secundus was murdered by one of his own slaves.
.. When in accordance with ancient custom the whole household of
slaves which had been under the same roof had to be taken for
execution, a crowd of the common people intent on protecting so many
innocent slaves gathered ... the Senate House was besieged; inside
there was a desire to reject excessive severity, although the majority did
not think any change should be made. Of the latter, Gaius Cassius,
when it was his turn to speak, spoke as follows:
‘Gentlemen of the Senate, I have often been present here when new
decrees were being demanded contrary to the customs and laws of our
ancestors; and I did not oppose them, although I never doubted the
superiority of old provisions in every case and thought that changes were
for the worse. ... A man of consular rank has been murdered in his
own home through the treachery of slaves which no fellow slave
prevented or gave information about, although the senatorial decree
which threatens execution for the whole household was still in force. By
all means decree that they are to escape punishment; but who is to be
defended by his rank when the office of city-prefect has been no
protection? What number of slaves is a man to keep when 400 did not
protect Pedanius Secundus? What man can be helped by his slavehousehold when they ignore danger to us even with the fear of
punishment hanging over them ? ... Suppose we are looking for
arguments in a policy already decided by wiser persons. If we now for
the first time were having to decide policy, do you believe that a slave
who has formed a plan to kill his master could do it without letting slip
some threatening comment, or making some reckless statement? Even if
we assume that he concealed his plan and got a weapon without anyone
knowing, surely he could not have got past the bedroom-guards, opened
the bedroom-doors, brought in a light and committed the murder with
every other slave completely unaware of it? A crime is preceded by
many warning signs. If slaves inform us of such signs, then we can live
as individuals in the midst of a crowd of slaves, safe and secure because
of their anxiety; and, in a word, if we have to perish, we will not be
unavenged against the guilty. Our ancestors were distrustful of the
characters of slaves, even when they were born in the same estates or
homes and had an affection for their masters from their earliest years.
Now that we have different nationalities in our households, slaves who
have different religions, foreign forms of worship or none at all, the only
way to control that sort of scum is with fear. Granted, the innocent will
perish. Yes, for even the brave draw the lot for punishment in a routed
army when every tenth man is beaten to death. Every exemplary
punishment on a large scale involves some injustice, which is
compensated by the public benefit when set against the wrong done to
individuals.’
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No single person dared to go against the opinion of Cassius, but there
were cries of protest from people showing compassion for the number of
slaves involved or their age or sex, and the undoubted innocence of the
majority. Nevertheless the group which was demanding execution
prevailed. But the sentence could not be carried out, since a huge,
menacing crowd gathered with rocks and firebrands. Then the Emperor
[Nero] rebuked the people in an edict and had the whole route, along
which the condemned were to be led to execution, hemmed in with
detachments of soldiers.
[Tacitus, Annals, 42-45]
3.21. Larcius Macedo, a man of praetorian rank, suffered brutal treatment at
the hands of his slaves. He was a proud and cruel master who
remembered too little, or rather too much that his own father had been a
slave. He was taking a bath in his villa at Formiae. Suddenly his slaves
surrounded him; one went for his throat, another punched his face,
another pummelled his chest and stomach ... and when they thought he
was dead they threw him down onto the hot floor to find out if there was
any life left in him. He, whether because he was unconscious or
because he pretended not to be conscious by lying stretched out and
motionless, led the slaves to believe that his death had been
accomplished. Then at last he was carried out by them as if he had been
overcome by the heat. The more loyal slaves looked after him, while his
concubines ran about howling and shrieking. Stirred by the sound of
voices and refreshed by the coldness of the place he raised his eyes and
moved his body, thus showing (and it was now safe to do so) that he was
alive. The guilty slaves fled, but a large number of them were caught
and the rest are still being searched for. He himself was resuscitated but
died within a few days, although he had the consolation of vengeance
since the slaves were punished while he was still alive. ...
Do you see the many dangers, affronts and abuses we are exposed to?
Nor is there a reason why any master should feel safe because he is
lenient and kind; for masters are being killed not as the result of
reasoned premeditation, but because of the sheer vicious nature of
slaves.
[Pliny the Younger, Letters, 3.14]
3.22. The illnesses of my slaves, and even more, the deaths of some of the
young men have distressed me. However, I have two consolations,
which, although not equal to my grief, are still consolations, one is my
willingness to manumit slaves (for I do not feel that I have lost them
entirely to an untimely death if I have lost them as free men), and the
other is because I permit them to draw up documents like wills, and I
treat these like legal wills.
