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[[File:Dougga cup-bearers mosaïc.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Roman mosaic from [[Dougga]], Tunisia (2nd/3rd&nbsp;century&nbsp;AD): Two large slaves carrying wine jars each wear an [[amulet]] against the [[evil eye]] on a necklace, with one in a loincloth ''(left)'' and the other in an ''[[exomis]]'';{{efn|Aliza Steinberg notes the decorated tunics ''(tunicae manicatae)'' of the two free men being served.{{sfn|Steinberg, ''Weaving in Stones''|p=97}}}} the young slave to the left carries water and towels, and the one on the right a bough and a basket of flowers.<ref>Described by Mikhail Rostovtzev, ''The Social and Economic History of the Roman Empire'' (Tannen, 1900), p.&nbsp;288.</ref>]]
{{slavery}}

'''Slavery in ancient Rome''' played an important role in society and the economy. Unskilled or low-skill slaves labored in the fields, mines, and mills with few opportunities for advancement and little chance of freedom. Skilled and educated slaves—including artisans, chefs, domestic staff and personal attendants, [[#Gladiators, entertainers, and prostitutes|entertainers]], business managers, accountants and bankers, educators at all levels, secretaries and librarians, civil servants, and physicians—occupied a more privileged tier of servitude and could hope to obtain freedom through one of several well-defined paths with protections under the law. The possibility of [[#Manumission|manumission]] and subsequent citizenship was a distinguishing feature of Rome's system of slavery, resulting in a significant and influential number of freedpersons in Roman society.

At all levels of employment, free working people, former slaves, and the enslaved mostly did the same kinds of jobs. Elite Romans whose wealth came from property ownership saw little difference between slavery and a dependence on earning wages from labor. Slaves were themselves considered property under [[Roman law]] and had no rights of legal personhood. Unlike [[Roman citizen]]s, by law they could be subjected to corporal punishment, sexual exploitation, torture, and summary execution. The most brutal forms of punishment were reserved for slaves. The adequacy of their diet, shelter, clothing, and healthcare was dependent on their perceived utility to owners whose impulses might be cruel or situationally humane.

Some people were born into slavery as the child of an enslaved mother. Others became slaves. War captives were considered legally enslaved, and [[List of Roman wars and battles|Roman military expansion]] during the [[Roman Republic|Republican era]] was a major source of slaves. From the 2nd century BC through [[late antiquity]], kidnapping and piracy put freeborn people all around the Mediterranean at risk of illegal enslavement, to which the children of poor families were especially vulnerable. Although a law was passed to ban [[debt slavery]] quite early in Rome's history, some people sold themselves into [[#Self-sales|contractual slavery]] to escape poverty. The slave trade, lightly taxed and regulated, flourished in all reaches of the [[Roman Empire]] and across borders.

In antiquity, slavery was seen as the political consequence of one group dominating another, and people of any race, ethnicity, or place of origin might become slaves, including freeborn Romans. Slavery was practiced within all communities of the Roman Empire, including among Jews and Christians. Even modest households might expect to have two or three slaves.

A period of [[#Rebellions|slave rebellions]] ended with the defeat of [[Spartacus]] in 71&nbsp;BC; slave uprisings grew rare in the [[Roman Empire|Imperial era]], when individual escape was a more persistent form of resistance. Fugitive slave-hunting was the most concerted form of policing in the Roman Empire.

Moral discourse on slavery was concerned with the treatment of slaves, and abolitionist views were almost nonexistent. Inscriptions set up by slaves and freedpersons and the art and decoration of their houses offer glimpses of how they saw themselves. A few writers and philosophers of the Roman era were former slaves or the sons of freed slaves. Some scholars{{who|date=May 2025}} have made efforts to imagine more deeply the lived experiences of slaves in the Roman world through comparisons to the [[Atlantic slave trade]], but no portrait of the "typical" Roman slave emerges from the wide range of work performed by slaves and freedmen and the complex distinctions among their social and [[Status in Roman legal system|legal statuses]].

==Origins==
{{See also|Slavery in antiquity|Slavery in ancient Greece}}
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<small>''Terminology and dates as used in this article''</small>{{efn|This timeline is a framework for understanding periods of Roman history as they are referred to in this article. It is not meant as definitional.<!--In other words, this is not the place to argue about periodization unless you have read the article and find that the infobox does not accurately reflect terminology as actually used within this article. That's why there is overlapping periodization. "Early Byzantine" ends with Justinian because the compilation of law reaches it zenith, and sources past the 7th century aren't used for this article-->}}
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:Late Republic 146–44 BC
'''[[Roman Empire|Imperial]]''' 27 BC–AD 313{{efn|This article treats the Christianization of the Roman Empire as a turning point that affects legislative, moral, social, and cultural concerns.}}
:[[Principate]] 27 BC–AD 284
::[[Augustus|Augustan era]] 27 BC–AD 14
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<!--:[[Dominate]] AD 284–641-->
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'''[[Christianization of the Roman Empire|Christianization]]''' beginning AD 313{{efn|The [[Edict of Milan]] is here taken as the beginning of the Christianization of the Roman state and the eventual suppression of [[Religion in ancient Rome|religious pluralism]] in the Roman Empire.}}
:Reign of [[Constantine I]] AD 306–337
[[Late antiquity]] AD 313–mid 7th century
|[[Byzantine Empire|Early Byzantine Empire]] 330–636{{efn|[[Isidore of Seville]] is the latest primary source regarded as "ancient" by the scholarship on which this article is based.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}}}
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From Rome's earliest historical period, domestic slaves were part of a ''familia'', the body of a household's dependents—a word especially, or sometimes limited to, referring to the slaves collectively.<ref>[[Richard Saller|Richard P. Saller]], "''Familia'', ''Domus'', and the Roman Conception of the Family", ''Phoenix'' 38:4 (1984), p. 343.</ref> [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]] (1st century AD) was nostalgic for a time when "the ancients" lived more intimately in a household with no need for "legions of slaves"—but still imagined this simpler domestic life as supported by the possession of a slave.<ref>{{harvnb|Cheesman, "Names in -por and Slave Naming in Republican Rome"|p=515}}, citing</ref>{{sfn|Pliny, ''Natural History''|p=33.26}}

All those belonging to the ''familia'' were subject to the ''[[paterfamilias]]'', the "father" or head of household and more precisely the estate owner. According to [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], the early Romans coined ''paterfamilias''<!-- please do not insert space; the closed form is correct in this specific instance --> as a euphemism for the relationship of a master to his slaves.{{sfn|Saller, "''Pater Familias, Mater Familias, and the Gendered Semantics of the Roman Household''"|pp=182–184, 192|ps= (citing on ''paterfamilias''<!-- please do not insert space; the closed form is correct here--> Seneca, ''Epistula'' 47.14), 196.}} The word for "master" was ''dominus'' as the one who controlled the domain of the ''domus'' (household);<ref>Saller, "''Familia'', ''Domus'', and the Roman Conception of the Family", pp. 342–343.</ref> ''dominium'' was the word for his control over the slaves.<ref>Benedetto Fontana, "Tacitus on Empire and Republic", ''History of Political Thought'' 14:1 (1993), p. 28.</ref> The ''paterfamilias'' held the power of life and death ''(vitae necisque potestas)'' over the dependents of his household,{{sfn|Westbrook, ''"Vitae Necisque Potestas"''|p=208}} including his sons and daughters as well as slaves.{{sfn|Westbrook, ''"Vitae Necisque Potestas"''|pp=203–204}} The Greek historian [[Dionysius of Halicarnassus]] (1st century AD) asserts that this right dated back to the legendary time of [[Romulus]].{{sfn|Westbrook, ''"Vitae Necisque Potestas"''|p=205}}

In contrast to [[Greek city-states]], Rome was an ethnically diverse population and incorporated former slaves as citizens. Dionysius found it remarkable that when Romans manumitted their slaves, they gave them [[Roman citizenship]] as well.<ref>'The Bitter Chain of Slavery': Reflections on Slavery in Ancient Rome. Keith Bradley. Curated studies. Hellenic Centre of Harvard University. https://chs.harvard.edu/curated-article/snowden-lectures-keith-bradley-the-bitter-chain-of-slavery/ {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210411063656/https://chs.harvard.edu/curated-article/snowden-lectures-keith-bradley-the-bitter-chain-of-slavery/ |date=2021-04-11}}</ref> [[Founding of Rome|Myths of Rome's founding]] sought to account for both this heterogeneity<ref>Kathryn Lomas, Andrew Gardner, and Edward Herring, "Creating Ethnicities and Identities in the Roman World", ''Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies'' suppl. 120 (2013), p. 4.</ref> and the role of freedmen in Roman society.<ref>Parshia Lee-Stecum, "Roman ''refugium'': refugee narratives in Augustan versions of Roman prehistory", ''Hermathena'' 184 (2008), p. 78, specifically on the relation of Livy's account of the asylum to the Augustan program of broadening the political participation of freedmen and provincials.</ref> The legendary founding by Romulus began with his establishment of a [[Asylum (antiquity)|place of refuge]] that, according to the [[Augustus|Augustan-era]] historian [[Livy]], attracted "mostly former slaves, vagabonds, and runaways all looking for a fresh start" as citizens of the new city, which Livy considers a source of Rome's strength.<ref>Rex Stem, "The Exemplary Lessons of Livy's Romulus", ''Transactions of the American Philological Association'' 137:2 (2007), p. 451, citing Livy 1.8.5–6</ref><ref>[[T. P. Wiseman]], "The Wife and Children of Romulus", ''Classical Quarterly'' 33:3 (1983), p. 445, on Greek attitudes that therefore "the Romans were simply robbers and bandits, strangers to the laws of gods or men", citing Dionysius 1.4.1–3. 1.89–90.</ref> [[Servius Tullius]], the semi-legendary [[Kings of Rome|sixth king of Rome]], was said to have been the son of a slave woman,<ref>J. N. Bremmer and N. M. Horsfall, ''Roman Myth and Mythography'' (University of London Institute of Classical Studies, 1987), p. 32.</ref> and the cultural role of slavery is embedded in some [[#Slaves in classical Roman religion|religious festivals and temples]] that the Romans associated with his reign.

Some legal and religious developments pertaining to slavery thus can be discerned even in Rome's earliest institutions. The [[Twelve Tables]], the earliest [[Roman law|Roman legal code]], dated traditionally to 451/450&nbsp;BC, do not contain law defining slavery, the existence of which is taken as a given. But there are mentions of [[#Manumission|manumission]]<ref>[[Alan Watson (legal scholar)|Alan Watson]], ''Rome of the XII Tables: Persons and Property'' (Princeton University Press, 1975), p. 86.</ref> and the status of freedmen, who are referred to as ''cives Romani liberti'', "freedmen who are Roman citizens", indicating that as early as the 5th century BC, former slaves were a significant demographic that the law needed to address, with a legal path to freedom and the opportunity to participate in the legal and political system.{{sfn|Bradley|1985|p=4}}

The Roman [[Gaius (jurist)|jurist Gaius]] described slavery as "the state that is recognized by the ''[[ius gentium]]'' in which someone is subject to the dominion of another person contrary to nature" (''[[Institutes of Gaius|Institutiones]]'' 1.3.2, 161&nbsp;AD).<ref name=Caius>Fields, Nic. ''Spartacus and the Slave War 73–71 BC: A Gladiator Rebels against Rome.'' (Osprey 2009) p.&nbsp;17–18.</ref> [[Ulpian]] (2nd&nbsp;century&nbsp;AD) also regarded slavery as an aspect of the ''ius gentium'', the customary [[international law]] held in common among all peoples (''gentes''). In Ulpian's tripartite division of law, the "law of nations" was considered neither [[natural law]], thought to exist in nature and govern animals as well as humans, nor [[civil law (legal system)|civil law]], the legal code particular to a people or nation.<ref name="Tierney">Brian Tierney, ''The Idea of Natural Rights'' (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2002, originally published 1997 by Scholars Press for Emory University), p.&nbsp;136.</ref> All human beings are born free (''liberi'') under natural law, but since slavery was held to be a universal practice, individual nations would develop their own civil laws pertaining to slaves.<ref name="Tierney"/>
In ancient warfare, the victor had the right under the ''ius gentium'' to enslave a defeated population; however, if a settlement had been reached through diplomatic negotiations or formal surrender, the people were [[customary law|by custom]] to be spared violence and enslavement. The ''ius gentium'' was not a [[legal code]],<ref>R. W. Dyson, ''Natural Law and Political Realism in the History of Political Thought'' (Peter Lang, 2005), vol.&nbsp;1, p.&nbsp;127.</ref> and any force it had depended on "reasoned compliance with standards of international conduct".{{sfn|Bederman, International Law in Antiquity|p=85}}

Although Rome's earliest wars were defensive,{{sfn|Bradley|1985|p=7}} a Roman victory would still result in the enslavement of the defeated under these circumstances, as is recorded at the [[Battle of Veii|conclusion of the war]] with the [[Etruscans|Etruscan]] city of [[Veii]] in 396 BC.{{sfn|Bradley|1985|p=6 <!--citing [[Livy]] 5.22.1.-->}} Defensive wars also drained manpower for agriculture, increasing the demand for labor—a demand that could be met by the availability of war captives.{{sfn|Bradley|1985|pp=7–8}} From the sixth through the third centuries BC, Rome gradually became a "slave society",{{sfn|Bradley|1985|p=1<!--especially n. 2, citing [[Keith Hopkins]], ''Conquerors and Slaves'' (Cambridge 1978), pp. 99–100 on the criteria for "slave society"-->}} with the first two [[Punic Wars]] (265–201 BC) producing the most dramatic surge in the number of slaves.{{sfn|Westermann, ''The Slave Systems of Greek and Roman Antiquity''|p=60}}

Slavery with the possibility of manumission became so embedded in Roman society that by the 2nd century AD, most free citizens in the city of Rome are likely to have had slaves "somewhere in their ancestry".<ref>[[Mary Beard (classicist)|Mary Beard]], ''SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome'' (W. W. Norton, 2015), pp. 68–69, qualifying this statement as the view of "some historians".</ref>

===Enslavement of Roman citizens===
[[File:Gleyre Charles Romans Under the Yoke.jpg|thumb|''Romans Passing under the Yoke'' (1858) by [[Charles Gleyre]], imagining the [[Send under the yoke|subjugation]] of Romans following their defeat by the [[Helvetii]] around 107 BC ''(Cantonal Museum of Fine Arts)'']]

In early Rome, the Twelve Tables permitted [[#Debt slavery|debt slavery]] under harsh terms and made freeborn Romans subject to enslavement as a result of financial misfortune. A [[Lex Poetelia Papiria|law in the late 4th century&nbsp;BC]] put a stop to creditors enslaving a defaulting debtor as a private action, though a debtor could still be compelled by a legal judgment to work off his debt.<ref>[[Andrew Lintott]], ''The Constitution of the Roman Republic'' (Oxford University Press, 1999), p. 37.</ref> Otherwise, the only means of enslaving a freeborn citizen that the Romans of the Republican era recognized as lawful was military defeat and capture under the ''[[ius gentium]]''.

