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RCS Lecture 4
10/12 AEC
Roman Culture and Society
Lecture 4 – Citizens, Freed, and Slaves
Attitudes to slavery
Becoming a slave in Roman society
 Warfare:
 Salassi, Alpine tribe c.25 BC - Strabo, Geography 4.6.7 [= LACTOR Age of
Augustus N12]:
This Alpine tribe possessed gold mines and controlled their territory, at least through brigandage, even
at the time of Julius Caesar and the triumvirate. Later, however, Augustus completely overthrew them,
and sold them all as booty at Eporedia, a colony which the Romans had established as a garrison
against the Salassi, but which could only offer slight resistance until the tribe had been wiped out.
8,000 fighting men were captured and 36,000 other people, but Terentius Varro, the general who
overthrew them, sold them all as war-booty.
 Situation changes by 1st C AD
 Pirates/bandits:
Suetonius, Life of Augustus 32:
Bandit parties infested the roads armed with swords, supposedly worn in self-defence, which they used
to overawe travellers - whether free-born or not - and force them into slave-barracks built by the
landowners.

Slave markets:
 Puteoli: TPSulp. 90, 16 Feb AD 61:
At Puteoli in the Sextian Portico of Augustus there has been fixed to a column a notice in which was
written what appears below:
‘The [slave] woman Fortunata, whom Marcia Aucta was said to have handed over as security on
payment of a single sesterce to Gaius Sulpicius Onirus, will come up for sale under the auctioneer on 5
March next at Puteoli in front of the Chalcidicum of Caesonius, for ready cash. The [slave given as]
security in this matter was first advertised for sale on 4 February 61.’

By birth: verna(e)
 SC Claudianum, AD 52: Tac. Ann. 12.53.
During these proceedings he proposed to the Senate a penalty on women who united themselves in
marriage to slaves, and it was decided that those who had thus demeaned themselves, without the
knowledge of the slave's master, should be reduced to slavery; if with his consent, should be ranked as
freedwomen.

Exposure: Egypt "to rescue from the dung-pile for enslavement".

Numbers of slaves - Lex Fufia Caninia
Status of slaves
 'Chattel' slavery
 slave as property
 Varro On Agriculture 1.17 cf Shelton no.208
The instruments by which the soil is cultivated: Some men divide these into three categories: 1.
Articulate instruments, i.e. slaves; 2. Inarticulate instruments, i.e. oxen; 3. Mute instruments, i.e. carts.
 Slave as puer
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 Slave collars/tags
CIL XV 7194 [= Sherk no.178J]: Rome:
‘I am a runaway. Hold me. When you return me to my owner, Zoninus, you will receive a gold coin’.

Slave names: Felix, Celsinus; Narcissus, Epaphroditus
Types of slaves
 Agricultural
chains & manacles
slave labour + seasonal free labour

Mines/quarries
Diodorus Siculus 5.38.1 = Shelton no.209:
The slaves engaged in the operation of the mines secure for their masters profits in amounts which are
almost beyond belief. They themselves, however, are physically destroyed, their bodies worn down
from working in the mine shafts both day and night. Many die because of the excessive maltreatment
they suffer. They are given no rest or break from their toil, but rather are forced by the whiplashes of
their overseers to endure the most dreadful of hardships; thus do they wear out their lives in misery…
although they often pray more for death than for life because of the magnitude of their suffering.
Alternative to death penalty: Plin. Ep. 10.58 – Fl. Archippus
Limits on profitability: Strabo, Geography 12.3.40: realgar mine in
Paphlagonia
Mt. Sandaracurgium is hollowed out in consequence of the mining done there, since the workmen have
excavated great cavities beneath it. The mine used to be worked by publicans, who used as miners the
slaves sold in the market because of their crimes; for, in addition to the painfulness of the work, they
say that the air in the mines is both deadly and hard to endure on account of the grievous odour of the
ore, so that the workmen are doomed to a quick death. What is more, the mine is often left idle because
of the unprofitableness of it, since the workmen are not only more than two hundred in number, but are
continually spent by disease and death.