[Pliny the Younger, Letters, 8.16]
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3.23. When I have dinner with my wife or a few friends a book is read to me
[by a slave]. ... Later I go for a walk with my household slaves, amongst
whom are some educated ones.
[Pliny, Letters, 9.36]
3.24. I was pleased to learn from those who had recently visited you that you
live on friendly terms with your slaves. ... Some people say, ‘They are
just slaves.’ But they are fellow human beings. ... You must consider
that the man whom you call your slave is sprung from the same seed as
yourself, enjoys the same sky, breathes, lives and dies in exactly the
same way. ... Let some slaves dine with you because they deserve to,
let others so that they may thus become deserving.
[Seneca, Letters, 47]
3.25. At this time [the emperor Hadrian] encountered serious danger and
came out of it with great credit. While he was walking in a garden in
Tarragona a slave of his host madly lunged at him with a sword. He
restrained the man and handed him over to the servants who ran up to
help. When it was discovered that the man was mad, Hadrian, showing
no signs of alarm, handed him over to doctors for treatment.
[Spartianus, Life of Hadrian, 12.5]
Roman legislation against cruelty to slaves
3.26. Since the Petronian Law was passed [around AD 19] ... masters have
been deprived of the power of handing over slaves to fight with wild
beasts.
[Justinian, Digest, 48.2.2]
3.27. When certain slave-owners were abandoning their sick and worn-out
slaves on the island of Aesculapius, because they did not want to provide
them with medical care, Claudius [AD 41-54] decreed that all slaves so
abandoned, if they recovered, would be free and would not revert to the
control of their masters. He also decreed that anyone who chose to kill a
slave rather than abandon him should be arrested on a charge of
homicide.
[Suetonius, Life of Claudius, 25.2]
3.28. Hadrian [AD 117-138] forbade masters to kill their slaves and ordered
that any who deserved it should be sentenced by the courts. He forbade
anyone to sell a slave or a maidservant to a procurer or trainer of
gladiators without first showing good cause. ... If a slave-owner was
murdered in his own house, not all the slaves were to be tortured for
evidence, but only those who were close enough to have had knowledge
of the crime.
[Spartianus, Life of Hadrian, 18.7-11]
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3.29. At the present time neither Roman citizens nor any other persons who
are under the rule of the Roman people are permitted to treat their
slaves with unreasonable or excessive cruelty. For by decree of the
Emperor Antoninus [138-161], a man who kills his own slave without
cause is as liable as one who kills another man’s slave. ... The same
emperor enacted that if the cruelty of a master is found to be intolerable,
he is to be compelled to sell his slaves.
[Gaius, Institutes, 1.53]
3.30. As far as Roman law is concerned, slaves are considered as nothing, but
not so in natural law as well, because, as far as the law of nature is
concerned, all men are equal.
[Justinian, Digest, 1.17.32]
4. Slave revolts
Athens
During the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta, the Spartans had
occupied Decelea, a strategic position in Attica, and thus forced Athens to bring in
its food supplies by sea at great expense. Athens suffered a severe blow when many of
its slaves revolted; many of these belonged to the gangs working in the silver mines at
Laurion.
4.1. During this summer [413 BC] Decelea had been fortified by the whole
Peloponnesian army, and was henceforth occupied by a succession of
garrisons sent from the allied states, whose invasions did immense harm
to the Athenians. ... The sufferings of the Athenians were terrible. For
they lost possession of their entire territory; more than 20,000 slaves
had deserted, most of them manual labourers.
[Thucydides, 7.27]
Rome
Three major slave revolts are recorded, involving such huge numbers that they were
full-scale wars which threatened the Roman state.
4.2. There were many of these revolts, and more than a million slaves were
killed in them.
[Athenaeus, 6.272]
4.3. [First Sicilian Slave War, 134-131 BC] The revolt began in the following
manner. In the town of Enna there was a master called Damophilus...
He was sadistic in his treatment of his slaves, and his wife Megallis,
strove to outdo her husband in torture and other brutal treatment of the
slaves. As a result, the slaves who had been so savagely abused turned
into wild beasts and formed a conspiracy to murder their master and
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mistress. ... They collected 400 of their fellow-slaves and, when the
opportunity presented itself, they burst fully-armed into the town of Enna.
... A multitude of city-slaves joined up with them, who first murdered
their own masters and then started slaughtering others. They chose as
their king, Eunus, a slave from Syria. ... he summoned an assembly and
executed all the people they had taken prisoner in Enna. ... In three
days he armed over 6,000 men ... and went about plundering the whole
area. He attracted a countless number of slaves and dared to engage in
battle even with Roman generals, and he defeated them in battle many
times by force of numbers, for he had over 10,000 ‘soldiers’. ... many
armies were cut to pieces by the rebels, until the Roman general Rupilius
re-captured Tauromenium after besieging it.