The Carthaginian leader [[Hannibal]] enslaved Roman war captives in large numbers during the [[Second Punic War]]. Following the Roman defeat at the [[Battle of Lake Trasimene]] (217 BC), the treaty included terms for ransoming prisoners of war. The [[Roman senate]] declined to do so, and [[Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus|their commander]] ended up paying the ransom himself. After the disastrous [[Battle of Cannae]] the following year, Hannibal again stipulated a redemption of captives, but the senate after debate again voted not to pay, preferring to send a message that soldiers should fight to victory or die. Hannibal then sold these prisoners of war to the Greeks, and they remained slaves until the [[Second Macedonian War]],<ref>Ernst Levy, "''Captivus Redemptus''", ''Classical Philology'' 38:3 (1943), p. 161, citing Livy 22.23.6–8, 22.60.3–4, 22. 61.3, 7, and 34.50.3–7; Plutarch, ''Fabius'' 7.4–5.</ref> when [[Titus Quinctius Flamininus|Flamininus]] recovered 1,200 men who had survived some twenty years of slavery after Cannae. The war that most dramatically escalated the number of slaves brought into Roman society at the same time had exposed an unprecedented number of Roman citizens to enslavement.<ref>Matthew Leigh, ''Comedy and the Rise of Rome'' (Oxford University Press, 2004), p. 96, in connection with the ''[[Captivi]]'' of [[Plautus]].</ref>

In the later Republic and during the Imperial period, thousands of soldiers, citizens, and their slaves in the Roman East were taken captive and enslaved by the [[Parthians]] or later within the [[Sasanian Empire]].{{sfn|Coulston, ''Courage and Cowardice in the Roman Imperial Army''|p=26}} The Parthians captured 10,000 survivors after the defeat of [[Marcus Crassus]] at the [[Battle of Carrhae]] in 53 BC, and marched them 1,500 miles to [[Margiana]] in [[Bactria]], where their fate is unknown.{{efn|In 36 BC, during a failed attempt to recover the standards lost, Mark Antony is supposed to have been guided by a survivor of Carrhae who had served under Parthians: [[Velleius Paterculus]] 2.82; Florus 2.20.4; Plutarch, ''Antony'' 41.1. in the 1940s, American [[sinologist]] [[Homer H. Dubs]] stirred up both scholarly imagination and scholarly indignation in a series of articles and finally a book arguing that enslaved Roman survivors of Carrhae were traded, or escaped and settled, [[Sino-Roman relations|as far as China]].{{sfn|Dubs, "An Ancient Military Contact between Romans and Chinese"|pp=322-330}}}} While thoughts of returning the [[Roman military standards]] lost at Carrhae motivated military minds for decades, "considerably less official concern was expressed about the liberation of Roman prisoners".{{sfn|Coulston, ''Courage and Cowardice in the Roman Imperial Army''|p=27}} Writing about thirty years after the battle, the Augustan poet [[Horace]] imagined them married to "barbarian" women and serving the Parthian army, too dishonored to be restored to Rome.<ref>Horace, ''Odes'' 3.5.6, from Jake Nabel, "Horace and the Tiridates Episode", ''Rheinisches Museum für Philologie'' 158: 3/4 (2015), pp. 319–322</ref>{{efn|Some captives from Carrhae and from two later attempts to avenge the defeat may have been restored in 20 BC when Augustus negotiated the return of the standards.<ref>J. M. Alonso-Núñez, "An Augustan World History: The ''Historiae Philippicae'' of Pompeius Trogus", ''Greece & Rome'' 34:1 (1987), pp.60–61, citing [[Pompeius Trogus]] in the epitome of [[Justin (historian)|Justinus]].</ref>}}

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 | image1    = 120-Naqsh-e Rostam (16279256871).jpg
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   | caption1  = [[Shapur I]] employed enslaved Roman engineers, craftsmen, and labor for his monumental building program at such sites as Naqsh-e Rostam, present-day Iran.
   | image2    = Naghsh-e rostam, Irán, 2016-09-24, DD 12.jpg
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   | caption2  = Detail of relief ''(lower left above)'' depicting the Roman emperor [[Valerian (emperor)|Valerian]] (sometimes identified as [[Philip the Arab]]) submitting to Shapur I<ref>Marjorie C. Mackintosh, "Roman Influences on the Victory Reliefs of Shapur I of Persia", ''California Studies in Classical Antiquity'' 6 (1973), pp. 183–184, citing Persian author [[Ferdowsi|Firdausi]], ''[[Shahnameh|The Epic of Kings]]'', tr. by Reuben Levy (1967) 284, on Shapur's use of Roman engineers and labor.</ref>
   }}
[[Valerian (emperor)|Valerian]] became the first emperor to be held captive after his defeat by [[Shapur I]] at the [[Battle of Edessa]] in AD 260. According to hostile Christian sources, the aging emperor was treated as a slave and subjected to a grotesque array of humiliations.<ref>[[Laura Betzig]], "''Suffodit inguina'': Genital attacks on Roman emperors and other primates", ''Politics and the Life Sciences'' 33:1 (2014), pp. 64–65, citing Orosius, ''Contra Paganos'' 7.22..4; [[Lactantius]], ''On the Deaths of the Persecutors'' 5.5–6; Agathias, Histories 4.23.2–7.</ref> Reliefs and inscriptions located at the sacred [[Zoroastrian]] site of [[Naqsh-e Rostam]], southwest Iran, celebrate the victories of Shapur I and [[Shapur II|his successor]] over the Romans, with emperors in subjection and legionaries paying tribute.{{sfn|Coulston, ''Courage and Cowardice in the Roman Imperial Army''|p=26}} Shapur's inscriptions record that the Roman troops he had enslaved came from all reaches of the empire.<ref>M. Sprengling, "Shahpuhr I the Great on the Kaabah of Zoroaster", ''American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures'' 57:4 (1940), pp. 371–372; W. B. Henning, "The Great Inscription of Šāpūr I", ''Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies'' 9;4 (1939), pp. 898ff.</ref>

A Roman enslaved in war under such circumstances lost his citizen rights at home. His right to own property was forfeited, his marriage was dissolved, and if he was head of a household his legal power ''(potestas)'' over his dependents was suspended. If he was released from slavery, his citizen status might be restored along with his property and ''potestas''. His marriage, however, was not automatically renewed; another agreement of consent by both parties had to be arranged.<ref>{{harvtxt|Westermann, ''The Slave Systems of Greek and Roman Antiquity''|p=81}} and specifically on ''potestas'', Orit Malka and Yakir Paz, "''Ab hostibus captus et a latronibus captus'': The Impact of the Roman Model of Citizenship on Rabbinic Law", ''Jewish Quarterly Review'' 109:2 (2019), p. 153, citing Gaius 1.129 and Ulpian 10.4, and pp. 159 and 161 on renewal as a second marriage.</ref> The loss of citizenship was a consequence of submitting to an enemy sovereign state; freeborn people kidnapped by bandits or pirates were regarded as seized illegally, and therefore they could be ransomed, or their sale into slavery rendered void, without compromising their citizen status. This contrast between the consequences for status from war ''(bellum)'' and from banditry ''([[latrocinium]])'' may be reflected in the similar Jewish distinction between a "captive of a kingdom" and a "captive of banditry", in what would be a rare example of Roman law influencing the language and formulation of [[rabbinic law]].<ref>Malka and Paz, "Rabbinic Law", pp. 154–155 ''et passim''.</ref>

The legal process originally developed for reintegrating war captives<ref>Stanly<!--not a typo--> H. Rauh, "The Tradition of Suicide in Rome's Foreign Wars", ''Transactions of the American Philological Association'' 145:2 (2015), p. 400.</ref> was ''[[postliminium]]'', a return after passing out of Roman jurisdiction and then crossing back over one's own "threshold" ''(limen)''.<ref>[[Clifford Ando]], "Aliens, Ambassadors, and the Integrity of the Empire", ''Law and History Review'' 26:3 (2008), pp. 503–505.</ref> Not all war captives were eligible for reintegration; the terms of a treaty might permit the other side to retain captives<ref>W. W. Buckland, ''The Roman Law of Slavery: The Condition of the Slave in Private Law from Augustus to Justinian'' (Cambridge, 1908), pp. 305–307.</ref> as ''servi hostium'', "slaves of the enemy".<ref>Vasile Lica, "''Clades Variana'' and ''Postliminium''", ''Historia'' 50:4 (2001), p. 498, citing Cicero, ''De officiis'' 3.13.</ref> A ransom could be paid to redeem a captive individually or as a group; an individual ransomed by someone outside his family was required to pay back the money before his full rights could be restored, and although he was a freeborn person, his status was ambiguous until the lien was lifted.<ref>Ernst Levy, "''Captivus Redemptus''", ''Classical Philology'' 38:3 (1943), p. 161.</ref>

An investigative procedure was put in place under the emperor [[Hadrian]] to determine whether returned soldiers had been captured or surrendered willingly. Traitors, deserters, and those who had a chance to escape but made no attempt were not eligible for ''postliminium'' restoration of their citizenship.<ref>Lica, "''Clades Variana''", p. 498.</ref>

Because ''postliminium'' law also applied to enemy seizure of mobile property,<ref>Specified as "a horse or a mule or a ship" by [[Aelius Gallus]] (as quoted by Festus p. 244L), because these could evade possession without dishonoring the owner: a horse could bolt, but weapons could only be lost through the failure of their possessor and therefore could not be restored—as explained by Leigh, ''Comedy and the Rise of Rome'', p. 60.</ref> it was the means by which military-support slaves taken by the enemy were brought back into possession and restored to their former slave status under their Roman owners.<ref>Leigh, ''Comedy and the Rise of Rome'', pp. 60–62.</ref>

==The slave in Roman law and society==
[[File:Sarcofago avvocato Valerius Petrnianus-optimized.jpg|thumb|250px|Sarcophagus [[relief]] of Valerius Petronianus, with his slave holding writing tablets (4th century AD)]]

Fundamentally, the slave in ancient Roman law was one who lacked ''libertas'', liberty defined as "the absence of servitude".<ref>Tim Cornell, "Rome: The History of an Anachronism", in ''City States in Classical Antiquity and Medieval Italy'' (Ann Arbor, 1991) p. 65.</ref>{{efn|[[William Warwick Buckland|W.&nbsp;W. Buckland]], whose early 20th-century book on Roman law pertaining to slavery remains an essential reference,{{sfn|Schermaier, ''The Position of Roman Slaves''|p=1}} gave up on "the hopeless task of defining liberty" (''The Roman Law of Slavery'', p. 437).}} [[Cicero]] (1st century BC) asserted that liberty "does not consist in having a just master ''(dominus)'', but in having none".<ref>Daniel Kapust, "Skinner, Petitt and Livy: The Conflict of the Orders and the Ambiguity of Republican Liberty", ''History of Political Thought'' 25:3 (2004), p. 383, citing Cicero, ''De re publica'' 2.43.5.</ref> The common Latin word for "slave" was ''servus'',{{efn|Other words used to refer to the slave include ''homo'' (human being of any gender), ''famulus'' (referring to the slave's role within the ''familia''), ''ancilla'' (a female slave; ''serva'' was less common), and ''puer'' (boy).{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}}} but in [[Roman law]], a slave as chattel was ''mancipium'',<ref>{{harvtxt|Westermann, ''The Slave Systems of Greek and Roman Antiquity''|p=58}}</ref> a [[Grammatical gender|grammatically neuter]] word<ref>Benet Salway, "''MANCIPIVM RVSTICVM SIVE VRBANVM'': The Slave Chapter of Diocletian's Edict on Maximum Prices", ''Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies'' suppl. 109 (2010), p. 5.</ref> meaning something "taken in hand", ''manus'', a metaphor for possession and hence control and subordination.<ref>Richard P. Saller, ''Patriarchy, Property and Death in the Roman Family'' (Cambridge University Press, 1994), p. 255.</ref> Agricultural slaves, certain farmland within the Italian peninsula, and farm animals were all ''res mancipi'', a category of property established in early Rome's rural economy as requiring a formal legal process ''([[mancipatio]])'' for transferring ownership.{{sfn|Berger, ''Encyclopedic Dictionary of Roman Law''|loc=''res mancipi''|p=678}} The exclusive right to trade in ''res mancipi'' was a defining aspect of Roman citizenship in the Republican era; free noncitizen residents ''([[peregrini]])'' could not buy and sell this form of property without a special grant of commercial rights.{{efn|In her essay "The Concept of ''Commercium'' in the Roman Republic," Saskia T. Roselaar notes that "farmland" may have been defined more narrowly as land designated as ''[[ager Romanus]]''.{{sfn|Roselaar, "The Concept of ''Commercium'' in the Roman Republic"|pp=382}}}}

The Roman citizen who enjoyed liberty to the fullest extent was thus the property owner, the ''[[paterfamilias]]'' who had a legal right to control the estate. The ''paterfamilias'' exercised his power within the ''[[domus]]'', the "house" of his extended family, as master ''(dominus)'';{{sfn|Saller, "''Pater Familias, Mater Familias, and the Gendered Semantics of the Roman Household''"|pp=186–187}} [[patriarchy]] was recognized in Roman law as a form of household-level governance.{{efn|Saller in ''Patriarchy, Property and Death in the Roman Family'': "Rome has provided the paradigm of patriarchy in western thought", based on "the ''paterfamilias'' with his unlimited legal powers over members of his ''familia''.&nbsp;… The Roman family was unquestionably patriarchal, in the sense that it was defined with reference to the father, who was endowed with a special authority in the household&nbsp;… a striking ''potestas'' encompassing extensive coercive and proprietary rights."{{sfn|Saller, ''Patriarchy, Property and Death in the Roman Family''|p=255}} Saller asserts throughout that this is a reductively legalistic view that in no way encompasses the full range of emotional and moral relations within the family.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}}} The head of household was entitled to manage his dependents and to administer ad hoc justice to them with minimal oversight from the state. In early Rome, the ''paterfamilias'' had the right to sell, punish, or kill both his children (''liberi'', the "free ones" in the household) and the slaves of the ''familia''. This power of life and death, expressed as ''vitae necisque potestas'', was exercised over all members of the extended household except his wife{{efn|The phrase ''vitae necisque potestas'' is not used to express a husband's power over his wife, though summary execution of a wife was considered justifiable under some circumstances, such as adultery or drunkenness, that varied by historical period. In early Rome, [[manus marriage|marriage contracted ''in manu'']] put wives in a subordinate position; from the time of Augustus, a married woman remained under her own father's power, granting a female Roman citizen an unusual degree of independence from her husband relative to many other ancient societies. In the event of divorce, wealth the wife brought into the marriage remained attached to her, along with profits generated.{{sfn|Westbrook, "''Vitae Necisque Potestas''"|pp=203–204, 208}}}}— a free Roman woman could own property of her own as a ''domina'', and a married woman's slaves could act as her agents independently of her husband.{{sfn|Saller, "''Pater Familias, Mater Familias, and the Gendered Semantics of the Roman Household''"|p=197}} Despite structural symmetries, the distinction between the father's governance of his children and of his slaves is put bluntly by Cicero: the master can expect his children to obey him readily but will need to "coerce and break his slave".<ref>Saller, ''Patriarchy, Property and Death'', citing Cicero, ''De re publica'' 3.37</ref>

Although slaves were recognized as human beings (''homines'', singular ''homo''), they lacked [[legal personhood]] (Latin ''persona)''.{{sfn|Berger, ''Encyclopedic Dictionary of Roman Law''|loc=''servus''|p=704}} Lacking legal standing as a person, a slave could not enter into legal contracts on his own behalf; in effect, he remained a perpetual minor. A slave could not be sued or be the plaintiff in a lawsuit.{{sfn|Berger, ''Encyclopedic Dictionary of Roman Law''|loc=''servus''|p=704}} The testimony of a slave could not be accepted in a court of law<ref name="EB1911">{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Slavery|volume=25|pages=216–227|first=John Kells|last=Ingram}}</ref> unless the slave was tortured—a practice based on the belief that slaves in a position to be privy to their masters' affairs should be too virtuously loyal to reveal damaging evidence unless coerced,<ref>S. J. Lawrence, "Putting Torture (and Valerius Maximus) to the Test", ''Classical Quarterly'' 66:1 (2016), pp. 254–257, discusses the implications of this peculiar form of wishful thinking.</ref> even though the Romans were aware that testimony produced under torture was unreliable.{{sfn|Watson, "Roman Slave Law and Romanist Ideology"|pp=58-59 , citing ''Digest'' 48.1.1.23 (Ulpian).}} A slave was not permitted to testify against his master unless the charge was treason (''[[Law of majestas|crimen maiestatis]])''. When a slave committed a crime, the punishment exacted was likely to be far more severe than for the same crime committed by a free person.{{sfn|Berger, ''Encyclopedic Dictionary of Roman Law''|loc=''servus''|p=704}} ''Persona'' gradually became "synonymous with the true nature of the individual" in the Roman world, in the view of [[Marcel Mauss]], but "''servus non habet personam'' ('a slave has no persona'). He has no personality. He does not own his body; he has no ancestors, no name, no [[#Names|cognomen]], no goods of his own."<ref>Marcel Mauss, "A Category of the Human Mind: The Notion of the Person, the Notion of 'Self'", in ''Sociology and Psychology: Essays''(Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1979), p.&nbsp;81.</ref>

Owing to a growing body of laws, in the imperial period a master could face penalties for killing a slave without just cause and could be compelled to sell a slave on grounds of mistreatment.{{sfn|Berger, ''Encyclopedic Dictionary of Roman Law''|loc=''servus''|p=704}} [[Claudius]] decreed that if a slave was abandoned by his master, he became free. [[Nero]] granted slaves the right to complain against their masters in a court. And under [[Antoninus Pius]], a master who killed a slave without just cause could be tried for homicide.<ref>Matthew Dillon and [[Lynda Garland]], ''Ancient Rome: From the Early Republic to the Assassination of Julius Caesar'' (Routledge, 2005), p. 297</ref> From the mid to late 2nd century AD, slaves had more standing to complain of cruel or unfair treatment by their owners.{{sfn|McGinn, ''Prostitution, Sexuality, and the Law in Ancient Rome''|p=309}} But since even in late antiquity slaves still could not file lawsuits, could not testify without first undergoing torture, and could be punished by being burnt alive for testifying against their masters, it is unclear how these offenses could be brought to court and prosecuted; evidence is scant that they were.{{sfn|Watson, ''Roman Slave Law''|pp=64–65}}

As the Roman Empire was becoming Christianized, [[Constantine II (emperor)|Constantine II]] (emperor AD 337–340) barred Jews from owning Christian slaves, converting their slaves to Judaism, or [[Sexuality in ancient Rome#Castration and circumcision|circumcising]] their slaves. Laws in late antiquity discouraging the subjection of Christians to Jewish owners suggest that they were aimed at protecting Christian identity,{{sfn|Martin, "Slavery and the Ancient Jewish Family"|p=118, citing the extensive collection of legal texts by Amnon Linder, ''The Jews in Imperial Roman Legislation'' (Wayne State UP 1987).}} since Christian households continued to have slaves who were Christian.{{sfn|Westermann, ''The Slave Systems of Greek and Roman Antiquity''|p=150}}