Household:
 slave retinue of Musicus Scurranus: ILS 1514 [= Sherk no.178D]:
To Musicus (slave) of Tiberius Caesar Augutsus, Scurranus, administrator of the Gallic treasury of the
province of Lugdunensis, from his underslaves who were with him in Rome when he died, welldeserving man: Venustus, wholesale dealer; Decimianus, in charge of household expenses; Dicaeus,
amanuensis; Mutatus, amanuensis; Cretisuc, amanuensis; Agathopus, physician; Epaphra, financial
aide; Primio, in charge of clothin; Communis, attached to the imperial bedroom; Pothus, manservant;
Tiasus, cook; Facilis, manservant; Anthus, financial aide; Hedylus, in the bedroom; Firmus, cook;
Secunda.
 slave quarters
Discussion: Can we locate slaves' quarters archaeologically?
House on via sacra, Palatine, Rome
House of the Menander, Pompeii
Problems


festivals: Saturnalia; 7th July; 13th Aug
involved in business - eg Pompeii, CIL IV 138:
In the Insula Arriana Polliana of Cn. Alleius Nigidius Maius … [various apartments]… will be let out
from July 1st onwards. For letting, consult Primus, slave of Cn. Alleius Nigidius Maius.
 abuses:
o corporal punishmt
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slave's evidence in court - Cic. Pro Milone 57-59 = Shelton
no.229:
He was afraid, I suppose, lest they should give information against him; lest they should be unable to
bear pain; lest they should be compelled by tortures to confess that Publius Clodius was slain in the
Appian road by the slaves of Milo….There is no law which authorizes slaves to be examined as
witnesses against their master, except on accusations of impiety, as was the case in the prosecution
instituted against Clodius. Clodius has been raised nearly to the gods, more nearly than even when he
penetrated into their sanctuary, when an investigation into the circumstances of his death is carried on
like one into a profanation of sacred ceremonies. But still, our ancestors did not think it right that slaves
should be examined as witnesses against their masters, not because the truth could not be discovered,
but because it seemed a scandalous thing to do, and more oppressive to the masters than even death
itself.
o Sexual relations: Seneca, Letter 95.37:
He may know that a mistress is a most grievous form of insult to his wife, but his lust may impel him to
the opposite
Plut. Mor. 140B: it is respect for her which leads him to share his debauchery, licentiousness
and wantonness with another woman.

Public slaves
Owned by the state: Cf Shelton no.205.
Frontinus, On Aqueducts 2.116-18:
116. It remains to speak of the maintenance of the conduits; but before I say anything about this, a little
explanation should be given about the gangs of slaves established for this purpose. There are two of
those gangs, one belonging to the State, the other to Caesar. The one belonging to the State is the
older, which, as we have said, was left by Agrippa to Augustus, and was by him made over to the State.
It numbers about 240 men. The number in Caesar's gang is 460; it was organized by Claudius at
the time he brought his aqueduct into the City. 117. Both gangs are divided into several classes of
workmen: overseers, reservoir-keepers, inspectors, pavers, plasterers, and other workmen… 118. The
wages of the State gang are paid from the State treasury, an expense which is lightened by the
receipt of rentals from water-rights, which are received from places or buildings situated near the
conduits, reservoirs, public fountains, or water-basins… The gang of Caesar gets its wages from the
emperor's privy purse, from which are also drawn all expenses for lead and for conduits, reservoirs,
and basins.

Imperial
High status potentially: ILS 1514 [= Sherk no.178D]:
Musicus Scurranus, slave of Tiberius Caesar Augustus, accountant of the Gallic Treasury in the
Province of Gallia Lugdunensis, from those of his underslaves who were with him when he died at
Rome.
Attitudes to slaves
 Cruelty
Vedius Pollio Dio 54.23.1-4; cf Pliny the Elder Natural History 9.39.77 =
Shelton no 212:
Vedius Pollio, a Roman equestrian, a friend of the emperor Augustus, found that lamprey eels offered
him an opportunity to display his cruelty. He used to toss slaves sentenced to death into a pond of
lampreys, not because wild animals on land were not able to kill a slave, but because with any other
type of animal he was not able to enjoy the sight of a man being torn to pieces.
Galen, The Diseases of the Mind, 4 [=Wiedemann, Greek and Roman Slavery
180-81]
The story is told that the Emperor Hadrian struck one of his attendants in the eye with a pen. When he
realised that [the slave] had become blind in one eye as a result of this stroke, he called him to him and
offered to let him ask him for any gift to make up for what he had suffered. When the victim remained
silent, Hadrian again asked him to make a request of whatever he wanted. He declined to accept
anything else, but asked for his eye back — for what gift could provide compensation for the loss of an
eye?
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Fair treatment
Pliny the Younger, Letters 8.16 = Shelton no.220:
the illnesses of my slaves, and now the deaths of some of the young men, have upset me. Two thoughts
console me… first my willingness to manumit slaves… second I permit my slaves to draw up
documents which resemble wills and I treat them as if legal wills.'
Cf affection in some epitaphs:
Isola Sacra (Portus) = Thylander A221:
To the Departed Spirits. Scribonius Priscianus and Sulpicia Stratonice set this up deservedly to Donata
their sweetest household slave (verna), who lived for 8 years, 11 months, 21 days.