[Diodorus Siculus, History, 34.2]
4.4. The Slave War which broke out in Sicily, like a contagion, infected many
provinces far and wide. At Minturnae the Romans crucified 500 slaves,
at Sinuessa Quintus Metellus and Gnaeus Servilius Caepio overcame
about 4,000.
[Orosius, 5.9]
4.5. [The revolt of Spartacus] The uprising of the gladiators ... commonly
called the War of Spartacus, began in this way. A certain Lentulus
Batiates trained a great many gladiators in Capua, most of them Gauls
and Thracians, who ... through the cruelty of their master were kept in
confinement. Two hundred of them formed a plan to escape ... they
chose three captains, of whom Spartacus was chief, a Thracian of one of
the nomad tribes. ... Routing those who came out of Capua against
them, they obtained a quantity of proper soldiers’ arms. Afterwards
Clodius the praetor took the command against them with a force of
3,000 men from Rome, and besieged them within a mountain ... But the
slaves attacked them from the rear and took their camp. ... Next Publius
Varinus the praetor was sent against them, whose lieutenant Furius with
2,000 men they fought and routed. Then Cossinius was sent against
them with greater forces. ... Spartacus stormed his camp and took it,
where Cossinius himself was slain.
Spartacus, realising he could not match the force of the Empire,
marched his army towards the Alps, intending that every man should go
home, some to Thrace, some to Gaul. But they, grown confident in their
numbers and puffed up with their success, would not obey him, but went
about and ravaged Italy. ... The Senate sent out both consuls ... but when
Lentulus with a large army besieged him, Spartacus defeated his chief
officers and captured all his equipment. ... Cassius met him with 10,000
men, but was overcome in battle, with the loss of a great number of his
men. When the Senate heard this, they were displeased at the consuls,
and they appointed Crassus as the general of the war. ... Spartacus
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retreated through Lucania ... and established his army in the peninsula of
Rhegium; there Crassus met up with him ... and engaged in a most
bloody battle. Of 12,300 whom he killed, two only were found wounded
in their backs, the rest all having died standing in their ranks and fighting
bravely.
Spartacus after this defeat retreated to the mountains of Petelia, but
Quintus, one of Crassus’ officers, and Scrofa the quaestor pursued and
overtook him. But when Spartacus rallied and faced them, they were
utterly routed and fled. ... This success, however, ruined Spartacus,
because it encouraged the slaves ... and they compelled him to lead
them back again through Lucania against the Romans. ... Crassus, eager
to fight a decisive battle, encamped very near the enemy. Spartacus,
seeing there was no avoiding it, set all his army in battle array. ...
Making directly towards Crassus himself, through the midst of arms and
wounds, he missed him but slew two centurions. ... At last, deserted by
those who were around him, he himself stood his ground and,
surrounded by the enemy, bravely defending himself, he was cut to
pieces.
[Plutarch, Crassus, 8-11]
Runaways
4.6. [inscribed on a slave-collar] I have run away: arrest me. You will
receive a gold solidus if you return me to my master Zoninus.
[ILS 8731]
4.7. [from a Roman novel] While Eumolpus was having a private
conversation with Bargates, a herald entered the building with a public
slave and a small crowd of other people, and, brandishing a torch which
caused more smoke than light, made the following proclamation: ‘Lost, a
short time ago, in the public baths, a boy, about 16 years old, curlyhaired, soft complexion, good-looking, named Giton. Anyone prepared
to return him or show his whereabouts will receive 1,000 sesterces.’
[Petronius, Satyricon, 97]
5. Manumission
Athens
In Fifth-Century Athens this does not seem to have been as likely a prospect as it was
to be in Republican and Imperial Rome. Some skilled craftsmen, who had been set
up by their masters in independent workshops in return for remitting a percentage
of their profits, might eventually have been allowed to buy their freedom, while
others might have been granted freedom in their master’s will. It also appears that
slaves who gave information which convicted their masters of an offence against the
state might be rewarded by gaining their freedom.
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The Roman rule that formally manumitted slaves became citizens was unthinkable
in Athens, where any emancipated slaves had the status of metics and were subject to
the same rules: that is, they could not inherit landed property, were obliged to have a
regular patron to appear for them in court and were liable, as punishment for certain
offences, to be sold as slaves.