===Marriage and family===
{{Main|Contubernium}}
[[File:Stele Aurelius Hermia Aurelia Philmatium BM 1867.5-8.55.jpg|thumb|Funerary [[relief]] (ca. 80&nbsp;BC) celebrating the marriage between Aurelius Hermia and Aurelia Philematium as ''conliberti'', fellow slaves in the same household who were freed<ref>''[[Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum|CIL]]'' VI, 09499.</ref> ''([[British Museum]])'']]

In Roman law, the slave had no [[kinship]]—no ancestral or paternal lineage, and no [[Collateral (kinship)|collateral relatives]].<ref>Thomas Finkenauer, "''Filii naturales'': Social Fate or Legal Privilege?" in ''The Position of Roman Slaves: Social Realities and Legal Differences'' (De Gruyter, 2023), pp. 25–26.</ref> The lack of legal personhood meant that slaves could not enter into forms of [[Marriage in ancient Rome|marriage recognized under Roman law]], and a male slave was not a [[paterfamilias|father]] as a matter of law because he could not exercise [[#The slave in Roman law and society|patriarchal ''potestas'']].<ref>Buckland, ''The Roman Law of Slavery'', pp. 77 (n. 3), 79</ref>{{sfn|Berger, ''Encyclopedic Dictionary of Roman Law''|loc=''filius iustus''|p=473}}{{sfn|Berger, ''Encyclopedic Dictionary of Roman Law''|loc=''spurius''|p=714}} However, slaves born into the ''familia'' and "upwardly mobile" slaves<ref>Susan Treggiari, "''Contubernales'' in ''CIL'' 6", ''Phoenix'' 35:1 (1981), p. 59.</ref> who held privileged positions might form a heterosexual union with a partner that was intended to be lasting or permanent, within which children might be reared.<ref>Susan Treggiari, "''Concubinae''", ''Papers of the British School at Rome'' 49 (1981), p. 59.</ref> Such a union, either arranged<ref>{{harvp|Bradley|1994|pp=50–51.}}</ref> or approved and recognized by the slave's owner,<ref>Treggiari, "''Contubernales''", p. 43.</ref> was called ''contubernium''. Though not technically a marriage, it had legal implications that were addressed by Roman jurists in case law and expressed an intention to marry if both partners gained manumission.{{efn|A few scholars,{{who|date=May 2025}} who assert otherwise, overlook juristic discussions of family law in which ''contubernium'' is cited as extralegal or ad hoc marriage even though not matrimony by law.{{sfn|Schermaier, ''The Position of Roman Slaves''|p=252}}}} A ''contubernium'' was normally a cohabitation between two slaves within the same household,<ref>Susan Treggiari, "Family Life among the Staff of the Volusii", ''Transactions of the American Philological Association'' 105 (1975), p. 396.</ref> and ''contubernia'' were [[Birth registration in ancient Rome|recorded along with births]], deaths, and manumissions in large households concerned with lineage.<ref>Treggiari, "''Contubernales''", p. 61.</ref> Sometimes only one partner ''(contubernalis)'' obtained free status before the death of the other, as commemorated in epitaphs.<ref>Treggiari, "''Contubernales''", pp. 45, 50.</ref> These quasi marital unions were especially common among [[#Public and imperial slaves|imperial slaves]].<ref>Treggiari, "''Contubernales''", pp. 50–52.</ref>

The master had the legal right to break up or sell off family members, and it has sometimes been assumed that they did so arbitrarily.<ref>Finkenauer, "''Filii naturales''", pp. 47, 64.</ref> But because of the value Romans placed on home-reared slaves ''([[#Vernae|vernae]])'' in expanding their ''familia'',<ref>Pedro López Barja de Quiroga, "Freedmen Social Mobility in Roman Italy, ''Historia'' 44:3 (1995), pp. 345–346 and n. 68, disputing Bradley, ''Slaves and Masters in the Roman Empire'', chapter 2.</ref> there is more evidence that the formation of family units, though not recognized as such for purposes of law and inheritance, was supported within larger urban households and on rural estates.<ref>Ulrike Roth, "Thinking Tools: Agricultural Slavery between Evidence and Models", ''Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies'' suppl. 92 (2007), pp. 25–26.</ref> Roman jurists who weigh in on actions that might break up slave families generally favored keeping them together, and protections for them appear several times in the compendium of Roman law known as the [[Digest (Roman law)|Digest]].<ref>Finkenauer, "''Filii naturales''", pp. 35–36, 41, citing as examples [[Paulus (jurist)|Paulus]], Digest 42.5.38 pr. (''Sententiae'', book&nbsp;1), and Seneca, ''Controversiae'' 9.3.3.</ref> A master who left his rural estate to an heir often included the workforce of slaves, sometimes with express provisions that slave families—father and mother, children, and grandchildren—be kept together.<ref>Finkenauer, "''Filii naturales''", pp. 49–59, 64, weighing utilitarian and humanitarian motives.</ref>

Among the laws Augustus issued pertaining to marriage and sexual morality was one permitting legal marriage between a freedwoman and a freeborn man of any rank below the senatorial, and legitimizing their heirs.<ref>Thomas A.J. McGinn, "Missing Females? Augustus' Encouragement of Marriage between Freeborn Males and Freedwomen", ''Historia'' 53:2 (2004) 200-208; see ''[[Lex Iulia et Papia]]''.</ref> A master could free a slave for the purpose of marrying her, becoming both her [[patronage in ancient Rome|patron]] and her husband.<ref>Judith Evans-Grubbs, "'Marriage More Shameful Than Adultery'": Slave-Mistress Relationships, 'Mixed Marriages', and Late Roman Law", ''Phoenix'' 47:2 (1993), p. 127.</ref> Roman women, including freedwomen, could own property and initiate [[Divorce in ancient Rome|divorce]], which required the intention of only one of the partners. But when marriage had been a condition of the freedwoman's manumission agreement, she lacked these rights.<ref>Katharine P.&nbsp;D. Huemoeller, "Freedom in Marriage? Manumission for Marriage in the Roman World", ''Journal of Roman Studies'' 110 (2020), p.&nbsp;131, citing ''Digest'' 23.2.28 (Marcian) and 23.2.9 (Ulpian).</ref> If she wanted to divorce her patron and marry someone else, she had to obtain his consent;<ref>Thomas A.&nbsp;J. McGinn, "Concubinage and the ''Lex Iulia'' on Adultery, ''Transactions of the American Philological Association'' 121 (1991), p.&nbsp;346.</ref> provide evidence that he was [[Mental illness in ancient Rome#In Roman law|not mentally competent]] to form intent;<ref>Jane F. Gardner, ''Women in Roman Law and Society'' (Taylor & Francis, 1986), [https://books.google.com/books?id=b2iweLcmkMMC&dq=%22it+could+sometimes+positively+be+an+advantage+to+a+freedwoman%22&pg=PT56 n.p.], citing the jurist [[Paulus (jurist)|Paulus]].</ref> or show that he had broken their commitment by planning to marry someone else or taking a [[concubinatus|concubine]].<ref>Treggiari, "''Concubinae''", pp.&nbsp;77–78, citing ''Digest'' 24.2.11.2.</ref>

=== ''Peculium'' === <!-- {{Main|Peculium}} -->
Because they were themselves property ''(res)'', as a matter of law Roman slaves could not own property. However, they could be allowed to hold and manage property, which they could use as if it were their own, even though it ultimately belonged to their master.<ref>{{harvp|Gamauf|2009}}</ref> A fund or property set aside for a slave's use was called a ''peculium''. [[Isidore of Seville]], looking back from the early 7th century, offered this definition: "''peculium'' is in the proper sense something which belongs to minors or slaves. For ''peculium'' is what a father or master allows his child or slave to manage as his own."<ref>Antti Arjava, "Paternal Power in Late Antiquity", ''Journal of Roman Studies'' 88 (1998), p. 164, citing Isidore, ''Origines'' 5.25.5 in connection with the survival of ''[[#Manumission|emancipatio]]'' in [[Visigothic Code|Visigothic law]].</ref>

The practice of allowing the slave a ''peculium'' likely originated on agricultural estates in setting aside small parcels of land where slave families could grow some of their own food. The word ''peculium'' points to the addition of livestock (''pecus''). Any surplus could be sold at market. Like other practices that encouraged agency among slaves in furthering their skills, this early form of ''peculium'' served an ethic of self-sufficiency and might motivate slaves to be more productive in ways that ultimately benefitted the slave owner, leading over time to more sophisticated opportunities for business development and wealth management for enslaved people.<ref>Richard Gamauf, "''Peculium'': Paradoxes of Slaves with Property", in ''The Position of Slaves'', p. 111, and on broader opportunities ''passim''.</ref>

[[File:Auch - Musée des Jacobins - 20170205 (3).jpg|thumb|An inscription declaring that the freedman Gaius Antistius Threptus<!--, a ''[[sevir augustalis]]'',--> paid for the dedication "with his own money" ''([[Musée des Amériques|Musée des Jacobins]], [[Auch]])''<ref>''[[L'Année épigraphique|AE]]'' 1955, 261. D S P stands for ''de sua pecunia'', "from his own money".</ref>]]

Slaves within a wealthy household or country estate might be given a small monetary ''peculium'' as an allowance.<ref>Ulrike Roth, "''Peculium'', Freedom, Citizenship: Golden Triangle or Vicious Circle? An Act in Two Parts", ''Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies'' suppl. 109 (2010), p. 92.</ref> The master's obligation to provide for the slave's subsistence was not counted as part of this discretionary ''peculium''. Growth of the ''peculium'' came from the slave's own savings, including profits set aside from what was owed to the master as a result of sales or business transactions conducted by the slave, and anything given to a slave by a third party for "meritorious services".{{sfn|Silver, "Contractual Slavery in the Roman Economy"|p= , citing ''Digest'' ([[Florentinus]]) 15.1.39.}} The slave's own earnings could also be the original source of the monetary ''peculium'' rather than a grant by the master,<ref>Edward E. Cohen, ''Roman Inequality: Affluent Slaves, Businesswomen, Legal Fictions'' (Oxford University Press, 2023), pp. 51–52.</ref> and in inscriptions slaves and freedpersons at times assert that they had paid for the dedication "with their own money".<ref>''De sua pecunia'': Gamauf, "''Peculium'': Paradoxes of Slaves with Property", p. 109.</ref> The ''peculium'' in the form of property could include other slaves put at the disposal of the ''peculium''-holder;{{sfn|Temin, "The Labor Market of the Early Roman Empire"|p=527}} in this sense, inscriptions not infrequently record that a [[Slave-owning slaves|slave "belonged to" another slave]].<ref>Gamauf, "''Peculium'': Paradoxes of Slaves with Property", p. 115, and "''Dispensator'': The Social Profile of a Servile Profession", p. 148, n. 140. The "belonging to" is typically expressed by the [[genitive case]] in Latin.</ref> Property otherwise could not be owned by the dependents of a household, defined as someone subordinate to the ''potestas'' of the ''paterfamilias''—including not only slaves, but adult sons who remained minors by law until their father's death. All wealth belonged to the head of household except for that owned independently by his wife,{{sfn|Saller, "''Pater Familias, Mater Familias, and the Gendered Semantics of the Roman Household''"|pp=187, 197}} whose slaves might operate with their own ''peculia'' from her.<ref>Leslie Shumka, "Inscribing Agency? The ''Mundus Muliebris'' Commemorations from Roman Italy", ''Phoenix'' 70:1/2 (2016), p. 89.</ref>

The legal dodge of ''peculium'' enabled both adult sons and capable slaves to manage property, turn a profit, and negotiate contracts.<ref>Jane Gardner, ''Women in Roman Law and Society'' (Taylor & Frances, 2008), [https://books.google.com/books?id=b2iweLcmkMMC&dq=emancipatio+%22fictitious+sale%22&pg=PT12 n.p.]</ref> Legal texts do not recognize a fundamental distinction between slaves and sons acting as business agent ''([[#Business managers and agents|institor]])''. However, legal restrictions on making loans to unemancipated sons, introduced in the mid 1st century AD, made them less useful than slaves in this role.<ref>Jane F. Gardner, "The Adoption of Roman Freedmen", ''Phoenix 43:3'' (1989), p. 250, n. 31, citing the ''[[senatusconsultum Macedonianum]]'' (Digest 16.6).</ref>

Slaves with the skills and opportunities to earn money might hope to save enough to buy their freedom.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Oxford Handbook of Social Relations in the Roman World|last=Kehoe|first=Dennis P.|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2011|pages=147–8|chapter=Law and Social Function in the Roman Empire}}</ref><ref>{{harvp|Bradley|1994|pp=2–3}}</ref> There was a risk to the still-enslaved person that the master would renege and take back the earnings, but one of the expanded protections for slaves in the Imperial era was that a manumission agreement between the slave and his master could be enforced.{{sfn|Westermann, ''The Slave Systems of Greek and Roman Antiquity''|p=83}} While very few slaves ever controlled large sums of money,<ref>Bradley, "Roman Slavery and Roman Law", p. 485.</ref> slaves who managed a ''peculium'' had a far better chance of obtaining liberty. With this business acumen, certain freedmen went on to amass considerable fortunes.{{sfn|Westermann, ''The Slave Systems of Greek and Roman Antiquity''|p=83}}

===Manumission <span class="anchor" id="Emancipation"></span>===
<!--{{Main|Manumission in ancient Rome}}-->
[[File:Mariemont manumission relief 02.JPG|thumb|Fragment of a marble relief (1st century BC) depicting a manumission ceremony and the wearing of the ''[[Pileus (hat)|pileus]]'', a felt cap that was a symbol of liberation]]

Slaves were released from their master's control through the legal act of ''manumissio'' ("[[manumission]]"), meaning literally a "releasing from the hand"{{sfn|Berger, ''Encyclopedic Dictionary of Roman Law''|loc=''manumissio''|p=476}} ''(de manu missio)''.<ref>Jakob Fortunat Stagl, "''Favor libertatis'': Slaveholders as Freedom Fighters", in ''The Position of Roman Slaves'', p. 211, citing Ulpian, ''Institutiones'' 4 (Digest 1.1.4).</ref> The equivalent act for the releasing of a minor child from their father's legal power (''[[patria potestas|potestas]])'' was ''emancipatio'', from which the English word "[[emancipation]]" derives. Both manumission and emancipation would involve transferral of some or most of any ''[[#Peculium|peculium]]'' (fund or property) the slave or minor had managed, less the self-purchase cost of the slave buying his freedom.<ref>Ulrike Roth, "''Peculium'', Freedom, Citizenship: Golden Triangle or Vicious Circle? An Act in Two Parts", ''Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies'' suppl. 109 (2010), pp. 99–105.</ref> That the two procedures are parallel in undoing the control of the ''paterfamilias'' is indicated by the [[legal fiction]] through which ''emancipatio'' occurred: technically, it was a sale ''([[mancipatio]])'' of the minor son three times at once, based on the archaic provision of the Twelve Tables that a son sold three times was freed of his father's ''potestas''.{{sfn|Johnston, ''Roman Law in Context''|p=39}}{{sfn|Berger, ''Encyclopedic Dictionary of Roman Law''|loc=''emancipatio''|p=461}}{{efn|See also [[#Parental sale|"Parental sale"]].}}

Slaves of the emperor's household (the ''familia Caesaris'') were routinely manumitted at ages 30 to 35—an age that should not be taken as standard for other slaves.<ref>Thomas E. J. Wiedemann, "The Regularity of Manumission at Rome", ''Classical Quarterly'' 35:1 (1985), p. 163.</ref> Within the ''familia Caesaris'', a young woman in her reproductive years seems to have had the greatest chance for manumission,<ref>Susan Treggiari, "''Contubernales'' in ''CIL'' 6", ''Phoenix'' 35:1 (1981) p.50ff ''et passim''.</ref> allowing her to marry and bear legitimate, free children,{{sfn|Harris, "Towards a Study of the Roman Slave Trade"|p=120}} though in general women might not have expected manumission until their reproductive years had passed.<ref>Walter Scheidel, "Quantifying the Sources of Slaves in the Early Roman Empire", ''Journal of Roman Studies'' 87 (1997), p.&nbsp;162.</ref>{{efn|Generally, fertility also is a motive for the purchase of female slaves; according to one survey of the evidence, more than 30 percent of women traded were of prime childbearing age (20 to 25).{{sfn|Laes, "Child Slaves at Work in Roman Antiquity"|p=243}}}} A slave who had a large enough ''peculium'' might also buy the freedom of a fellow slave, a ''[[contubernium|contubernalis]]'' with whom he had cohabited or a partner in business.<ref>Leonhard Schumacher, "On the Status of Private ''Actores'', ''Dispensatores'' and ''Vilici''", ''Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies'' suppl. 109 (2010), pp. 36–38.</ref> Neither age nor length of service was automatic grounds for manumission;<ref>Wiedemann, "The Regularity of Manumission at Rome", pp. 173–174.</ref> "masterly generosity was not the driving force behind the Romans' dealings with their slaves."<ref>Roth, "''Peculium'', Freedom, Citizenship", p. 105.</ref>