Criticism of treatment of slaves:
Seneca, Letter 47: Shelton no.221
I was happy to learn from people who had just visited you that you live on friendly terms with
your slaves. This attitude is quite in keeping with your good sense and your liberal education. Some
people say, "They're just slaves." But they are fellow human beings!…
I have to laugh at those silly people who think it is degrading for someone to eat dinner
with his slave. Why do they think this way? Only because we have this very arrogant custom of
surrounding a master who is dining with a crowd of slaves standing at attention. The master eats more
than he can hold…so that he vomits up everything…But the poor slaves are not allowed, while all this
is going on, to move their lips to speak…

Christianity
Colossians 3.22:
Slaves, obey in everything those that are your earthly masters, not with eyeservice as men-pleasers, but
in singleness of heart, fearing the Lord.
Ephesians 6.5-8:
Slaves, be obedient to those who are your earthly masters, with fear and trembling, in singleness of
your heart, as to Christ.
Slaves and death
 Funerary commemoration
 Columbarium of Livia
 Epitaphs for slaves
Problem of invisibility
 Representation in art
 inscriptions
 Lack of lit. records
o Epictetus, ex-slave: Discourses 4.1.33-37
The slave wishes to be set free immediately… Then he is set free; and forthwith having no place where
he can eat, he looks for some man to flatter, someone with whom he shall sup: then he…works with his
body and endures the most dreadful things; and if he can find someone to feed him he falls into a
slavery much worse than his former slavery…He says, What evil did I suffer in my state of slavery?
Another clothed me, another supplied me with shoes, another fed me, another looked after me in
sickness; and I did only a few services for him. But now a wretched man, what things I suffer, being a
slave of many instead of to one.


Lack of opposition
Opposition to individual masters.
o SC Silanianum, AD 10
o Tac. Ann. 14.42-45. AD 61, murder of City Prefect L. Pedanius Rufus.
Shelton no.214
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Gaining freedom in Roman society
 Types of manumission:
 By testament
 By the rod (vindicta)
 Legislation on manumission
 Aug. period. [LACTOR Age of Augustus S31-36]
 Lex Fufia Caninia, 2 BC.
 Lex Aelia Sentia, AD 4
 Lex Iunia ‘Junian Latins’
L. Vennidius Ennychus at Herculaneum:
 Birth declaration, 24th July AD 60 = AE (2006) 306
‘In the consulship of Gaius Velleius Paterculus and Marcus Manilius Vopiscus, on 24th July, Lucius
Venidius Ennychus has solemnly declared that a daughter has been born to him by his wife Livia Acte.
Transacted at Herculaneum’. {A list of witnesses follows.}

Edict of the urban praetor, 22nd March AD 62 = AE (2006) 305
‘Copied and checked from the edict of Lucius Servenius Gallus, praetor, which had been posted up at
Rome in the forum Augustum under the Julian portico next to column [?] in front of his platform, in
which had been written that which is written below: Lucius Servenius Gallus, praetor, declares:
“Marcus Ofellius Magnus and Tiberius Crassius Firmus duumvirs and […] Marcus Nonius Celsinus
have reported to me a decree in which the town councillors of Herculaneum in accordance with the lex
Aelia Sentia had sanctioned the case of Lucius Venidius Ennychus and of Livia Acte, on the grounds
that they had a one-year old daughter born from them at Herculaneum as a result of their lawful
marriage, and so since the case in question has been confirmed, I approve that they are Roman
citizens.”