5.1. It is not right that you should consider the statements of the slaves reliable
... if you consider that ... these slaves, who all their lives have been great
wrongdoers and have gone through the experience of many miseries,
are now making allegations which can secure their freedom. And I am
not surprised; for they know that if they are proved to be liars they will
not suffer anything worse than their existing circumstances, but if they
succeed in deceiving you [the jury] they will be released from their
present woes [ie the condition of slavery].
[Lysias, 5.16-29]
5.2. For the defendants are not the only people who own slaves; everyone
else also owns slaves, who fixing their attention on the fate of the
defendants today will no longer look out to see by what good services to
their masters they might become free, but by what lying information they
might give against them.
[Lysias, 5.37-41]
Rome
Throughout the First Century BC and the First Century AD the rate of
manumission had been accelerating. As part of his social reforms to preserve and
increase the native Italian stock, Augustus legislated to restrict the traditional
practice of granting manumitted slaves the privilege of Roman citizenship. His
most important measures for limiting the admission of ex-slaves into the Roman
citizen body were:
• large numbers of ex-slaves who had obtained their freedom through informal
methods of manumission had their status formally recognised but were granted
only limited civil rights
• restriction of manumission by testament to a maximum of 100 in establishments
with more than 500 slaves and a maximum of 5 in households of 10, 10 in
households of 30, 25 in households of 100
• manumission other than by testament did not convey Roman citizenship on
slaves under 30 unless approved by a special council
• freedmen of doubtful character were permanently debarred from Roman
citizenship and forbidden to live within 100 miles of Rome.
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Manumission did not imply any disapproval of the institution of slavery; it was
merely a sign of a good master exercising humane authority over his possessions, so
that, in a sense, it emphasised the authority which he legitimately had.
Methods
5.3. If he has not been made free either by census, or by the rod, or by
testament, then he is not free.
[‘by census’ meant that the master would enrol his slave as a free
person during the census which took place every five years - it became
obsolete during the Republic.]
[Cicero, Topica, 2.10]
5.4. [By the rod] ... the informer [ie a slave who had revealed a plot to
restore the exiled Tarquins to Rome] was given his freedom and the
rights of citizenship. He is said to have been the first to be made free
‘by the rod’.
[Livy, 2. 5]
5.5. [By testament] Antonius Silvanus, cavalryman of the First Mauretanian
Company of Thracians, made this last will and testament ... ‘As for my
slave Cronio, after my death, if he has carried out all his duties properly,
... then I desire him to be free, and I wish that the 5 per cent
manumission tax be paid out of my estate’.
[FIRA, 111.47]
5.6. [Inter amicos, ‘among friends’] M. Aurelius Ammonio ... manumitted in
the presence of his friends his house-born slave Helene, about 34 years
old, and ordered her to be free.
[FIRA, 111.11]
Reasons for manumission
5.7. In ancient Rome the majority of manumitted slaves received their
freedom as a gift because of their hard work and excellent service. This
type of manumission from a master was considered the most desirable.
A few slaves, however, paid a fee, which they had saved up from their
labour.
[Dionysius, Antiquities, 4.24.4-8]
5.8. L. Voltacilius Pilutus was manumitted because of his intelligence and
interest in education. Then he became a teacher of rhetoric.
[Suetonius, De Grammaticis, 27]
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5.9. [A slave, called Gripus, in a Roman comedy] Now, this is what I’m going
to do, here is my plan: I’ll go to my master, cautiously, choosing my time
carefully. Then I’ll offer him money for my freedom. And when I’m
free, I’ll invest in land, house and slaves. I’ll start trading with big ships,
I’ll be a king amongst kings. I’ll build a yacht for my own personal
pleasure and act just like Stratonicus, sailing around towns. And when I
become really famous, I’ll build a huge city as a monument to my fame
and deeds and I’ll call it Grigopolis.
[Plautus, Rudens, 928-931]
5.10. [from a letter to Marcus Tullius Cicero from his brother Quintus] My
dear Marcus, regarding Tiro, I swear ... that you pleased me immensely
when you decided that he ... should be our friend rather than our slave.
... His literary ability, conversational skills and far-ranging knowledge
[are] more important qualities than his ability to serve us.
[Cicero, Ad Fam.,16.16]
5.11. [Since slaves were tortured when providing evidence in court, a master
might manumit them to prevent them incriminating him under torture]
Why then did Milo manumit his slaves ? It is suggested that he feared
being incriminated, that the slaves might not be able to endure the pain
of torture, that they might be forced under torture to confess that Clodius
was murdered on the Appian Way by Milo’s slaves.