Scholars have differed on the rate of manumission.<ref>As discussed by Wiedemann, "The Regularity of Manumission at Rome", pp. 162–175.</ref> Manual laborers treated as chattel were least likely to be manumitted; skilled or highly educated urban slaves most likely. The hope was always greater than the reality,{{according to whom|date=May 2025}} though it may have motivated some slaves to work harder and conform to the ideal of the "faithful servant". Dangling liberty as a reward, slaveholders could navigate the moral issues of enslaving people through placing the burden of merit on slaves—"good" slaves deserved freedom, and others did not.<ref>Wiedemann, "The Regularity of Manumission at Rome", pp. 165, 175.</ref> Manumission after a period of service may have been a negotiated outcome of [[#Self-sales|contractual slavery]], though a citizen who had entered willingly into unfree servitude was barred from full restoration of his rights.{{sfn|Silver, "Contractual Slavery in the Roman Economy"|p=79, n. 5|ps= citing ''Digest'' 40.12.40 (Hermogenian), 40.13. 1 (pr Ulpian), and 40.13.3 (Papinian)}}{{sfn|Silver, "Contractual Slavery in the Roman Economy"|pp=93, n.17}}{{sfn|Silver, "Contractual Slavery in the Roman Economy"|pp=96-97, 99}}

There were three kinds of legally binding manumission: by the rod, by the census, and by the terms of the owner's [[will and testament|will]];<ref>Ulrike Roth, "''Peculium'', Freedom, Citizenship: Golden Triangle or Vicious Circle? An Act in Two Parts", ''Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies'' suppl. 109 (2010), pp. 106–107.</ref> all three were ratified by the state.<ref>David Daube, "Two Early Patterns of Manumission", ''Journal of Roman Studies'' 36 (1946), pp. 58–59.</ref> The public ceremony of ''manumissio vindicta'' ("by the rod") was a [[legal fiction|fictitious trial]]{{sfn|Berger, ''Encyclopedic Dictionary of Roman Law''|loc=''manumissio vindicta''|p=577}}{{efn|The view of ''manumissio vindicta'' as a fictitious trial concerning ''[[rei vindicatio]]'' was promulgated by [[Theodor Mommsen|Mommsen]]; some scholars{{who|date=May 2025}} see it as a more straightforward procedure.{{cn|date=June 2025}}}} that had to be performed before a [[Roman magistrate|magistrate]] who held ''[[imperium]]''; a Roman citizen declared the slave free, the owner did not contest it, the citizen touched the slave with a staff and pronounced a formula, and the magistrate confirmed it.<ref>{{harvp|Mouritsen, ''The Freedman in the Roman World''|p=11}}</ref> The owner might also free the slave simply by having him entered in the official roll of citizens during census-taking;{{sfn|Berger, ''Encyclopedic Dictionary of Roman Law''|loc=''manumissio censu''|p=576}} on principle, the [[Roman censor|censor]] had the unilateral power to free any slave to serve the interests of the state as a citizen.<ref>Daube, "Two Early Patterns of Manumission", pp. 61–62.</ref> Slaves could also be freed in their owner's will (''manumissio testamento''), sometimes on condition of service or payment before or after freedom.<ref>{{harvp|Mouritsen, ''The Freedman in the Roman World''|pp=180–182}}</ref> A slave rewarded with manumission in a will at times also received a [[bequest]], which might include transferring ownership of a ''[[contubernalis]]'' (informal marriage partner) to him or her.<ref>{{harvp|Mouritsen, ''The Freedman in the Roman World''|p=157}}</ref> Heirs might choose to complicate testamentary manumission, as a common condition was that the slave had to buy his freedom from the heir, and a slave still fulfilling the condition of his freedom could be sold. If there was no rightful heir, a master might not only free the slave but make him the heir.{{sfn|Berger, ''Encyclopedic Dictionary of Roman Law''|loc=''manumissio sub condicione'' and ''manumissio testamento''|p=576}} A formal manumission could not be revoked by the patron, and [[Nero]] ruled that the state had no interest in doing so.<ref>Egbert Koops, "Masters and Freedmen: Junian Latins and the Struggle for Citizenship", ''Integration in Rome and in the Roman World: Proceedings of the Tenth Workshop of the International Network Impact of Empire (Lille, June 23–25, 2011)'' (Brill, 2014), pp. 111–112.</ref>

Freedom might also be granted informally, such as ''per epistulam'', in a letter stating this intention, or ''inter amicos'', "among friends", with the owner proclaiming a slave's freedom in front of witnesses. During the Republic, informal manumission did not confer citizen status,<ref>Ulrike Roth, "''Peculium'', Freedom, Citizenship: Golden Triangle or Vicious Circle? An Act in Two Parts", ''Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies'' suppl. 109 (2010), p. 107.</ref> but Augustus took steps to clarify the status of those so freed.<ref>{{harvp|Mouritsen, ''The Freedman in the Roman World''|p=85–86}}</ref> [[Lex Junia Norbana|A law]] created "Junian [[Latin rights|Latin]]" status for these informally manumitted slaves, a sort of "half-way house between slavery and freedom" that, for example, did not confer the right to make a will.<ref>Roth, "''Peculium'', Freedom, Citizenship", p. 107.</ref>

In 2 BC, the ''[[lex Fufia Caninia]]'' limited the number of slaves that could be freed through a master's will in proportion to the size of the estate.<ref>Gaius, ''Institutiones'' 1.43, as cited by Pedro López Barja, Carla Masi Doria, and Ulrike Roth, introduction to ''Junian Latinity in the Roman Empire. Vol. 1: History, Law, Literature'', Edinburgh Studies in Ancient Slavery (Edinburgh University Press, 2023), pp. 7–8.</ref> Six years later, [[Lex Aelia Sentia|another law]] prohibited the manumission of slaves younger than thirty years of age, with some exceptions.{{sfnp|Bradley|1994|p=156}} Slaves of the emperor's own household were among those most likely to receive manumission, and the usual legal requirements did not apply.<ref>Wiedemann, "The Regularity of Manumission at Rome", p. 163.</ref>

By the early 4th century AD, when the Empire was becoming Christianized, slaves could be freed by a ritual in a church, officiated by an ordained bishop or priest. [[Constantine the Great|Constantine I]] promulgated edicts authorizing ''manumissio in ecclesia'', manumission within a church, in AD 316 and 323, though the law was not put into effect in Africa till AD 401. Churches were allowed to manumit slaves among their membership, and clergy could free their own slaves by simple declaration without filing documents or the presence of witnesses.{{sfn|Westermann, ''The Slave Systems of Greek and Roman Antiquity''|pp= 154–155}} <!--In&nbsp;320, Constantine overturned the longstanding rule that manumission was irrevocable and allowed patrons to withdraw the citizenship of freedmen found criminally guilty of ingratitude,<ref>Koops, "Masters and Freedmen", p. 112.</ref> a charge that could also be brought against an emancipated son and, if successful, returned him to his father's ''potestas''.{{sfn|Berger, ''Encyclopedic Dictionary of Roman Law''|loc=''ingratus''|p=501}}--> Laws such as the ''Novella'' 142 of [[Justinian I|Justinian]] in the 6th century gave bishops the power to free slaves.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=p24Z2Nz4bGsC Youval Rotman, "Byzantine Slavery and the Mediterranean World", Harvard University Press, 2009 p. 139]</ref>

===Freedmen===
[[File:Atrium of the House of the Vetti VI 15 1 in Pompeii, 1895 by Luigi Bazzani.jpg|thumb|Illustration by [[Luigi Bazzani]] (1895) of the atrium of the House of the Vettii, thought to have been owned by freedmen]]
{{main|Ancient Roman freedmen}}

A male slave who had been legally manumitted by a Roman citizen enjoyed not only passive freedom from ownership, but active political freedom (''libertas''), including the right to vote.<ref>[[Fergus Millar]], ''The Crowd in Rome in the Late Republic'' (University of Michigan, 1998, 2002), pp.&nbsp;23, 209.</ref> A slave who had acquired ''libertas'' was thus a ''libertus'' ("freed person", [[grammatical gender|feminine]] ''liberta'') in relation to his former master, who then became his patron (''[[Patronage in ancient Rome|patronus]]''). Freedmen and patrons had mutual obligations to each other within the traditional [[Patronage in ancient Rome|patronage network]], and freedmen could "network" with other patrons as well.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gardner |first=Jane F. |year=1989 |title=The Adoption of Roman Freedmen |journal=Phoenix |volume=43 |issue=3 |pages=236–257 |doi=10.2307/1088460 |jstor=1088460 |issn=0031-8299}}</ref> An edict in 118 BC stated that the freedman was legally responsible only for services or projects ''(operae)'' that had been spelled out as [[stipulation]]s or sworn to in advance; money could not be demanded, and certain freedmen were exempt from any formal ''operae''.<ref>Koops, "Masters and Freedmen", p. 110, especially note 32.</ref> The ''[[Lex Aelia Sentia]]'' of AD&nbsp;4 allowed a patron to take his freedman to court for not carrying out his ''operae'' as outlined in their manumission agreement, but the possible penalties—which range in severity from a reprimand and fines to condemnation to hard labor—never include a return to enslavement.<ref>Koops, "Masters and Freedmen", pp. 110–111.</ref>

As a social class, freed slaves were ''libertini'', though later writers used the terms ''libertus'' and ''libertinus'' interchangeably.<ref>{{harvp|Mouritsen, ''The Freedman in the Roman World''|p=36}}</ref>{{sfn|Berger, ''Encyclopedic Dictionary of Roman Law''|loc=''libertus''|p=564}} ''Libertini'' were not entitled to hold the "[[cursus honorum|career track]]" [[Roman magistrate|magistracies]] or [[Religion in ancient Rome|state priesthoods]] in the city of Rome, nor could they achieve [[Roman senate|senatorial rank]].{{sfn|Berger, ''Encyclopedic Dictionary of Roman Law''|loc=''libertinus''|p=564}} But they could hold neighborhood and local offices which entitled them to wear the ''[[toga praetexta]]'', ordinarily reserved for those of higher rank, for ceremonial functions and their funeral rites.<ref>Brent Lott, ''The Neighborhoods of Augustan Rome'' (Cambridge University Press, 2004), pp. 41–43, 68, 90 ''(toga praetexta)'', 97, 159–161, 165, 170, ''et passim''.</ref> In the towns ''([[municipium|municipia]])'' of the provinces and later in towns with the status of ''[[Colonia (Roman)|colonia]]'', inscriptions indicate that former slaves could be elected to all offices below the rank of [[praetor]]—a fact obscured by elite literature and ostensible legal barriers.<ref>Amanda Coles, "Between Patronage and Prejudice: Freedman Magistrates in the Late Roman Republic and Empire", ''Transactions of the American Philological Association'' 147:1 (2017), pp. 180, 198–199 ''et passim'', and providing inscriptions pp. 201–205.</ref> [[Ulpian]] even holds that if a [[#The fugitive in Roman culture|fugitive slave]] managed to be elected praetor, his legal acts would remain valid if his true status were discovered, because the Roman people had chosen to entrust him with power.<ref>Stagl, "''Favor libertatis''", p. 231, citing Digest 1.14.3 (Ulpian 38 ''ad Sab.'').</ref> Limitations were placed only on the former slaves themselves and did not apply to their sons.<ref>Koops, "Masters and Freedmen", p. 110.</ref>

[[File:DM Tiberius Claudius Chryseros.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Urn#Cremation urns|Cinerary urn]] for the freedman Tiberius Claudius Chryseros and two women, probably his wife and daughter]]

During the early Imperial period, some freedmen became very powerful. Those who were part of the emperor's household ''(familia Caesaris)'' could become key functionaries in the government bureaucracy. Some rose to positions of great influence, such as [[Tiberius Claudius Narcissus|Narcissus]], a former slave of the emperor [[Claudius]]. Their influence grew to such an extent under the [[Julio-Claudian dynasty|Julio-Claudian emperors]] that [[Hadrian]] limited their participation by law.{{sfn|Berger, ''Encyclopedic Dictionary of Roman Law''|p=564}}

More typical among freedmen success stories would be the cloak dealership of Lucius Arlenus Demetrius, enslaved from Cilicia, and Lucius Arlenus Artemidorus, from [[Paphlagonia]], whose shared family name suggests that their partnership toward a solid, profitable business began during enslavement.<ref>Keith Bradley, "'The Regular, Daily Traffic in Slaves': Roman History and Contemporary History", ''Classical Journal'' 87:2 (Dec. 1991–Jan. 1992), p. 131.</ref> A few freedmen became very wealthy. The brothers who owned the [[House of the Vettii]], one of the biggest and most magnificent houses in [[Pompeii]], are thought to have been freedmen.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hackworth Petersen |first=Lauren |title=The Freedman in Roman Art and Art History |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2006}}</ref> Building impressive tombs and monuments for themselves and their families was another way for freedmen to demonstrate their achievements.{{sfn|Mouritsen, ''The Freedman in the Roman World''|p=}}{{page needed|date=February 2025}} Despite their wealth and influence, they might still be looked down on by the traditional aristocracy as a vulgar ''[[nouveau riche]]''. In the ''[[Satyricon]]'', the character [[Trimalchio]] is a caricature of such a freedman.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Schmeling |first1=Gareth L |title=Satyricon |first2=Petronius |last2=Arbiter |last3=Seneca |first3=Lucius Annaeus |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2020 |isbn=978-0-674-99737-0 |oclc=1141413691}}</ref>

===''Dediticii''===
{{Main|Dediticii}}
Although in general freed slaves could become citizens, those categorized as ''[[dediticii]]'' held no rights even if freed. The [[Gaius (jurist)|jurist Gaius]] called the status of ''dediticius'' "the worst kind of freedom".<ref>''Pessima … libertas'': Gaius, ''Institutiones'' 1.26, as cited by Deborah Kamen, "A Corpus of Inscriptions: Representing Slave Marks in Antiquity", ''Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome'' 55 (2010), p. 104.</ref> Slaves whose masters had [[#Punishments|treated them as criminals]]—placing them [[#Chaining|in chains]], [[#Tattooing and branding|tattooing or branding]] them, torturing them to confess a crime, imprisoning them, or sending them involuntarily to a [[gladiator|gladiatorial school (''ludus'')]] or condemning them to fight with gladiators or [[damnatio ad bestias|wild beasts]]—if manumitted were counted as a potential threat to society along with enemies defeated in war,<ref>Ulrike Roth, "Men Without Hope", ''Papers of the British School at Rome'' 79 (2011), p. 90, citing Gaius, ''Institutes'' 1.13 and pointing also to [[Suetonius]], ''Divus Augustus'' 40.4</ref> regardless of whether their master's punishments had been justified. If they came within a hundred miles of Rome,{{efn|A perimeter of banishment is found in an unusual case of AD 9, when the Germans under [[Arminius]] captured Romans after the [[Battle of Teutoburg Forest]]. Mistrusting the loyalty of the army of the Rhine, which would have preferred [[Germanicus]] as emperor, [[Tiberius]] only reluctantly permitted these prisoners of war to be ransomed, with the provision that they were banned from Italy. Vasile Lica, "''Clades Variana'' and ''Postliminium''", ''Historia'' 50:4 (2001), pp. 598 and 601, especially n. 31, notes that the soldiers should have been eligible for full ''postliminium'' restoration of their citizenship status (see "[[#Enslavement of Roman citizens|Enslavement of Roman citizens]]" above) but "politics was more important than the ''lex'' [law]."
}} they were subject to reenslavement.<ref>Jane F. Gardner. 2011. "Slavery and Roman Law", in ''The Cambridge World History of Slavery''. Cambridge University Press. vol.&nbsp;1, p.&nbsp;429.</ref> ''Dediticii'' were excluded from the [[Constitutio Antoniniana|universal grant of Roman citizenship]] to all free inhabitants of the empire made by [[Caracalla]] in AD 212.<ref>Herbert W. Benario, "The ''Dediticii'' of the ''Constitutio Antoniniana''", p. 196 ''et passim''.</ref>

==Causes of enslavement==
[[File:Roman collared slaves - Ashmolean Museum.jpg|thumb|Relief from [[Smyrna]] (present-day [[İzmir]], Turkey) depicting a Roman soldier leading captives in chains|alt=]]