Reasons for manumission
 Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities 4.24.4-8 = Shelton no.232
I know that some men have granted freedom upon their deaths to all their slaves so that they might,
when dead, be called good men and so that many people wearing freedmen's caps might follow their
bier in the funeral procession.
 Cicero, Letter to Friends 16.16 = Shelton no.227 (from his brother):
You gave me very great pleasure when you decided that he, who did not deserve his bad fortune,
should become our friend rather than our slave… these fine qualities in Tiro, especially when we take
into account his literary skills, his conversational abilities, and his breadth of knowledge, qualities
which are more significant than his ability to perform personal services for us.
 For marriage: ILS 1519 = Gardner/Wiedemann no. 192
To Titus Flavius Euschemon, freedman of the emperor, who was in charge of his correspondence, and
also procurator of the Jewish poll-tax. Flavia Aphrodisia set this up to her patron and husband, who
well deserved it.

Freedmen's names
Freed(wo)men (and slaves) as businessmen
 Fish-sauce business of Umbricius Scaurus at Pompeii
 Advantages for masters
 Peculium
 Continued ties with ex-masters
 Evidence of tombstones: portray occupations CIL XIV 393:
Publius Nonius Zethus, Augustalis, made (this) for himself and for Nonia Hilara, his fellowfreedwoman, and for Nonia Pelagia, freedwoman of Publius, his wife. Publis Nonius Heraclio.
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Petronius, Satyricon 26-34 (excerpts)
a free dinner was promised… "I say, do you not know at whose house it is today? Trimalchio, a very
rich man - he has a clock and a uniformed trumpeter in his dining-room, to keep telling him how much
of his life is lost and gone."…[they go to baths] all at once we saw a bald old man in a reddish shirt
playing at ball with some long-haired boys… the old man, who was in his house-shoes, busily engaged
with a green ball. He never picked it up if it touched the ground. A slave stood by with a bagful and
supplied them to the players. ..."This is the man at whose table you rest your elbow: indeed what you
see is the overture to his dinner… Trimalchio was now anointed all over and rubbed down, not with
towels, but with blankets of the softest wool…[he heads home] We followed, lost in wonder, and came
to the door…. Just at the entrance stood a porter in green clothes, with a cherry-coloured belt, shelling
peas in a silver dish. A golden cage hung in the doorway, and a black and white magpie in it greeted
visitors. I was gazing at all this, when I nearly fell backwards and broke my leg. For on the left hand as
you went in, not far from the porter's office, a great dog on a chain was painted on the wall, and over
him was written in block capitals "BEWARE OF THE DOG"…. I proceeded to ask the house-manager
what pictures they had in the hall. "The Iliad and the Odyssey," he said, "and the gladiator's show given
by Laenas"…. Trimalchio was conducted in to the sound of music, propped on the tiniest of pillows. A
laugh escaped the unwary. His head was shaven and peered out of a scarlet cloak, and over the heavy
clothes on his neck he had put on a napkin with a broad stripe and fringes hanging from it all round. On
the little finger of his left hand he had an enormous gilt ring… Suddenly the music gave the sign, and
the light dishes were swept away by a troop of singing slaves. But an entrée-dish happened to fall in the
rush, and a boy picked it up from the ground. Trimalchio saw him, and directed that he should be
punished by a box on the ear, and made to throw down the dish again. A chamberlain followed and
proceeded to sweep out the silver with a broom among the other rubbish.