[Cicero, Pro Milone, 57]
5.12. [from a Roman novel] Just as Trimalchio was saying this, the slave-boy
stumbled and fell against his arm. The whole household cried out, guests
and slaves alike ... Trimalchio himself gave a loud groan and leaned
over his arm as if it were hurt; doctors rushed to the scene. ... The
slave-boy who had fallen was now crawling around our feet and asking
for mercy. ... Instead of punishment there came from Trimalchio a
decree in which he ordered the boy to be set free, so that no one could
say that so great a man as Trimalchio had been wounded by a slave.
[Petronius, Satyricon, 54]
Criticism of manumission
5.13. Things have come to such a state of confusion ... that men who have
made a fortune by robbery, prostitution and every other base means buy
their freedom with the money so acquired and immediately become
Roman citizens. Others who are witnesses and accomplices of their
masters in poisonings, murders and crimes against the gods or the State,
receive from their freedom as a reward. ... Others are set free because
of their master’s whim or desire for popularity. I know of some men who
have manumitted all their slaves upon their death, so that they might be
called good men and their funerals be attended by a crowd of mourners
wearing freedmen’s caps on their heads. ... Most people bitterly dislike
and condemn this practice.
[Dionysius, Antiquities, 4.24.4-8]
CLASSICAL STUDIES
25
LITERARY SOURCES
Legislation limiting manumission
5.14. [Lex Fufia Canina 2 BC] The Fufian-Caninian Law set a limit on the
manumission of slaves by testament. A person with more than 2 but not
more than 10 slaves is allowed to manumit up to one half of this
number. A person with more than 10 but not more than 30 slaves is
permitted to manumit up to one third of this number. A person with
more than 30 but not more than 100 slaves can manumit up to one
fourth. Finally a person with more than 1,000 but not more than 500
slaves is permitted to manumit not more than one fifth.
[ADA, pp.202/5]
5.15. [Lex Aelia Sentia 4 AD] By the Aelian-Sentian Law a master under 20
years of age is not permitted to manumit a slave by any other method
than by the rod, after proof of sufficient reason for manumission before
a council. ... The same Law provides that a slave under 30 years of age
who has been manumitted by the rod shall not become a Roman citizen
unless cause has been proved before a council.
[ADA, pp.205/19]
6. Freedmen (ex-slaves) in Rome
Freedmen were so numerous that they formed an important class in Roman society.
Not only did masters commonly set free at least a portion of their slave households in
their wills, but slaves were frequently allowed to purchase their freedom with the
savings they accumulated, while many were granted manumission as a free gift (see
above: the widespread practice of informal manumission was the target of Augustus’
legislation). Since many ex-slaves often had domestic skills or business experience
which could be used in profitable commercial enterprises, freedmen were to be
found in almost all commercial operations; many of them acquired great fortunes, to
the extent that the nouveau-riche freedman became a target for resentment and
snobbery as well as a stereotype in literature. Manumission, however, did not
entirely break the ties between the two parties; a permanent, psychological reminder
of the original relationship was maintained by the practice of the ex-slave adding
parts of his ex-master’s name to his former slave name. More significantly, the
relationship of the ex-slave to his ex-master became that of client to patron; the
patron was expected to look after his ex-slave’s welfare, and in return the ex-slave was
placed under a legal obligation to render to his patron ‘respectful conduct and
services’. If a freedman failed in these duties, a formal accusation could be brought
against him and he could be punished; a fine, beating with rods, and exile were
possible punishments that could be inflicted by a court Nevertheless, abundant
evidence from inscriptions indicates that relations between masters and ex-slaves
were often warm and friendly.
Freedmen could not attain senatorial or equestrian status, and were thus disbarred
from holding magistracies in Rome and the municipal towns of the Empire.
Augustus, however, had created for them in the municipal towns the office of sevir
26
CLASSICAL STUDIES
LITERARY SOURCES
Augustalis, or priest of the cult of Augustus, as a social distinction and an outlet for
personal ambition. Nevertheless, there is evidence that they were subjected to social
discrimination. But any such discrimination did not survive into succeeding
generations, as the sons of freedmen counted as freeborn and easily blended into the
total population. Probably two generations were needed to bridge the gap between
slavery and all the rights of complete freedom. At the same time, freedmen staffed
many of the clerical posts in the imperial administration, often wielding great
influence behind the scenes, like modern civil servants, and earning the hatred of the
senatorial nobility. Freedmen often acquired their own slaves and could in turn
manumit them but not confer citizenship.
6.1. Although, Maecenas, of all the Lydians who have settled in Etruscan lands
no one is of more noble birth than you, and although your maternal and
paternal grandfathers were such as once to be commanders of great
legions, you do not, as most people do, turn up your nose at men
because they are born of an unknown or, like me, of a freedman father.