"Slaves are either born or made" ''(servi aut nascuntur aut fiunt)'':<ref>''Institutiones'' 1.3, as cited by John Madden, "Slavery in the Roman Empire: Numbers and Origins", ''Classics Ireland'' 3 (1996), p. 113.</ref> in the ancient Roman world, people might become enslaved as a result of warfare, piracy and kidnapping, or child abandonment—the fear of falling into slavery, expressed frequently in Roman literature, was not just rhetorical exaggeration.{{sfn|Bradley, "Animalizing the Slave"|p=112}} A significant number of the enslaved population were ''vernae'', born to a slave woman within a household (''domus'') or on a family farm or agricultural estate (''[[Roman villa|villa]]''). A few scholars have suggested that freeborn people selling themselves into slavery was a more frequent occurrence than literary sources alone would indicate.<ref>Alice Rio, "Self-Sale and Voluntary Entry into Unfreedom, 300-1100", ''Journal of Social History'' 45:3 (2012), p. p. 662, calling attention to Jacques Ramin and Paul Veyne, "Droit romain et sociéte: les hommes libres qui passent pour esclaves et l'esclavage volontaire", ''History'' 30:4 (1981), as deserving of more scholarly interest (p. 662).</ref> The relative proportion of these causes of enslavement within the slave population is hard to determine and remains a subject of scholarly debate.<ref>Walter Scheidel, "Quantifying the Sources of Slaves in the Early Roman Empire", ''Journal of Roman Studies'' 87 (1997), pp. 156–169.</ref>

===War captives===
During the Republican era (509–27 BC), warfare was arguably the greatest source of slaves,<ref>Keith Bradley, "On Captives under the Principate", ''Phoenix'' 58:3/4 (2004), p 299; P.&nbs
p;A. Brunt ''Italian Manpower'' (Oxford 1971), p.&nbsp;707; Hopkins 1978, pp.&nbsp;8–15.</ref> and certainly accounted for the marked increase in the number of slaves held by Romans during the Middle and Late Republic.{{sfn|Harris, "Towards a Study of the Roman Slave Trade"|p=121}} A major battle might result in captives numbering in the hundreds to the tens of thousands.<ref>Tim Cornell, 'The Recovery of Rome' in CAH2 7.2 F.W. Walbank et al. (eds.) Cambridge.</ref><ref>{{harvp|Wickham|2014|pp=210–217}}</ref> The newly enslaved were bought wholesale by dealers who followed the Roman legions.<ref>{{harvp|Wickham|2014|pp=180–184}}</ref> Once during the [[Gallic Wars]], after his siege of the [[oppidum|walled town]] of the [[Aduatuci]], [[Julius Caesar]] sold the entire population, numbering 53,000 people, to slave dealers on the spot.{{sfn|Joshel, ''Slavery in the Roman World''|p=55}}

Warfare continued to produce slaves for Rome throughout the Imperial period,<ref>Bradley, "On Captives", pp. 298–318.</ref> though war captives arguably became less important as a source around the beginning of the 1st century AD, after the major campaigns of [[Augustus]], the first emperor, concluded in his later life.{{sfn|Harris, "Towards a Study of the Roman Slave Trade"|pp=118, 122}} The smaller-scale, less continual warfare of the so-called ''[[Pax Romana]]'' of the 1st and 2nd centuries still produced slaves "in more than trivial numbers".{{sfn|Harris, "Towards a Study of the Roman Slave Trade"|p=122}}

[[File:Iudaea capta reverse of Vespasian sestertius.jpg|thumb|Reverse of a [[sestertius]] issued by Vespasian, one among a twenty-five-year series of [[Judaea Capta coinage|''Iudaea capta'' coins]] depicting a personification of the defeated province of Judaea]]

As an example of the impact on one community, it was during this period that the greatest numbers of slaves from the [[Judaea (Roman province)|province of Judaea]] were traded, as a result of the [[Jewish–Roman wars]] (AD 66–135).<ref>Catherine Hezser, "The Social Status of Slaves in the Talmud Yerushalmi and in Graeco-Roman Society", in ''The Talmud Yerushalmi and Graeco-Roman Culture'' (Mohr, 2002), p. 96.</ref> The [[Hellenistic Judaism|Hellenistic Jewish]] historian [[Josephus]] reports that the [[First Jewish–Roman War|Great Jewish Revolt]] of AD 66–70 alone resulted in the enslavement of 97,000 people.<ref>{{harvtxt|Harris, "Towards a Study of the Roman Slave Trade"|p=122}}, citing Josephus, ''[[The Jewish War]]'' 6.420; Hezser, "The Social Status of Slaves", p. 96 (Hezser is skeptical of Josephus's numbers).</ref> The future emperor [[Vespasian]] enslaved 30,000 in [[Tarichaea|Tarichea]] after executing those who were old or infirm.<ref>Hezser, "The Social Status of Slaves", p. 96, citing Josephus, ''Jewish War'' 3.10.10, 539ff.</ref> When his son and future successor [[Titus]] captured the city of [[Yafa an-Naseriyye#Classical antiquity|Japha]], he killed all the men and sold 2,130 women and children into slavery.<ref>Hezser, "The Social Status of Slaves", p. 96, citing Josephus, ''Jewish War'' 3.7.31, 303–304.</ref> What appears to have been a unique instance of over-supply in the Roman market for slaves occurred in AD 137 after the [[Bar Kokhba revolt]] was quashed and more than 100,000 slaves were put on the market. A Jewish slave for a time could be bought at [[Hebron#Classical antiquity|Hebron]] or [[Gaza City#Roman period|Gaza]] for the same price as a horse.<ref>{{harvtxt|Harris, "Towards a Study of the Roman Slave Trade"|p=122}}, citing ''[[Chronicon Paschale]]'' 1.474 ed. Dindorf.</ref>

The demand for slaves may account for some expansionist actions that seem to have no other political motive—[[Roman Britain|Britain]], [[Mauretania]], and [[Dacia]] may have been desirable conquests primarily as sources of manpower, and so too Roman campaigns across the frontiers of their [[Roman Africa|African provinces]].{{sfn|Harris, "Towards a Study of the Roman Slave Trade"|p=122}}

====''Captivi'' in Roman culture====
[[File:Gemma Augustea KHM 2010.jpg|thumb|The ''[[Gemma Augustea]]'' onyx cameo depicting the elevated Augustus receiving a wreath ''([[Roman military decorations and punishments#Crowns|corona]])'' amid divinities; below, soldiers erect a [[tropaion|war trophy]] and ready captives for sale]]

The ''[[Digest (Roman law)|Digest]]'' offers an etymology that connects the word ''servus'' to war captivity as an alternative to killing the defeated: "Slaves ''(servi)'' are so called because commanders sell captives and through this make it usual to save ''(servare)'' and not kill them."<ref>Ulrike Roth, "The Gallic Ransom and the Sack of Rome: Livy 5.48.7-8", ''Mnemosyne'' 71:3 (2018), p. 463, citing ''Digest'' (Florentinus) 1.5.4.2.</ref> One of the [[Roman mythology|myths of Romulus]] was that he began the practice of integrating war captives into Roman society through enslaving rather than slaughtering them.{{citation needed|date=January 2024}} Julius Caesar concluded his campaign against the [[Veneti (Gaul)|Gallic Veneti]] by executing their senate but selling the survivors ''sub corona'', "under the wreath".<ref>Thomas Wiedemann, "The Fetiales: A Reconsideration", ''Classical Quarterly'' 36:2 (1986), p. 483, citing Caesar, ''Bellum Gallicum'' 3.16.</ref> War booty, including conquered land, was customarily auctioned ''sub [[hasta (spear)|hasta]]'', "under the spear" symbolic of Roman sovereignty,{{sfn|Thein, "Booty in the Sullan Civil War of 83-82 B.C."|p=462}} and "to sell under the spear" came to mean simply "to auction off". But war captives were said to be sold ''sub corona'', "under the wreath"<ref>Roth, "The Gallic Ransom", p. 463, citing Varro, ''De re rustica'' 2.10.4.</ref> because in early times they would have been wreathed{{efn|In contrast to those wearing a cap (the ''pilleati'') indicating that the seller offered no warranty on the slaves.{{sfn|Howley, "Why Read the Jurists?"|p=14  , citing Aulus Gellius, ''Attic Nights'' 6.4.}}}} like a [[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#victima|sacrificial victim]]<ref>M. Cary and [[Arthur Nock|A.&nbsp;D. Nock]], "Magic Spears", ''Classical Quarterly'' 21:3/4 (1927), p. 123, n. 1, citing the work of Köchling and Wilken.</ref> (''hostia'', which [[Ovid]] relates to ''hostis'', "enemy"<ref>Ovid, ''Fasti'' 1.336, as cited by Steven J. Green, ''Ovid, Fasti 1: A Commentary'' (Brill, 2004), pp. 159–160.</ref>).

Roman culture produced artistic responses to the visibility of captives as early as the Punic Wars, when the comic playwright [[Plautus]] wrote the ''[[Captivi]]'' ("Captives", ca. 200 BC).<ref>Leigh, ''Comedy and the Rise of Rome'', p. 22 ''et passim''.</ref> The cultural assumption that enslavement was a natural result of defeat in war is reflected in the ubiquity of Imperial art depicting captives, an image that appears not only in public contexts that serve overt purposes of propaganda and triumphalism but also on objects that seem intended for household and personal display, such as figurines, lamps, [[Arretine ware|Arretine pottery]], and gems.<ref>Bradley, "On Captives", pp. 298–300, 313–314 ''et passim''.</ref>

===Piracy and kidnapping===
[[Piracy]] has a long history in human trafficking.<ref>Vincent Gabrielsen, "Piracy and the Slave-Trade", in A. Erskine (ed.) ''A Companion to the Hellenistic World'' (Blackwell, 2003, 2005) pp.&nbsp;389–404.</ref> The primary goal of kidnapping was not enslavement but maximizing profit,<ref name="Gabrielsen p. 393">Gabrielsen, "Piracy and the Slave Trade", p. 393.</ref> as the relatives of captives were expected to pay ransom.<ref>Gabrielsen, "Piracy and the Slave Trade", p. 392, citing Livy 34.50.5; Appian, ''Hannibalic Wars'' 28.</ref> People who cared about getting the captive back were motivated to pay more than a stranger would if the captive were auctioned as a slave, since the price would be determined by the captive's individual qualities, but sometimes the ransom demand could not be met. If a slave was kidnapped, the owner might or might not decide that the amount of ransom was worthwhile. If multiple people from the same city were taken at the same time and demands for payment could not be met privately, the home city might try to pay the ransom from public funds, but these efforts too might come up short.<ref>Gabrielsen, "Piracy and the Slave Trade", pp. 393–394.</ref> The captive could then resort to borrowing the ransom money from profiteering lenders, in effect putting himself into debt bondage to them. Selling the kidnap victim on the open market was a last but not infrequent resort.<ref name="Gabrielsen p. 393"/>

No traveler was safe; Julius Caesar himself was captured by [[Cilician pirates]] as a young man. When the pirates realized his high value, they set his ransom at [[Attic talent|twenty talents]]. As the story came to be told, Caesar insisted that they raise it to fifty. He spent thirty-eight days in captivity as they waited for the ransom{{quantify|date=February 2025}} to be delivered.<ref>Gabrielsen, "Piracy and the Slave Trade", p. 393, citing Plutarch, ''Caesar'' 2.</ref> Upon release, he is said to have returned and subjected his captors to the form of execution by custom reserved for slaves, [[crucifixion]].{{sfn|Bradley, "Animalizing the Slave"|p=112, citing Plutarch, ''Caesar'' 1.4–2.4 and [[Suetonius]], ''Julius Caesar'' 74.1.}}

Within the Jewish community, [[Rabbinic Judaism|rabbis]] usually encouraged [[Pidyon shvuyim|buying back enslaved Jews]], but advised that "one should not ransom captives for more than their value, for the good order of the world" because inflated ransoms would only "motivate Romans to enslave even more Jews".<ref>Catherine Hezser, "Seduced by the Enemy or Wise Strategy? The Presentation of Non-Violence and Accommodation with Foreign Powers in Ancient Jewish Literary Sources", in ''Between Cooperation and Hostility: Multiple Identities in Ancient Judaism and the Interaction with Foreign Powers'' (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2013), p. 246, citing ''m. Git.'' 4:2; ''t. Mo'ed Qat.'' 1:12. The reference to paying ransom to Romans may suggest war captives.</ref> In the early Church, ransoming captives was considered a work of charity ''(caritas)'', and after the Empire came under Christian rule, churches spent "enormous funds" to buy back Christian prisoners.<ref>Levy, "''Captivus Redumptus''", p. 173.</ref>

Systematic piracy for the purpose of human trafficking was most rampant in the 2nd century BC, when the city of [[Side, Turkey|Side]] in [[Pamphylia]] (within present-day Turkey) was a center of the trade.<ref>{{harvtxt|Harris, "Towards a Study of the Roman Slave Trade"|p=128}}, citing Strabo 14.664.</ref> [[Pompey]] was credited with eradicating piracy from the Mediterranean in 67 BC,<ref>Plutarch, ''Pompey'' 24-8.</ref> but actions were taken against [[Illyria]]n pirates in 31 BC following the [[Battle of Actium]],{{sfn|Madden, "Slavery in the Roman Empire Numbers and Origins"|p=121}} and piracy was still a concern addressed during the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius. While large-scale piracy was more or less controlled during the ''[[Pax Romana]]'', piratical kidnapping continued to contribute to the Roman slave supply into the later Imperial era, though it may not have been a major source of new slaves.<ref>{{harvtxt|Harris, "Towards a Study of the Roman Slave Trade"|p=124}}, citing mentions in [[Apuleius]], ''[[The Golden Ass|Metamorphoses]]'' 7.9; [[Philostratus]], ''[[Life of Apollonius of Tyana]]'' 8.7.12; Strabo 11.496; [[Xenophon of Ephesus]] 1.13–14; [[Dio Chrysostom]] 15.25; [[Lucian]], ''De mercede conductis'' 24.</ref> In the early 5th century AD, [[Augustine of Hippo]] was still lamenting wide-scale kidnapping in North Africa.{{sfn|St. Augustine, ''The Letters of St. Augustine''}}{{page needed|date=February 2025}} The Christian missionary Patricius, from [[Roman Britain]], was kidnapped by pirates around AD 400 and taken as a slave to [[Prehistoric Ireland#Iron Age (500 BC–AD 400)|Ireland]], where he continued work that eventually led to his [[canonization]] as [[Saint Patrick]].{{sfn|Fuhrmann, ''Policing the Roman Empire''|p=25|ps=especially n. 26}}

===''Vernae''===
[[File:Portrait Bust with Inscription, front - Getty Museum (85.AA.352).jpg|thumb|Funerary bust (AD 100–115) commemorating a ''verna'' named Martialis, who died just under the age of three ''(digital image courtesy of [[Getty Villa|Getty]]'s Open Content Program)'']]

By the common law of nations ''([[ius gentium]])'', the child of a legally enslaved mother was born a slave.{{sfn|Silver, "Contractual Slavery in the Roman Economy"|p=75|ps =, citing ''Digest'' (Marcian) 1.5.5.1.}} The Latin word for a slave born within the ''familia'' of a household (''domus'') or agricultural estate (''[[Roman villa|villa]]'') was ''verna'', plural ''vernae''.

