Suburani Chapter 6 Culture: Slavery in the Roman World

• These are study notes for Suburani Chapter 6 Culture

Slavery in the Roman World

• Roman slaves had no status.
• Roman slaves did NOT have: liberty, rights, ability to leave employment, ability to choose what to do, power of life and death, family life and marriage, ability to own property, or their own name.
• Slaves were not distinguished by race or skin color.
• Slavery was widely accepted because there was no movement to abolish it.
• Slaves were considered part of a Roman familia because familia meant "household", and they were part of the household.

How Were People Enslaved?

• The Romans acquired most of their slaves through war during the Second and First Centuries B.C.
• One of the last big acquisitions of slaves through war happened in 70 A.D., when the Romans enslaved Jews.
• Slaves sold on the Greek isle of Delos were likely captured by bandits or pirates and then brought to the island.
• The destruction of Carthage and Corinth led to the Romans wanting more slaves, according to Strabo.
• Vernae are home-born slaves; their status was determined by their mothers' status.
• A foundling made a slave would have to prove they were a freeborn Roman to become free.
• Romans would choose to be a slave if they were in great debt or poverty.
• Rome's two slave markets were in the Forum Romanum and Campus Martius.

The Life of a Slave

• Columella indicated that farm slaves were kept in the farm prison, chained.
• Columella sometimes freed women after they raised several children.
• Greek slaves were often teachers, doctors, and librarians, which differed from Black slaves in the South, where education was eventually forbidden and their native cultures were not promoted or encouraged.
• Pliny felt bad for his sick slave since he knew the slave loved to read, but could not.
• Vedius Pollio's slave broke a crystal cup during a dinner with Emperor Augustus, and was punished by being thrown to the lampreys as food.
• Martial mourned his slave who had died because he cared for her, which contrasts with sending the slave to the mines
• Diodorus Siculus indicates that in the mines, slaves were never allowed to pause to rest, were beaten if they did pause, and could never do anything else with their lives.

Seeking Freedom

• Seneca meant that slaves hate their masters, so they will be enemies when he said "You have as many enemies as you have slaves."
• The Senate decided not to require slaves to wear uniform clothing, as it would give them a sense of unity and could encourage a revolt.
• Three slave revolts took place during the Roman Republic in Sicily and southern Italy.
• The most famous revolt was led by Spartacus from 73 to 71 B.C.
• Slaves not killed in battle during Spartacus' revolt were crucified along the road from Capua to Rome.
• There is no evidence documenting Spartacus' motivation, only documents from the enslavers' point of view, so it is unknown if he wanted to abolish slavery or just win freedom for himself and his followers.
• Small acts slaves performed to resist enslavement included working inefficiently or stealing.
• Besides professional slave hunters, slave owners also looked to friends for help in returning runaways.
• Besides running away, Dionysius stole a large number of books from Cicero.
• Three things that could happen to a runaway slave that was caught include branding on the face, wearing a collar, and death.

Manumission

• A wealthy household would regularly free slaves.
• Slaves could buy their freedom; this allowance was known as a peculium.
• The two parts of the word manumissio mean Manus (Hand) and Missus (Sent).
• A slave's new status when they were freed was Libertus or Liberta.
• Male slaves took the first two names of their master with their slave name as their third when freed.
• Manumission gave slave owners an opportunity for incentive, encouraging their slaves to work harder, and provided money to buy new slaves (if their slave bought their freedom).
• A Roman could free never more than 100 slaves.
• Masters used the occasion of Saturnalia to free slaves, which was a festival in December lasting from the 17th to the 24th which was a celebration of the harvest. - It was extremely unlikely that farm or mine slaves would be freed.