[Horace, Satires, 1.1.1-6]
6.2. [from a debate in the Senate in AD 56 on freedmen] Freedmen as a
body are widely distributed throughout society. From this body to a great
extent the four urban tribes are composed, the associations of public
servants, the attendants for magistrates and priests, even the cohorts
enlisted in the city [that is, as police and firemen]; most of the equites
and the senators derive their origin from freedmen.
[Tacitus, Annals, 13.26]
6.3. Moreover, considering it of great importance to preserve the people of
Rome pure and untainted from all impure mixture of foreign and servile
blood, he [Augustus] was very sparing in the granting of Roman
citizenship, and limited the means of manumission.
[Suetonius, Augustus, 40.3]
6.4. I am absolutely delighted with the news that you manumitted very many
of your slaves. For I am keen that our home land should be increased in
all things, but especially in the number of its citizens; for that is the most
powerful distinction towns can be granted.
[Pliny, Letters, 7.32.1]
6.5. Marcus Aurelius Zosimus, freedman of Marcus Aurelius Cotta Maximus.
My patron Cotta gave me the equivalent of an equestrian’s fortune, he
helped me to support my children and he always showed himself
generous. He gave my daughters dowries, as if he were their own
father. For my son Cottanus he obtained the rank of military tribune in
the imperial army. What did Cotta not do for us? And now he has with
sadness paid for this epitaph.
[CIL, 14.2298]
CLASSICAL STUDIES
27
LITERARY SOURCES
6.6. Gaius Calpenius Hermes built this tomb for himself and his children and
his freedmen and freedwomen and their children and for his wife,
Antistia Coetonis.
[CIL, 14.4827]
6.7. May all my freedmen and freedwomen have unrestricted access and
entry to this tomb and right of inspection. My heir must let them have the
key so that they may sacrifice as often as is necessary.
[ILS, 8365]
6.8. To the spirits of the departed. Titus Veturius Florus, veteran, lived for 55
years. This tomb was erected by Titus Veturius Pothinus, his freedman,
to his well-deserving patron.
[CIL, 11.108]
Wealthy freedman
6.9. Publius Decimus Eros Merula, freedman of Publius, physician, surgeon,
oculist, member of the Board of Six. He paid 50,000 sesterces for his
freedom. To become a member of the Board of Six he contributed
2,000 sesterces to the community. He gave 30,000 sesterces for the
erection of statues in the temple of Hercules. He contributed to the
municipal treasury 37,000 sesterces for the paving of streets.
[CIL, 11.5400]
6.10. [from a Roman novel] By now I couldn’t eat any more, so I turned to my
neighbour to get as much information as possible and started to ask who
the woman was who kept running about everywhere. ‘That’s
Trimalchio’s wife,’ he said, ‘Fortunata’s her name, and she counts her
money by the sackful ... Trimalchio doesn’t know himself what he has,
he’s so wealthy, but this bitch looks after everything. Trimalchio himself
has estates stretching for as far as a falcon can fly in a day, and million
upon million in silver coins. There is more silver lying in his doorman’s
cubicle than other people have as their entire fortune ... And don’t look
down on the rest of the freedmen here. They are dripping with money.
That guy you see lying at the bottom of the end sofa is worth 800,000.’
[Petronius, Satyricon, 37-38]
Resentment of freedmen
6.11. O Fortune, do you really think this is a fair state of affairs ? Maevius
there, who was not born in Syria or bought at a slave-auction, but is
native-born, a descendant of Romulus and King Numa, a decent, honest
citizen, who knows both Latin and Greek ...... Maevius shivers in a
cheap grey garment while Incitatus, a freedman, a former mule-driver,
is resplendent in scarlet !
[Martial, 10.76]
28
CLASSICAL STUDIES
LITERARY SOURCES
6.12. [from a Roman novel - a freedman rebukes a freeman for laughing at
him]
‘He laughs! What’s he got to laugh about? ... So, you’re a
Roman knight? Well, I’m the son of a king. Why then have you been a
slave ?’ you say. Because I put myself into slavery voluntarily - I
preferred to be a Roman citizen than a tax-paying provincial. And now I
trust I live in such a way as to be a joke to no one. I’m a man amongst
men; I walk about bare-headed; I don’t owe a brass penny to anyone;
I’ve never been in court; no one has said to me in the forum ‘Pay what
you owe me’. I’ve bought land and got some capital; I feed twenty
bellies and a dog; I’ve freed my fellow-slave, so that no one can put his
dirty hands on her; I paid 1,000 denarii for my freedom; I’ve been
made a priest of Augustus, and it cost me nothing. I hope to die in a way
that won’t cause me to blush.