There was a stronger social obligation to care for one's ''vernae'', whose epitaphs sometimes identify them as such, and at times they would have been the biological children of free men of the household.<ref>{{harvp|Bradley|1994|pp=33–34, 48–49}}</ref>{{sfn|Mouritsen, ''The Freedman in the Roman World''|p=100}} Frequent mention of ''vernae'' in literary sources indicates that home-reared slaves not only were preferred to those obtained in slave markets but received preferential treatment. ''Vernae'' were more likely to be allowed to cohabit as a couple (''[[contubernium]]'') and rear their own children.{{sfn|Madden, "Slavery in the Roman Empire Numbers and Origins"|p=115, citing Columella, ''De re rustica'' 1.8.19 and Varro, ''De re rustica'' 1.17.5, 7 and 2.126.}} A child ''verna'' might be reared alongside the owner's own child of the same age, even sharing the same wet-nurse.{{sfn|Rawson, ''Children and Childhood in Roman Italy''|p=256}} They had greater opportunities for education and might be educated along with the freeborn children of the household.<ref>S. L. Mohler, "Slave Education in the Roman Empire", ''Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association'', 71 (1940), p. 272 ''et passim''.</ref> Many "intellectual slaves" were ''vernae''.{{sfn|Mouritsen, ''The Freedman in the Roman World''|p=138 n. 90}} A dedicatory inscription dating to AD 198 lists the names of twenty-four imperial freedmen who were teachers ''([[Paedagogus (occupation)|paedagogi]])''; six are identified as ''vernae''.<ref>Mohler, "Slave Education", p. 272, citing ''CIL'' 6.1052.</ref> The use of ''verna'' in the [[#Commemoration|epitaphs]] of freedmen suggests that former slaves might take pride in their birth within a ''familia''.{{sfn|Mouritsen, ''The Freedman in the Roman World''|p=100 n. 155}}

But birth as a ''verna'' could have a darker side, depending on what kind of "house" the child was born and reared in. ''Vernae'' born to enslaved brothel workers were advertised as such in graffiti from [[Pompeii]], sometimes with a price or the sexual service they provided. Of the ''vernae'' attested [[epigraphy|epigraphically]] at Pompeii, 71% are connected to [[prostitution in ancient Rome|prostitution]], and their brothel upbringing seems to have been regarded as a selling point.<ref>Sarah Levin-Richardson, "''Vernae'' and Prostitution at Pompeii", ''Classical Quarterly'' 73:1 (2023), pp. 250–256.</ref>

Some scholars{{who|date=May 2025}} think that the majority of slaves in the Imperial period were ''vernae'' or that domestic reproduction was the single most important source of slaves; modern estimates depend on the interpretation of often uncertain data, including the overall number of slaves.<ref>{{Cite book |last=McKeown |first=Niall |title=The Invention of Modern Slavery? |publisher=Bristol Classical Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-7156-3185-0 |location=London |pages=139–140}}</ref>

====''Alumni''====
[[File:Estela de Lutatia Lupata (Museo Nacional de Arte Romano).jpg|thumb|upright=.7|Funerary monument (AD&nbsp;101–125) for the 16-year-old ''alumna'' Lutatia Lupata, playing a [[pandura]]]]

Children brought into a household to be fostered without formal [[Adoption in ancient Rome|adoption]] were ''alumni'' (plural; feminine ''alumnae''), "those who have been nurtured".<ref>Jane Bellemore and Beryl Rawson, "''Alumni'': The Italian Evidence", ''Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik'', 83 (1990), pp. 4–5.</ref>{{efn|Most [[Adoption in ancient Rome|Roman adoptions]] were of an adult son to carry on the family line when there were no heirs. Adoption was a complex legal process involving inheritance rights and concomitant duties to the house and family gods, and not a usual way to bring a young child into a family to nurture.<ref>See Neil W. Bernstein, "Adoptees and Exposed Children in Roman Declamation: Commodification, Luxury, and the Threat of Violence", ''Classical Philology'' 104:3 (2009), p. 335.</ref>}} Even if cared for lovingly, ''alumni'' often had an ambiguous legal status. The term ''alumni'' is used for a range of foster children, including orphans, "poor relations", and apprentices, most often attested between the ages of 9 and 14, mainly in prosperous urbanized areas.{{sfn|Rawson, ''Children and Childhood in Roman Italy''|pp=251–252}} Of attested ''alumni'', about a quarter can be securely identified as slaves;<ref>Bellemore and Rawon, "''Alumni''", p. 7.</ref> the place of ''alumni'' as slaves in the household seems similar to that of ''vernae'' in terms of privileges.{{sfn|Rawson, ''Children and Childhood in Roman Italy''|p=255}} A child chosen for nurturing would not be pledged as surety for a loan nor subject to seizure by creditors.{{sfn|Rawson, ''Children and Childhood in Roman Italy''|p=253}}

''Alumni'' often became trusted members of the ''familia'', and those of enslaved status seem to have had a good chance of manumission.{{sfn|Laes, "Child Slaves at Work in Roman Antiquity"|p=271}} They are sometimes explicitly provided for in wills; for example, a trust was left to one young freedman ''alumnus'' that was to be administered by the fosterer's friend until he reached the age of twenty-five.{{sfn|Rawson, ''Children and Childhood in Roman Italy''|p=253}} The number of ''alumni'' and ''vernae'' associated with the arts and crafts suggests that talent was a way disadvantaged children might be noticed and obtain opportunities.{{sfn|Laes, "Child Slaves at Work in Roman Antiquity"|pp=264–265}}

===Child labor===
<!-- {{Main|Child labor in ancient Rome}} -->
In families that had to work, whether technically free or enslaved, children could begin acquiring work habits as early as age five, when they became developmentally capable of carrying out small tasks.<ref>Christian Laes, "Child Slaves at Work in Roman Antiquity", ''Ancient Society'' 38 (2008), ''passim''.</ref> The transitional period from [[early childhood]] ''(infantia)'' to [[Child development|functional childhood]] ''(pueritia)'' occurred among the Romans from the ages of five to seven, with the upper classes enjoying a more prolonged and sheltered ''infantia'' and ''pueritia'', as in most cultures.{{sfn|Laes, "Child Slaves at Work in Roman Antiquity"|pp=241–242}} In general, ten was the age at which child slaves were regarded as useful enough to be traded as such.{{sfn|Laes, "Child Slaves at Work in Roman Antiquity"|p=245}} Among working people of some means, a child slave might be an investment; an example from the [[Digest (Roman law)|juristic ''Digest'']] is a [[metalsmith]] who buys a child slave, teaches him the trade, and then sells him at double the original price paid.{{sfn|Bradley, "Child Labour in the Roman World"|p=324 , citing ''Digest'' 17.1.26.8.}} [[Apprentice]]ship contracts exist for free and slave children, with few differences in terms between the two.{{sfn|Vuolanto, "Selling a Freeborn Child"|pp=192–193}}

Training for skilled work typically started at ages 12 to 14, lasting six months to six years, depending on the occupation.{{sfn|Bradley, "Child Labour in the Roman World"|pp=319, 322}} Jobs for which child slaves apprenticed include textile production, metalworking such as [[Nail (fastener)#Hand wrought|nail-making]] and [[coppersmith]]ing, [[Bronze mirror|mirror-making]], [[Shorthand#Classical antiquity|shorthand]] and other secretarial skills, [[History of accounting#Roman Empire|accounting]], [[Music in ancient Rome|music]] and the arts, [[Baking in ancient Rome|baking]], [[Roman gardens|ornamental gardening]], and [[Ancient Roman technology|construction techniques]].{{sfn|Bradley, "Child Labour in the Roman World"|pp=321, 325 ''et passim''}} Incidental mentions in literary texts suggest that training programs were methodical: boys learned to be [[barber]]s by using a deliberately blunt razor.{{sfn|Bradley, "Child Labour in the Roman World"|pp= , citing Petronius, ''Satyricon'' 94.14.}}

In wealthy, socially active households of the Imperial era, [[Preadolescence|prepubescent]] children ''(impuberes)'' were trained for serving food, as their sexual purity was thought to confer hygienic benefits.{{sfn|Laes, "Child Slaves at Work in Roman Antiquity"|p=253, citing Columella 12.4.3}} A ''capsarius'' was a child attendant who went to school with the master's children, carrying their things and attending lessons with them.{{sfn|Laes, "Child Slaves at Work in Roman Antiquity"|p=257}} Large households might train their own staff, some even running in-house schools, or send slaves ages 12 to 18 to ''paedagogia'', imperially run vocational schools providing skills and refinement.{{sfn|Laes, "Child Slaves at Work in Roman Antiquity"|pp=254–255}} Adolescent slaves as young as 13 might be capably employed in accounting and other office work, as well as serving as heralds, messengers, and couriers.{{sfn|Laes, "Child Slaves at Work in Roman Antiquity"|pp=255–256}}

[[Performing arts in ancient Rome|Performing arts troupes]] were a mix of free and enslaved people that might tour independently or be sponsored by a household, and children are widely attested among the entertainers. Some of the youngest performers are ''gymnici'', [[acrobat]]s or [[Artistic gymnastics|artistic gymnasts]]. Child slaves are also found as dancers and singers, preparing as professionals for popular forms of musical theater.{{sfn|Laes, "Child Slaves at Work in Roman Antiquity"|pp=264–266}}

Typically on a farm, children start helping out with age-appropriate tasks quite early. Ancient sources that mention very young children born into rural slavery have them feeding and tending chickens or other poultry,<ref>{{harvtxt|Laes, ''Child Slaves at Work in Roman Antiquity''|p=247}}, and Bradley, "Child Labor", p. 326.</ref> picking up sticks, learning how to weed, gathering apples,<ref>Bradley, "Child Labor", p. 326, citing the poetic example in [[Vergil]], ''[[Eclogues]]'' 8.37–40.</ref> and minding the farm's donkey.{{sfn|Laes, "Child Slaves at Work in Roman Antiquity"|p=248}} Young children were not expected to work all day long.{{sfn|Laes, "Child Slaves at Work in Roman Antiquity"|p=246}} Older children might tend small flocks of animals that were driven out in the morning and returned before nightfall.<ref>{{harvtxt|Laes, ''Child Slaves at Work in Roman Antiquity''|p=247}}, citing Varro, ''De re rustica'' 2.10.</ref>

[[Modern era|Modern-era]] mining employed [[child labor]] into the early 20th century, and there is some evidence that children worked in certain kinds of [[Mining in ancient Rome|ancient Roman mining]]. ''Impuberes'' documented at mines that mostly relied on free workers are likely to be part of mining families, though [[wax tablet]]s from a mine in [[Alburnus Maior]] records the purchase of two children, ages 6 and 10 (or 15).{{efn|The age of the second child is less legible{{sfn|Laes, "Child Slaves at Work in Roman Antiquity", pp. 250–252 , citing ''CIL'' 3.2, TC 6 (a girl) and TC 7 (a boy).}}}} Children seem to have been employed especially in [[gold mine]]s, crawling into the narrowest parts of shafts to retrieve loose ore,{{sfn|Bradley, "Child Labour in the Roman World"|pp=250–251 , citing [[John Chrysostom]], ''Homilies on the Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans'' 31, on 16.1<!-- correction of 6.1 in Bradley -->, and [[Agatharchides]], ''On the Erythraean Sea'' (frg. 23–29) ''apud'' [[Photius]], ''[[Bibliotheca (Photius)|Bibliotheca]]'' p. 447.21–p. 449.10a) and the version of [[Diodorus Siculus]], ''Bibliotheca historica'' 3.12.1–14.5}} which was passed to the outside in baskets hand to hand.<ref>T. A. Rickard, "The Mining of the Romans in Spain", ''Journal of Roman Studies'' 18 (1928), p. 140.</ref>

[[Osteoarchaeology]] can identify adolescents and children as working alongside adults, but not whether they were free or enslaved.{{sfn|Laes, "Child Slaves at Work in Roman Antiquity"|pp=235–237}} Children can be difficult to distinguish from slaves both in verbal sources, as ''puer'' could mean either "boy" or "male slave" (''pais'' in Greek), and in art, as slaves were often depicted as smaller in proportion to free subjects to show their lesser status, and children older than infants and toddlers often look like small adults in art.{{sfn|Laes, "Child Slaves at Work in Roman Antiquity"|pp=239, 241}} Since as a matter of Roman law, a father had the right to contract out all dependents of a household for labor, among workers who were still [[minor (law)|minors]] there is often little practical difference between free and slave.{{sfn|Laes, "Child Slaves at Work in Roman Antiquity"|p=268}}

[[File:Marble statuette of a slave boy with a lantern MET DP292010.jpg|thumb|left|upright=.5|Statuette of a slave boy waiting with a lantern for his master (1st–2nd century AD)]]

====Child abandonment====
Scholarly views vary on the extent to which child abandonment in its several forms was a significant source for potential slaves.<ref>See discussions amongst:
* Walter Scheidel, "Quantifying the Sources of Slaves in the Roman Empire", ''Journal of Roman Studies'' 87 (1997) 159–169
* W. V. Harris, "Demography, Geography and the Sources of Roman Slaves", ''Journal of Roman Studies'' 89 (1999), 62–75
* Christian Laes, "Child Slaves at Work in Roman Antiquity", ''Ancient Society'' 38 (2008), especially p. 267
* Elio lo Cascio, "Thinking Slave and Free in Coordinates", ''Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies'' suppl. 109 (2010), p. 28.</ref> The children of poor citizens who were left orphaned were vulnerable to enslavement, and at least some children brought into a household to be fostered as ''[[#Alumni|alumni]]'' had a legal status as slaves. A tradesman might foster an abandoned child as an ''alumnus'' and apprentice him, an arrangement that does not preclude affection and could result in passing along the business with an expectation of care in old age.<ref>{{harvtxt|Laes, ''Child Slaves at Work in Roman Antiquity''|pp=262–263}}, citing as example the commemoration of an ''alumnus'' and apprentice by an ''anaglyptarius'' ([[relief]] tooler), ''CIL'' 2.7.347, and p. 272.</ref> One way [[Early Christianity|early Christians]] grew their community was by taking in abandoned and orphaned children, and "[[House church#Origins|house churches]]" might have been safe havens where slave-born and free children of all statuses mingled.<ref>Margaret Y. MacDonald, "Children in House Churches in Light of New Research on Families in the Roman World", in ''The World of Jesus and the Early Church: Identity and Interpretation in the Early Communities of Faith'' (Hendrickson, 2011), [https://books.google.com/books?id=i5RrEAAAQBAJ&dq=where+slave+and+free+children+played+together+intitle:Jesus&pg=PT107 n.p.].</ref>

However, slave traffickers would have preyed on neglected children who were old enough to be out and about on their own, enticing them with "sweets, cakes, and toys".<ref>{{harvtxt|Laes, ''Child Slaves at Work in Roman Antiquity''|p=268}}, citing [[John Chrysostom]], ''[[Adversus Judaeos]]'' 7.10 <!-- correcting a citation error in the source, at least according to the text at Wikisource --> (''[[Patrologia Graeca|PG]]'' 48, 855): "Kidnappers often entice little boys by offering them sweets, and cakes, and marbles, and other such things; then they deprive them of their freedom and their very life", in reference to [[Valley of Hinnom (Gehenna)#The concept of Gehinnom|metaphorical Gehenna]].</ref> Child slaves obtained in this way were especially in danger of being reared as prostitutes or gladiators or even being maimed to make them more pitiable as beggars.<ref>{{harvtxt|Laes, ''Child Slaves at Work in Roman Antiquity''|pp=269–270}}, citing mainly Roman comedy and the rhetorical tradition, [[Seneca the Elder]], ''Controversiae'' 10.4.7 and John Chrysostom, homily 21 on First Corinthians 9:1<!-- the text must be vexed; the source cited seems wrong, but online texts range from section 9 to 11 on where this is --> (on adults maiming themselves).</ref>
{{clear}}

====Infant exposure====
[[File:Campana relief with a scene depicting the moment when the shepherd Faustulus finds the she-wolf with the twins Romulus and Remus, 2nd century AD, Pergamon Museum, Berlin (49808961057).jpg|thumb|Infant exposure with subsequent fosterage is a narrative premise in one of the best-known Roman myths: in this relief (2nd century AD), the shepherd [[Faustulus]] finds the twins Romulus and Remus nursing at [[She-wolf (Roman mythology)|the she-wolf]] under the [[Ficus Ruminalis|sacred fig tree]].]]

Child abandonment, whether through the death of family or intentionally, is to be distinguished from [[infant exposure]] ''(expositio)'', which the Romans seem to have practiced widely and which is embedded in the founding myth of the exposed twins [[Romulus and Remus]] suckling at the she-wolf. Families who could not afford to raise a child might expose an unwanted infant—usually imagined as abandoning it under outdoor conditions that were likely to cause its death, thus a means of [[infanticide]].{{sfn|Vuolanto, "Selling a Freeborn Child"|pp=199–202}} A serious birth defect was considered grounds for exposure even among the upper classes.<ref>Christian Laes, "Infants between Biological and Social Birth in Antiquity: A Phenomenon of the ''longue durée''", ''Historia'' 63:3 (2014), pp. 364–383.</ref> One view is that healthy infants who survived exposure were usually enslaved and were even a significant source of slaves.<ref>{{harv|Harris|1994|p=9}}</ref>

A healthy exposed infant might be taken in for fosterage or adoption by a family, but even this practice could treat the child as an investment: if the birth family later wished to reclaim their offspring, they were entitled to do so but had to reimburse expenses for nurturance.<ref>Neil W. Bernstein, "Adoptees and Exposed Children in Roman Declamation: Commodification, Luxury, and the Threat of Violence", ''Classical Philology'' 104:3 (2009), citing Seneca, ''Controversiae'' 9.3; [[Quintilian]], ''Institutiones'' 7.1.14, 9.2.89; ''Declamationes Minores'' 278, 338, 376.</ref> Traffickers also could pick up surviving infants and rear them with training as slaves,<ref>Laes, "Child Slaves at Work", p. 267.</ref> but since children under the age of five are unlikely to provide much labor of value,<ref>Laes, "Child Slaves at Work", p. 241 ''et passim''.</ref> it is unclear how investing the five years of adult labor in nurturing would be profitable.{{sfn|Vuolanto, "Selling a Freeborn Child"|p=198, 206|ps=: "The selling of children had very little to do with child-exposure from the perspective of social history."}}

Infant exposure as a source of slaves also assumes predictable sites where traders could expect a regular "harvest"; successful births would be most concentrated in urban environments, and likely sites for infant depositories are temples and other religious sites such as the obscure [[Columna Lactaria]], the "Milk Column" landmark about which little is known.{{sfn|Silver, "Contractual Slavery in the Roman Economy"|p=108}} The satirist [[Juvenal]] writes of [[supposititious child]]ren taken up from the dregs to the bosom of the [[Fortuna|goddess Fortuna]], who laughs as she sends them off to the great houses of noble families to be quietly reared as their own.<ref>{{harvnb|Silver, "Contractual Slavery in the Roman Economy"|p=108}} "citing [[Juvenal]], ''Satire'' 6.592–609"</ref> Large households staffed wet nurses and other childcare attendants who would share childrearing duties for foster children ''([[#Alumni|alumni]])'' and all infants of the household, free or slave.{{sfn|Silver, "Contractual Slavery in the Roman Economy"|p=109}}