How to identify freedmen?
o House of the Vettii, VI.xv.1, Pompeii – Cooley & Cooley J59-70
A VETTI
A VETTI
RETVSTT
CONVIVAES
Freedmen’s role in public life
 Religious cults - espec Augustales
 Public benefactors (euergetism) - CIL XI 5400 = Shelton no.250, Assisi
Publius Decimius Eros Merula, freedman of Publius, physician, surgeon, and oculist, member of the
Board of Six. For his freedom he paid 50,000 sesterces. For his membership of the Board of Six he
contributed 2000 sesterces to the public treasury. He donated 30,000 sesterces for the erection of
statues in the temple of Hercules. For building roads, he contributed 37,000 sesterces to the public
treasury.
Citizenship
What advantages?
 Voting-rights
 Corn-dole
 Marriage & family
 Social mobility
 Property ownership
 Roman law benefits:
o right to a trial
o corporal punishment limited
o Right to appeal against magistrates.
o Right to sue at law
Visible signs of status
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Key readings
@Jones, A.H.M. (1968) 'Slavery in the Ancient World', in Finley, M., ed. Slavery in
Classical Antiquity. Views and Controversies; pp. 1-15 [DE 61 S5]
@Wiedemann, T.E.J. (1985) ‘The Regularity of manumission at Rome’ Classical
Quarterly 35: 162-175
General
Peachin, M. , ed. (2011) Oxford Handbook of Social Relations in the Roman World [on
order] - ch. 28 'Slaves in Roman Society' (Leonhard Schumacher); ch. 29 'Women in
Roman Society' (Kristina Milnor); ch. 30 'Children in the Roman Family and Beyond' (JensUwe Krause)
Bradley, K. (2010) 'Freedom and slavery' in Barchiesi, A. and Scheidel, W., eds, The
Oxford Handbook of Roman Studies [DG 209.O94]
Bradley, K. and Cartledge, P., eds (2011) The Cambridge world history of slavery [HC
7100.C2]
Slavery
Barrow, R. (1928) Slavery in the Roman Empire [DG109 B2]
@Beard, M. and Henderson, J. (1995) Classics. A very short introduction pp. 48-51
@Bradley, K.R. (1987) "On the Roman Slave Supply and Slavebreeding," in M.I.Finley,
ed. Classical Slavery [Arts periodical: Slavery and abolition 8.1 special edn]
Bradley, K. (1994) Slavery and Society at Rome [DG 109.B6]
Finley, M.I. (1980) Ancient Slavery and Modern Ideology [DE61 S5]
Garnsey, P. (1996) Ideas of slavery from Aristotle to Augustine [DE 61 55]
@George, M. (1997) 'Servus and domus: the slave in the Roman house', in Domestic
Space in the Roman World: Pompeii and Beyond, eds R. Laurence and A. Wallace-Hadrill
pp.15-24
@Harris, W.V. (1994) "Child-Exposure in the Roman Empire," JRS 84: 1-22
Hopkins, K. (1978) Conquerors and Slaves [DG 109 H6]
Joshel, S. (2010) Slavery in the Roman World [HC 7100.J6]
@Rathbone, D. (1983) 'The slave mode of production in Italy', Journal of Roman Studies
73: 160-68
@Saller, R.P. (1998) 'Symbols of gender and status hierarchies in the Roman household',
in Women and Slaves in Greco-Roman Culture. Differential Equations, eds S.R. Josel and
S. Murnaghan; pp. 85-91 [DE61 W6]
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@Treggiari, S. (1975) 'Jobs in the household of Livia', Papers of the British School at
Rome 43: 48-77 [arts periodical]
Vogt, J. (1974) Ancient Slavery and the Ideal of Man [DE61 S5]
Wiedemann, T.E.J. (1987) Slavery (Greece and Rome New Surveys in the Classics no.
19; Oxford) [DE 61.S5]
Yavetz, Z. (1988) Slaves and Slavery in Ancient Rome [DG109 Y2]
Freedmen
Duff, A.M. (1928) Freedmen in the Early Roman Empire [DG109 D8]
Mouritsen, H. (2011) The freedman in the Roman World [HC 7325.M6]
@Petersen, L. (2006) The Freedman in Roman Art and Art History [N 5763.P3] pp.16383 'To claim a domus: the house of the Caecilii at Pompeii'
Treggiari, S. (1969) Roman Freedmen during the Late Republic [DG109 T7]
@Treggiari, S. (1975) "Family Life among the Staff of the Volusii" TAPA 105, 393-401
Weaver, P. (1972) Familia Caesaris. A social study of the emperor's freedmen and slaves
[DG109 W3]
The free poor
@Brunt, P.A. (1980) ‘Free labour and public works at Rome’ JRS 70: 81-100
@Brunt, P.A. (1987) ‘Labour’ in J. Wacher, ed. The Roman World 701-16. [DG 77.R6]
@Erdkamp, P. (1999) ‘Agriculture, underemployment and the cost of rural labour in the
Roman world’ CQ n.s. 49.2: 556-572
Frayn, J.M. (1979) Subsistence Farming in Roman Italy [S 431.F7]
Garnsey, P. ed. (1980) Non-slave Labour in the Greco-Roman World [DE 61.W7]
Sourcebooks
Gardner, J. and Wiedemann, T. (1991) The Roman Household: a Sourcebook, ch.7
@Parkin, T. & Pomeroy, A. (2007) Roman Social History. A Sourcebook [DG 78.R6 + ebook]
Shelton, J-A. (1998) As the Romans Did (2nd edn) chs 8-9
Wiedemann, T. (1980) Greek and Roman Slavery [DE 61.S5]