[Petronius, Satyricon, 57]
Occupations
6.13. Publius Marcius Philodamus, construction worker, freedman of Publius,
built this tomb for himself and his family.
[CIL, 9.1721]
6.14. Here lies Plotia, a maidservant, freedwoman of Lucius and Fufia. This
monument is a sign of her behaviour towards her patron, her patroness,
her father and her husband.
[CIL, 1.2.2273]
6.15. Oceanus, a freedman, winner of 13 gladiatorial matches.
[CIL, 4.8055]
6.16. Venuleia Sosis, doctor, freedwoman of Gaia.
[CIL, 6.9617]
6.17. Poblicia Aphe, midwife, freedwoman of Gaia. May your bones rest in
peace. She lived 21 years.
[CIL, 6.9723]
6.18. Statilia Tyrannis, freedwoman of Titus, pedagogue of Statilia.
[CIL, 6.6331]
6.19. Claudia Parata, freedwoman of the Emperor, hairdresser. She lived for
27 years.
[CIL, 6.8957]
CLASSICAL STUDIES
29
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Barrow, R. H.
CIL
Clare & Warman
Ferguson & Chisholm
Finley, M.I.
Finley, M.I.
Finley, M.I.
Finley, M.I.
FIRA
Grant, M.
Hammond, N.G.L.
ILS
JACT
Lewis & Reinhold
Mossé, C.
Shelton, J. A.
Veyne, P.
Zimmern, A.
Slavery in the Roman Empire, Methuen, 1968
Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, Berlin, 1862
The Culture of Athens, LACTOR, 1978
Political and Social Life in the Great Age of Athens, O.U.P.,
1978
Aspects of Antiquity, Penguin, 1972
Economy and Society in Ancient Greece, Penguin, 1983
Ancient Slavery and Modern Ideology, Penguin, 1983
The Ancient Greeks, Penguin, 1966
Fontes Iuris Romani Antejustiniani, Florence, 1940-43
Greeks and Romans, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1992
A History of Greece, Oxford, 1967
Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae, Berlin, 1892-1916
The World of Athens, Cambridge, 1984
Roman Civilization, Harper & Row, 1966
The Ancient World at Work, Chatto & Windus, 1969
As The Romans Did, Oxford, 1988
A History of Private Life, From Pagan Rome to Byzantium,
Harvard, 1992
The Greek Commonwealth, Oxford, 1911
A Dictionary of Ancient Greek Civilization, Methuen, 1967
The Oxford Classical Dictionary (Third Edition), 1997
30
CLASSICAL STUDIES
QUESTIONS ON SOURCE MATERIAL
SECTIONS ONE AND TWO
1.
Read GENERAL INTRODUCTION.
(a)
(b)
(c)
2.
What examples does he give?
Do you find his argument convincing?
2
4
Read THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SLAVERY: A MODERN VIEW.
The writer sees a comparison in modern racist attitudes with the ancient
attitude to slavery.
Do you see in Aristotle’s arguments any similarities to the way racists
think?
4.
4
3
2
Read ARISTOTLE’S JUSTIFICATION OF SLAVERY.
Aristotle considers the idea that all slavery is contrary to nature, but then
rejects it by giving examples from nature.
(a)
(b)
3.
How were slaves viewed in ancient Greece and Rome?
Why did the Greeks and Romans keep so many slaves?
What would you say were the worst features of being a slave?
2
Read THE ROMAN WORLD and SECTION 2: LITERARY SOURCES.
State in a few sentences why it is important not to over-generalise from
our sources.
4
Supply and numbers of slaves
5.
Read Sources 1.1 to 1.8.
(a)
(b)
6.
Summarise the main sources of slaves in ancient Athens
What evidence do we have about the relative cheapness of slaves
in ancient Athens?
3
2
Read Sources 1.9 to 1.21.
(a)
(b)
(c)
How were slaves traded in ancient Rome?
What factors affected the price of slaves?
What were Rome’s principal sources for the supply of slaves?
CLASSICAL STUDIES
1
2
4
31
QUESTIONS ON SOURCE MATERIAL
Slaves in the economy
7.
Read Source 2.1.
How valuable is this source for assessing the numbers of slaves in ancient
Athens?
8.
Read Sources 2.1 to 2.9.
What can we deduce from these sources about the importance of slavery
in the economies of ancient Athens and ancient Rome?
9.
11.
6
Read Source 2.10.
This source makes reference to the life of a city slave in Rome.
Do you think this is an accurate picture? Can you think of any factors
affecting its accuracy?
10.
2
3
Read Source 2.14.
This is the epitaph of a slave.