Some parents may have arranged to hand over the neonate directly for payment as a sort of [[ex post facto]] [[surrogacy]].{{sfn|Vuolanto, "Selling a Freeborn Child"|p=199}} [[Constantine the Great|Constantine]], the first Christian emperor, formalized the buying and selling of newborns during the first hours of life,{{sfn|Vuolanto, "Selling a Freeborn Child"|p=183}} when the newborn was still ''sanguinolentus'', bloody before the first bath. At a time when infant mortality might have been as high as 40 percent,<ref>On maternal and neonatal mortality in the Roman world, see:
* {{Cite journal|last=Golden|first=Mark|year=1988|title=Did the Ancients Care When Their Children Died?|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/642999|journal=Greece & Rome|volume=35|issue=2|pages=152–163|doi=10.1017/S0017383500033064 |jstor=642999 |issn=0017-3835}}
* {{cite book |last1=Bradley |first1=Keith R |title=The Family in Ancient Rome: New Perspectives |date=1987 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=978-0-8014-9460-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=85Gdul_43DEC |chapter=Wet-Nursing at Rome: A Study in Social Relations|page=202|ref={{harvid|Bradley, "Wet-Nursing at Rome"}}}}
* {{Cite book|last=Rawson|first=Beryl|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ah9XwjhyM8gC|title=Children and Childhood in Roman Italy|date=2003-09-05|publisher=OUP Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-151423-4|page=104}}</ref> the newborn was thought in its first week of life to be in a perilous liminal state between biological existence and social birth,<ref>Laes, "Infants between Biological and Social Birth", pp. 364–383.</ref> and the first bath was one of many rituals marking this transition and supporting the mother and child.{{sfn|Rawson, ''Children and Childhood in Roman Italy''|pp=101–102}} The Constantinian law has been viewed as an effort to stop the practice of exposure as infanticide<ref>Ido Israelowich, "The extent of the ''patria potestas'' during the High Empire: Roman midwives and the decision of ''non tollere'' as a case in point", ''Museum Helveticum'' 74:2 (2017), pp. 227–228, citing the ''Codex Theodosianus'' 11.15.1.</ref> or as "an insurance policy on behalf of individual slave-owners"{{sfn|Laes, "Infants Between Biological and Social Birth in Antiquity"|p=376 , citing K. Harper, ''Slavery in the Late Roman World AD 275–425'' (Cambridge 2011), pp. 404–409}} designed to protect the property of those who, unknowingly or not, had bought an infant later claimed or shown to have been born free.<ref>Laes, "Infants Between", p. 375, citing ''[[Codex Theodosianus]]'' 5.10.1.</ref> In the historical period, ''expositio'' may actually have become a [[legal fiction]] whereby the parents surrendered the newborn during the first week of life, before it had been [[List of Roman birth and childhood deities|ritually accepted and legally registered]] as part of the birth family, and transferred ''potestas'' over the infant to the new family from the beginning of its life.{{sfn|Silver, "Contractual Slavery in the Roman Economy"|p=108}}

====Parental sale====
The ancient right of ''patria potestas'' entitled fathers to dispose of their dependents as they saw fit. They could sell their children just as they did slaves, though in practice, the father who sold his child was likely too impoverished to own slaves. The father relinquished his power ''(potestas)'' over the child, who entered the possession ''(mancipium)'' of a master.{{sfn|Laes, "Child Slaves at Work in Roman Antiquity"|p=267–268}} A law of the [[Twelve Tables]] (5th century BC) limited the number of times a father could sell his children: a daughter only once, <!-- perhaps to avoid the appearance of prostitution, since "once" accounts for "manus" marriage as a transferral of potestas? -->but a son as many as three. This kind of serial selling only of the son suggests ''[[#Debt slavery|nexum]]'', a temporary obligation as a result of debt which was formally abolished by the end of the 4th century BC.{{sfn|Vuolanto, "Selling a Freeborn Child"|p=181}} A dodge around freeborn status that continued into late antiquity was to [[lease]] the minor child's labor up to age 20 or 25, so that the holder of the lease did not own the child as property but had full-time use through the legal transfer of ''potestas''.{{sfn|Vuolanto, "Selling a Freeborn Child"|pp=188–191}}

Roman law thus grappled with the tensions among the supposed sanctity of free birth, ''patria potestas'', and the reality{{sfn|Vuolanto, "Selling a Freeborn Child"|p=181}} that parents might be driven by poverty or debt to sell their children.{{sfn|Laes, "Child Slaves at Work in Roman Antiquity"|p=267}} ''Potestas'' meant that there was no legal penalty for the parent as seller.{{sfn|Vuolanto, "Selling a Freeborn Child"|p=181}} The sales contract itself was always technically void because of the traded child's free status, which if unknown to the buyer entitled him to a refund.{{sfn|Vuolanto, "Selling a Freeborn Child"|p=181}} Even if the sale had not been contracted as temporary, parents who came into better days could restore their children to free status by paying the original sale price plus 20 percent to cover the costs of their care during servitude.{{sfn|Laes, "Child Slaves at Work in Roman Antiquity"|p=267}}

Most parents would have sold their children only under extreme duress.{{sfn|Laes, "Child Slaves at Work in Roman Antiquity"|p=267}} In the mid-80s BC, parents in the [[Asia (Roman province)|province of Asia]] said they were forced to sell their children in order to pay the heavy taxes levied by [[Sulla]] as [[proconsul]]<ref>{{harvtxt|Westermann, ''The Slave Systems of Greek and Roman Antiquity''|p=61}}, citing Plutarch, ''Lucullus'' 20 and the prevalence of Greek names in the slave lists of [[Minturnae]].</ref> In late antiquity, selling off the family's children was viewed in Christian rhetoric as a symptom of moral decay caused by taxation, moneylenders, the government, and prostitution.{{sfn|Vuolanto, "Selling a Freeborn Child"|pp=172–178}} Sources{{who|date=May 2025}} that moralize from an upper-class perspective about parents selling children may at times be misrepresenting contracts for apprenticeships and labor that were necessary for wage-earning families, especially since many{{quantify|date=May 2025}} of these were arranged by mothers.<ref>Vuolanto, "Selling a Freeborn Child", pp. 197 (on the role of mothers), 201–204.</ref>

The Christianization of the later empire shifted priorities within the inherent contradictions of this legal framework. [[Constantine the Great|Constantine]], the first Christian emperor, tried to alleviate hunger as one condition that led to [[child-selling]] by ordering local magistrates to distribute free grain to poor families,{{sfn|Vuolanto, "Selling a Freeborn Child"|p=182, citing ''[[Codex Theodosianus]]'' 27.2}} later abolishing the "power of life and death" the ''paterfamilias'' had held.<ref>Israelowich, "The extent of the ''patria potestas'' during the High Empire", pp. 227–228, citing the ''Codex Theodosianus'' 11.15.1.</ref>

===Debt slavery===
{{Main|Nexum}}
''Nexum'' was a [[debt bondage]] contract in the early [[Roman Republic]]. Within the [[Roman law|Roman legal system]], it was a form of ''[[mancipatio]]''. Though the terms of the contract would vary, essentially a free man pledged himself as a bond slave (''nexus'') as surety for a loan. He might also hand over his son as collateral. Although the bondsman could expect to face humiliation and some abuse, as a [[Roman citizenship|citizen under the law]] he was supposed to be exempt from corporal punishment. ''Nexum'' was abolished by the ''[[Lex Poetelia Papiria]]'' in 326&nbsp;BC.

[[Roman historiography|Roman historians]] illuminated the abolition of ''nexum'' with a traditional story that varied in its particulars; broadly, a ''nexus'' who was a handsome, upstanding youth suffered sexual harassment by the holder of the debt. The cautionary tale highlighted the incongruities of subjecting one free citizen to another's use, and the legal response was aimed at establishing the citizen's right to liberty (''libertas''), as distinguished from the slave or social outcast (''[[infamia|infamis]]'').<ref>[[Peter Brunt|P.A. Brunt]], ''Social Conflicts in the Roman Republic'' (Chatto & Windus, 1971), pp.&nbsp;56–57.</ref>

Although ''nexum'' was abolished as a way to secure a loan, a form of debt bondage might still result after a debtor defaulted.<ref>Brunt, ''Social Conflicts in the Roman Republic'', pp.&nbsp;56–57.</ref> It remained illegal to enslave a free person for this reason or to pledge a minor to secure a parent's debt, and the legal penalties attached to the creditor, not the debtor.{{sfn|Vuolanto, "Selling a Freeborn Child"|pp=187–188}}

===Self-sales===
The liberty of the Roman citizen was an "inviolable" principle of Roman law, and therefore it was illegal for a freeborn person to sell himself{{sfn|Vuolanto, "Selling a Freeborn Child"|p=179}}—in theory. In practice, self-enslavement might be overlooked unless one of the parties took issue with the terms of the contract.<ref>Rio, "Self-sale", drawing extensively on Ramin and Veyne, "Droit romain et société", pp. 472–497.</ref> "Self-sales" are not well represented in Roman literature, presumably because they were shameful and against the law.<ref>Rio, "Self-Sale", p. 662.</ref> The limited evidence is primarily to be found in Imperial legal sources, which indicate that "self-sale" as a path to enslavement was as well recognized as being captured in war or being born to an enslaved mother.<ref>Rio, "Self-sale", p. 664, citing Justinian, ''Institutes'' 1.3.4, 1.16.1; ''Digest'' 1.5.5.1, 1.5.21, and 28.3.6.5.</ref>

Self-sales are in evidence mainly when challenged in court on grounds of [[fraud]]. A case for fraud could be made if the seller or the buyer knew that the enslaved person was freeborn (''[[Ingenui|ingenuus]]'') at the time of sale when the trafficked person himself did not. Fraud could also be alleged if the person sold had been under the age of twenty. Legal argumentation makes it clear that protecting the buyer's investment was a priority, but if either of these circumstances was proved, the liberty of the enslaved person could be reclaimed.<ref>Rio, "Self-sale", pp. 663–664.</ref>

Since it was difficult to prove who knew what when, the most solid evidence for voluntary enslavement was whether the formerly free person had consented by receiving a share of the proceeds from the sale. A person who knowingly surrendered the rights of Roman citizenship was thought unworthy of holding them, and permanent enslavement was thus considered an appropriate consequence.<ref name="Rio, Self-sale, p. 664">Rio, "Self-sale", p. 664.</ref> Self-sale by a Roman soldier would be a form of desertion,{{sfn|Silver, "Contractual Slavery in the Roman Economy"|pp=75–76}} and execution was the penalty.<ref>Rio, "Self-sale", p. 680, n. 18, citing ''Digest'' 48.19.14.</ref> Romans enslaved as prisoners of war were similarly deemed ineligible to have their citizenship restored if they had surrendered their liberty without fighting hard enough to keep it (see the [[#Enslavement of Roman citizens|enslavement of Roman citizens]] above); as the Roman Republic devolved, political rhetoric feverishly urged citizens to resist the shame of falling into "slavery" under one-man rule.<ref>Mary Nyquist, ''Arbitrary Rule: Slavery, Tyranny, and the Power of Life and Death'' (University of Chicago Press, 2013), pp. 51–53, citing mainly the works of Cicero.</ref>

However, self-sale cases that made it to the level of imperial [[Appeal (law)|appeal]] often resulted in voiding the contract,<ref name="Rio, Self-sale, p. 664"/> even if the enslaved person had consented, as a private contract did not override the state's interest in regulating citizenship, which carried tax obligations.<ref>Rio, "Self-sale", p. 665.</ref>

==The slave economy==
During the period of Roman imperial expansion, the increase in wealth amongst the Roman elite and the substantial growth of slavery transformed the economy.<ref name="Hopkins-1978">{{cite book |last=Hopkins |first=Keith |author-link=Keith Hopkins |date=1978 |title=Conquerors and Slaves, Issue 1 |publisher=CUP Archive |series=Volume 1 of Sociological studies in Roman history <!--other series: ACLS Humanities E-Book; Volume 1 of Soviet and East European Studies--> |isbn=978-0-521-21945-7 <!--isbn2=0521219450--> |oclc=298105229 |pages=4–5 <!--total-pages=268--> |url=<!--full-text-->https://archive.org/details/conquerorsslaves0000hopk/page/n1/mode/2up }}</ref> Multitudes of slaves were brought to Italy and purchased by wealthy landowners to labour on their estates. Land investment and [[Farming in ancient Rome|agricultural production]] generated great wealth; in the view of [[Keith Hopkins]], Rome's military conquests and the subsequent introduction of vast wealth and slaves into Italy had effects comparable to widespread and rapid technological innovation.<ref name="moyak1">Moya K. Mason, [http://www.moyak.com/papers/roman-slavery-war.html "Roman Slavery: The Social, Cultural, Political, and Demographic Consequences"]. Retrieved 17 March 2021</ref>

Scholars differ on how the particulars of Roman slavery as an institution can be framed within theories of labor markets in the overall economy.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Slavery in classical Antiquity. Views and controversies|last = Finley|first = Moses I.|publisher = Cambridge|year = 1960}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title = Ancient Slavery and Modern Ideology|last = Finley|first = Moses I.|publisher = Chatto & Windus|year = 1980}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |language=ca |last = Montoya Rubio |first = Bernat |year = 2015 |title = L'esclavitud en l'economia antiga: fonaments discursius de la historiografia moderna (Segles XV-XVIII) |trans-title=Slavery in the ancient economy: discursive foundations of modern historiography (15th-18th centuries) |publisher = Presses universitaires de Franche-Comté|isbn = 978-2-84867-510-7|pages = 15–25}}</ref>
Economic historian [[Peter Temin]] has argued that "Rome had a functioning labor market and a unified labor force" in which slavery played an integral role.{{sfn|Temin, "The Labor Market of the Early Roman Empire"|p=515}} Since wages could be earned by both free and some enslaved workers, and fluctuated in response to labor shortages,{{sfn|Temin, "The Labor Market of the Early Roman Empire"|pp=519 and 522–524}} the condition of mobility required for market dynamism was met by the number of free workers seeking wages and skilled slaves with an incentive to earn.{{sfn|Temin, "The Labor Market of the Early Roman Empire"|pp=514–515, 518}}

===The slave trade===
[[File:Roman Empire Trajan 117AD.png|thumb|250px|The Roman Empire at its greatest extent during the reign of [[Trajan]]]]

What the Roman jurist [[Papinian]] referred to as "the regular, daily traffic in slaves"<ref>''Adsidua et cottidiana comparatio servorum'': Keith Bradley, "'The Regular, Daily Traffic in Slaves': Roman History and Contemporary History", ''Classical Journal'' 87:2 (Dec. 1991–Jan. 1992), p. 126.</ref> involved every part of the Roman Empire and occurred across borders as well. The trade was only lightly regulated by law.<ref>Walter Scheidel, "The Roman Slave Supply", in ''The Cambridge World History of Slavery: The Ancient Mediterranean World'', vol. 1 (Cambridge University Press, 2011), p. 302.</ref> Slave markets seem to have existed in most cities of the Empire, but outside Rome the largest center was [[Ephesus]].<ref name="trade"/> The major centers of the Imperial slave trade were in [[Roman Italy|Italy]], the [[north Aegean]], [[Asia Minor]], and [[Roman Syria|Syria]]. [[Mauretania]] and [[Alexandria]] were also significant.{{sfn|Harris, "Towards a Study of the Roman Slave Trade"|p=126}}

The largest market on the Italian peninsula, as might be expected, was the city of Rome,{{sfn|Harris, "Towards a Study of the Roman Slave Trade"|p=126}} where the most notorious slave-traders set up shop next to the [[Temple of Castor and Pollux|Temple of Castor]] at the [[Forum Romanum]].<ref>Morris Silver, "Places for Self-Selling in Ulpian, Plautus and Horace: The Role of Vertumnus", ''Mnemosyne'' 67:4 (2014), p. 580; on the Temple of Castor as the site, Seneca, ''[[De Constantia Sapientis]]'' 13.4; Plautus, ''[[Curculio (play)|Curculio]]'' 481.</ref> [[Puteoli]] may have been the second busiest.<ref>{{harvtxt|Harris, "Towards a Study of the Roman Slave Trade"|p=126}}, documented for instance by wax tablets from the Villa of Murecine.</ref> Trading also occurred at [[Brundisium]],<ref>{{harvtxt|Harris, "Towards a Study of the Roman Slave Trade"|p=126}}, citing Suetonius, ''De gramm''. 25.</ref> [[Capua]],{{sfn|Harris, "Towards a Study of the Roman Slave Trade"|p=126}} and [[Pompeii]].{{sfn|Harris, "Towards a Study of the Roman Slave Trade"|pp=126, 138 n. 93}} Slaves were imported from across the [[Alps]] to [[Aquileia]].<ref>{{harvtxt|Harris, "Towards a Study of the Roman Slave Trade"|p=126}}, citing ''CIL'' 10.8222.</ref>