What is remarkable about it, and what conclusions can you
draw from it?
Compare it with Source 2.7 which is about a freedman/ex-slave.
4
Was there any real difference between the Athenian and the Roman
use of slaves? Refer to Sources 2.1 to 2.15.
4
Treatment of slaves
12.
Read Source 3.1.
(a)
(b)
13.
What sort of relationship between slave and master is depicted
in it?
Do you think that this is an accurate picture? Compare it with
Sources 2.10 and 3.7.
4
Read Source 3.8.
Explain what ‘important point’ is being made by the speaker.
Does it contradict the comments in Source 3.7?
32
4
Read Sources 3.2, 3.3 and 3.4.
Can you see any flaws in the Athenian (and Roman) system of torturing
slaves for evidence in court?
14.
2
CLASSICAL STUDIES
2
QUESTIONS ON SOURCE MATERIAL
15.
Read Sources 3.9 and 3.10.
To what extent can these be taken as evidence for humane
treatment of slaves on Roman estates?
16.
Read Sources 3.15 to 3.18.
Compare these accounts of domestic slaves with the accounts of slaves
employed in hard labour (see Sources 3.9 to 3.14), examining what
they tell us about the treatment of slaves in general and the attitudes of
masters.
17.
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
(f)
From the information contained in the first paragraph, state
two things a modern reader would find surprising.
Summarise the arguments of Gaius Cassius.
What flaws are there in Cassius’ arguments?
Cassius maintains that fear is the only way to control slaves.
From the Sources you have already examined, state with reasons
whether this was the typical attitude in Athens and Rome.
What do Cassius’ arguments tell us about slave-owning societies, or
repressive societies in general?
Can we detect anything about the attitude of the writer of this extract
(Tacitus, Roman historian)?
2
4
3
4
2
2
Read Source 3.21.
(a)
(b)
20.
2
Read Source 3.20.
(a)
19.
6
Read Source 3.19.
In what major way does it contradict Source 3.3?
18.
2
What surprising information are we given about Larcius Macedo?
Comment on this with regard to the rest of the extract.
2
Examine the writer’s personal comments in the last paragraph, and
compare them with the arguments of Gaius Cassius in Source 3.20.
Do you think Pliny would have supported Cassius’ arguments? Give
reasons for your answer.
4
Read Sources 3.22 and 3.23.
These extracts are by the same writer as Source 3.21 (Pliny, a Roman
advocate).
To what extent do these extracts give us a different picture of the writer?
CLASSICAL STUDIES
4
33
QUESTIONS ON SOURCE MATERIAL
21.
Read Source 3.24.
Seneca, the writer of this extract, was a Roman philosopher of the 1st century
AD.
Compare and contrast his views with those of Aristotle (see ARISTOTLE’S
JUSTIFICATION OF SLAVERY).
4
22.
Read Sources 3.26 to 3.30.
To what extent could the various legislation detailed here be viewed as an
improvement in the Roman attitude to, and treatment of, slaves ?
(NB Read this in conjunction with the Section THE ROMAN WORLD in
the Introduction).
4
Slave revolts
23.
Read Sources 4.2, 4.3 and 4.5.
In what ways do these events add to our knowledge of the institution of
slavery in the ancient world?
3
Manumission
24.
Read Sources 5.1 and 5.2.
Explain the point being made by the speakers in these two extracts. Is it a
valid point in the context of slavery in ancient Athens?
2
25.
Summarise the methods of manumission in ancient Rome.
3
26.
Read Source 5.13.
From the evidence in Sources 5.7 to 5.12 show to what extent the criticism
of manumission in Source 5.13 is justified.
6
Freedmen (ex-slaves) in Rome
27.
Read Sources 6.1 to 6.8.
These sources reveal a variety of attitudes to freedmen.
From the evidence of these sources make an assessment of the different
attitudes to ex-slaves which seem to have existed in ancient Roman society.
6
28.
Read Source 6.10.
This extract comes from a Roman novel written in the 1st century AD.
How valid is a source like this which is from a work of fiction? Refer to
your wider reading and to other sources in your answer.
34
CLASSICAL STUDIES
4
QUESTIONS ON SOURCE MATERIAL
29.
30.
Compare Sources 6.11 and 6.12. With which attitude do you feel more
sympathetic? Give reasons for your answer.
4
Is the attitude revealed in Source 6.11 to people who have ‘made it good’
still present in our society?
2
From the evidence contained in Sources 6.1 to 6.19 would it be true to
say that manumission was beneficial to Roman society?
4
CLASSICAL STUDIES
35
36
CLASSICAL STUDIES