The rise and fall of [[Delos#Roman era|Delos]] is an example of the volatility and disruptions of the slave trade. In the eastern [[Mediterranean]], policing by the [[Ptolemaic Kingdom]] and [[Rhodes]] had kept some check on piratical kidnapping and illegal slave trading until Rome, on the wave of their unexpected [[Punic Wars|success against Carthage]], expanded trade and exerted dominance eastward.{{sfn|Huzar, "Egyptian Relations in Delos"|p=170}}{{efn|The policing action of Rhodes has also been seen as a "naval protection racket" that allowed it to exercise control over shipping in the name of suppressing "piracy"<ref>Philip de Souza, "Rome's Contribution to the Development of Piracy", ''Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome'' 6 (2008), p. 76, drawing on V. Gabrielsen, "Economic Activity, Maritime Trade and Piracy in the Hellenistic Aegean", ''Revue des Études Anciennes'' 103:1/2 (2001) pp. 219-240.</ref>}} The long-established port of Rhodes, known as a "law and order" state, had legal and regulatory barriers to exploitation by the new Italian "entrepreneurs",{{sfn|Huzar, "Roman-Egyptian Relations in Delos"|pp=170–171}} who got a more porous reception in Delos as they set up shop in the latter 3rd century BC.{{sfn|Huzar, "Roman-Egyptian Relations in Delos"|pp=170, 176 , citing a number of inscriptions on the Italian presence at an earlier date than had conventionally been thought.}} To disadvantage Rhodes, and ultimately devastating its economy,{{sfn|Huzar, "Roman-Egyptian Relations in Delos"|p=169 , citing Polybius 30,29, 31.7; Livy 33.30; Strabo 10.5.4, and p. 171, noting "it is evident that Rome had no real understanding of the economic implications of her actions."}} in 166 BC the Romans declared Delos a free port, meaning that merchants there would no longer have to pay the 2 percent customs tax.{{sfn|Huzar, "Roman-Egyptian Relations in Delos"|p=170}} The piratical slave trade then flooded into Delos "with no questions asked" about the source and status of captives.{{sfn|Huzar, "Roman-Egyptian Relations in Delos"|pp=171, 175, 176}} While the geographer [[Strabo]]'s figure of 10,000 slaves traded daily is more hyperbole than statistic,<ref>Strabo 14.5.2, as cited and tamped down by Huzar, "Roman-Egyptian Relations in Delos", pp. 169, 175.</ref> slaves became the number one Delian commodity.{{sfn|Huzar, "Roman-Egyptian Relations in Delos"|p=175}} The large commercial agricultural operations in Sicily ''([[latifundium|latifundia]])'' likely received great numbers of Delian-traded Syrian and [[Cilicia]]n slaves, who went on to lead the years-long slave rebellions of 135 and 104 BC.{{sfn|Beek, "The Pirate Connection: Roman Politics, Servile Wars, and the East"|p=105}}

But as the Romans established better-located and more sophisticated trading centers in the East, Delos lost its privilege as a free port and was left to be sacked in 88 and 69 BC during the [[Mithridatic Wars]], from which it never recovered.{{sfn|Huzar, "Roman-Egyptian Relations in Delos"|pp=169, 175}} Other cities such as [[Mytilene]] may have taken up the slack.{{sfn|Harris, "Towards a Study of the Roman Slave Trade"|pp=126–127}} The Delian slave economy had been artificially exuberant,{{sfn|Huzar, "Roman-Egyptian Relations in Delos"|pp=175–176}} and by averting their gaze the Romans exacerbated the piracy problem that would vex them for centuries.<ref>{{harvtxt|Westermann, ''The Slave Systems of Greek and Roman Antiquity''|pp= 66–65}}, calling the Romans "criminally negligent" and callously indifferent because of their appetite for slaves.</ref>

Major sources of slaves from the East include [[Lydia]], [[Caria]], [[Phrygia]], [[Galatia]], and [[Cappadocia]], for which Ephesus was a center of trade.<ref>{{harvtxt|Harris, "Towards a Study of the Roman Slave Trade"|p=127}}, citing Varro, ''De lingua Latina'' 9.21.</ref> [[Aesop]], the Phrygian writer of fables, was supposed to have been sold at Ephesus.{{sfn|Harris, "Towards a Study of the Roman Slave Trade"|p=127}} [[Pergamum]] is likely to have had "regular and heavy" slave trading,{{sfn|Harris, "Towards a Study of the Roman Slave Trade"|p=127}} as is the prosperous city of [[Acmonia]] in Phrygia.{{sfn|Bosworth, "Vespasian and the Slave Trade"|pp=354–355 , citing ''MAMA'' 6.260; Cicero, ''Pro Flacco'' 34–38 on Acmoninan prosperity; Appian, ''Mithridatic Wars'' 77.334; Memnon of Heracleia, ''FGrH'' 434 F 1 (28.5–6); and Plutarch, ''Lucullus'' 17.1, 24.1, 30.3, 35.1.}} Strabo (1st century AD) describes [[Apameia]] in Phrygia as ranking second in trade only to Ephesus in the region, observing that it was "the common warehouse for those from Italy and from Greece"—a center for imports from the west, with slaves the most likely commodity for export trade.{{sfn|Harris, "Towards a Study of the Roman Slave Trade"|p=127}} Markets are also likely to have existed in Syria and [[Judaea]], though direct evidence is thin.{{sfn|Harris, "Towards a Study of the Roman Slave Trade"|p=128}}

In the north Aegean, a large memorial to a slave trader in [[Amphipolis]] suggests that this might have been a location where [[Thracian]] slaves were traded.{{sfn|Harris, "Towards a Study of the Roman Slave Trade"|p=126}} [[Byzantium]] was a market for the [[Black Sea slave trade]],<ref>{{harvtxt|Harris, "Towards a Study of the Roman Slave Trade"|p=126}}, citing Strabo 11.493, 495–496</ref> and slaves coming from [[Bithynia]], [[Pontus (region)|Pontus]], Scythia, and [[Paphlagonia]] would have been traded in the cities of the [[Propontis]].<ref>{{harvtxt|Harris, "Towards a Study of the Roman Slave Trade"|pp=126}}, 138 n. 97 (with numerous citations of primary sources).</ref><ref>Roşu, Felicia (2021) Slavery in the Black Sea Region, c.900–1900 – Forms of Unfreedom at the Intersection Between Christianity and Islam. Studies in Global Slavery, Volume: 11. Brill. p19</ref>

[[File:Roman bound captive figurine (FindID 185032).jpg|thumb|250px|An example of small perforated copper-alloy figurines (2nd–3rd century AD) depicting captives, found scattered widely in Britain and along the Rhine-Danube Roman frontier. They are thought to be connected to slave-trading, but their possible use or significance remains a mystery. ''(Portable Antiquities Scheme)''<ref>Ralph Jackson, "Roman Bound Captives: Symbol of Slavery?" in ''Image, Craft, and the Classical World: Essays in Honour of Donald Bailey and Catherine Johns'' (Montagnac, 2005), pp. 143–156.</ref>]]

Roman coin hoards dating from the 60s BC are found in unusual abundance in [[Dacia]] (present-day [[Romania]]), and have been interpreted as evidence that Pompey's success in shutting down piracy caused an increase in the slave trade in the lower Danube basin to meet demand. The hoards drop off in frequency for the 50s BC, when Julius Caesar's [[Gallic Wars|campaigns in Gaul]] were resulting in large lots of new slaves brought to market, and resurge in the 40s and 30s.<ref>[[Michael Crawford (historian)|Michael H. Crawford]], "Republican Denarii in Romania: The Suppression of Piracy and the Slave-Trade", Journal of Roman Studies 67 (1977), pp. 117-124.</ref> Archaeology into the 21st century has continued to produce evidence of slave trafficking in parts of the Empire where it had been little attested, such as [[Londinium|Roman London]].<ref>Jackson, "Roman Bound Captives: Symbols of Slavery?" p. 151.</ref>

Slaves were traded from outside Roman borders at several points, as mentioned by literary sources such as Strabo and [[Tacitus]] and attested by epigraphical evidence in which slaves are listed among commodities subject to [[#Taxes and tariffs|tariffs]].<ref>{{harvtxt|Harris, "Towards a Study of the Roman Slave Trade"|p=124}}, citing Strabo 5.214 and 11.493; Tacitus, ''Agricola'' 28.3; and ''Periplous Maris Erythraei'' 13, 31, 36.</ref> The readiness of [[Thracians]] to exchange slaves for the necessary commodity of [[history of salt|salt]] became proverbial among the Greeks.<ref>Marius Alexianu, "Lexicographers, Paroemiographers, and Slaves-for-Salt: Barter in Ancient Thrace", ''Phoenix'' 65:3/4 (2011), pp. 389-394.</ref> [[Diodorus Siculus]] says that in pre-conquest Gaul, wine merchants could trade an [[amphora]] for a slave; Cicero mentions a slave trader from Gaul in 83 BC.<ref>Crawford, "Republican Denarii in Romania", p. 121, citing Diodorus 5.26 and Cicero, ''Pro Quinctio'' 24.</ref> The [[trans-Saharan slave trade]] along the ancient [[Garamantes#Slave raiding and trading|Garamantian]] caravan route would have brought slaves to Rome along with other goods and raw materials, but slaves from [[sub-Saharan Africa]] appear to have been viewed as an exotic luxury and were relatively few in number.<ref>Wright,&nbsp;J.&nbsp;(2007).&nbsp;The Trans-Saharan Slave Trade.&nbsp;Storbritannien:&nbsp;Taylor & Francis. p.15-16</ref> [[Walter Scheidel]] conjectured that "enslavables" were traded across borders from present-day Ireland, Scotland, eastern Germany, southern Russia, the [[Caucasus]], the Arab peninsula, and what used to be referred to as "[[the Sudan]]"; the [[Parthian Empire]] would have consumed most supply to the east.<ref>Walter Scheidel, "Quantifying the Sources of Slaves in the Early Roman Empire", ''Journal of Roman Studies'' 87 (1997), p. 159.</ref>

====Auctions and sales====
[[File:Charles Bartlett - Captives in Rome, 1888.jpg|thumb|''Captives in Rome'', a nineteenth-century painting by [[Charles W. Bartlett]]]]

[[William V. Harris]] outlines four market venues for slave trading:
*small-scale transactions owner-to-owner in which a single slave might be traded;
*the "opportunistic market", such as the slave traders who followed the army and handled large numbers of slaves;
*fairs and markets in small towns, where slaves would've been among various goods exchanged;
*slave markets in major cities, where auctions were held on a regular basis.{{sfn|Harris, "Towards a Study of the Roman Slave Trade"|pp=125–126}}

Slaves traded on the market were ''empticii'' ("purchased ones"), as distinguished from [[#Vernae|home-reared slaves]] born within the ''familia''. ''Empticii'' were most often bought cheap for everyday tasks or labor, but some were thought of as a kind of luxury good and brought high prices, if they possessed a sought-after, specialized skill or a special quality such as beauty.{{sfn|Harris, "Towards a Study of the Roman Slave Trade"|p=121}} Most of the slaves traded on the market were in their teens and twenties.<ref name="Scheidel p. 302">Scheidel, "The Roman Slave Supply", p. 302.</ref> In [[Edict on Maximum Prices|Diocletian's edict on price controls]] (301 AD), a maximum price for skilled slaves aged 16–40 is fixed as up to double that of an unskilled slave, which was the equivalent of 3 tons of wheat for a male and 2.5 for a female.<ref>Walter Scheidel, "Real Slave Prices and the Relative Cost of Slave Labor in the Greco-Roman World", ''Ancient Society'' 35 (2005), p. 8.</ref> Actual pricing would differ by time and place.<ref>Scheidel, "Real Slave Prices", pp. 16–17.</ref> Evidence for real prices is rare and known mostly from papyri documents preserved in [[Roman Egypt]],<ref name="Scheidel p. 302">Scheidel, "The Roman Slave Supply", p. 302.</ref> where the practice of slavery may not be typical of Italy or the empire as a whole.{{citation needed|date=September 2023}}

[[File:Fresco from the House of Julia Felix, Pompeii depicting scenes from the Forum market.JPG|thumb|250px|A wall painting from the [[House of Julia Felix]] depicts the market in the forum at [[Pompeii]], where trade included slaves.<!-- Harris says slave-trading is depicted, but this appears to be the only image in Commons, and it may be cut off to the right -->{{sfn|Harris, "Towards a Study of the Roman Slave Trade"|pp=126, 138 n. 93}}]]

From the mid-1st century BC, the edict of the [[aedile]]s, who had jurisdiction over market transactions,<ref>Section ''de mancipiis vendundis'' ("on slaves for sale") of the Edicts of the Curule Aediles (''Digest'' 21.1.44 pr 1–2 and 21.1.1), as cited by Lisa A. Hughes, "The Proclamation of Non-Defective Slaves and the Curule Aediles' Edict: Some Epigraphic and Iconographic Evidence from Capua", ''Ancient Society'' 36 (2006), pp. 239, 249.</ref> had a section aimed at protecting buyers of slaves by requiring any disease or defect to be divulged at time of sale.<ref>Hughes, "The Proclamation of Non-Defective Slaves", pp. 250, 253.</ref> Information about the slave was either written on a tablet ''(titulus)'' hung from the neck<ref>Hughes, "The Proclamation of Non-Defective Slaves", p. 258, citing Aulus Gellius, ''Attic Nights'' 4.2.1, noting reliefs that depict slaves wearing such a tablet.</ref> or called out by the auctioneer.<ref>Hughes, "The Proclamation of Non-Defective Slaves", pp. 245.</ref> The slave being auctioned might be placed on a stand for viewing.{{efn|The stand has sometimes been described as revolving, based on a mention in the poetry of [[Statius]] (1st century AD).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898), Catasta |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0062:entry=catasta-harpers |access-date=2023-07-16 |website=perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Statius, P. Papinius, Silvae, Book 2, Glauctas Atedii Melioris Delicatus |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2008.01.0499:book=2:poem=1 |access-date=2023-07-16 |website=perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref>}} Prospective buyers could feel the slave, have them move or jump, or ask for them to be undressed to make sure the dealer wasn't concealing a physical defect.<ref>Bradley, "'The Regular, Daily Traffic in Slaves'", p. 128.</ref> The wearing of a particular cap ''(pilleus)'' marked a slave who didn't come with a warranty;<ref name="Scheidel p. 302">Scheidel, "The Roman Slave Supply", p. 302.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Gellius |first=Aulus |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2007.01.0072:book=6:chapter=4&highlight=cap |title=Attic Nights |at=6.4.1}}</ref> chalk-whitened feet were a sign of foreigners newly arrived in Italy.{{sfn|Silver, "Contractual Slavery in the Roman Economy"|p=102|ps=, citing Pliny, ''Natural History'' 35.58}}

A rare depiction of an auction, on a funeral monument from about the same time as the edict, shows a male slave wearing a loincloth and possibly shackles and standing on a pedestal- or podium-like structure.<ref>Hughes, "The Proclamation of Non-Defective Slaves", pp. 240, 243–244, disputing an alternate interpretation of the figure as a statue.</ref> To the left is an auctioneer ''(praeco)'';<ref>As indicated by his attire: Hughes, "The Proclamation of Non-Defective Slaves", p. 245.</ref> the gesturing, toga-wearing figure to the right may be a buyer asking questions.<ref>Hughes, "The Proclamation of Non-Defective Slaves", p. 246.</ref> The monument was set up by a ''familia'' of former slaves, the Publilii, who were either depicting their own history or, like many freedmen, expressing pride in conducting their own business successfully and honestly.<ref>Hughes, "The Proclamation of Non-Defective Slaves", pp. 249–250 ''et passim''.</ref>

If defects were fraudulently concealed, a six-month return policy required the dealer to take back the slave and issue a refund, or to make a partial refund during an extended [[warranty]] of twelve months.<ref name="Roman Life">Johnston, Mary. Roman Life. Chicago: Scott, Foresman and Company, 1957, p.&nbsp;158–177</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Johnston |first=David |title=Roman Law in Context |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2022 |isbn=978-1-108-70016-0 |edition=2nd |page=96}} The ''actio redhibitoria'' for 6 months and the ''actio quanto minoris'' for 12, applying to sales of slaves and cattle in the market.</ref> Roman jurists closely parsed what might constitute a defect—not, for instance, missing teeth, since perfectly healthy infants, it was reasoned, lack teeth.<ref>Alan Watson, ''Legal Origins and Legal Change'' (Hambledon Press, 1991), p. 252, observing along with [[W.&nbsp;W. Buckland]] that the inability of infants also to walk calls the rigor of this reasoning into question.</ref> Slaves who were sold for a single price as a functional unit, such as a theatre troupe, could be returned as a group if one proved to be defective.<ref>Finkenauer, "''Filii naturales''", in ''The Position of Roman Slaves'', pp. 43–44, citing Ulpian on the Edict of the Curule Aediles, book 2 (Digest.21.1.38.14).</ref>

Although slaves were property ''(res)'', as human beings they were not to be considered merchandise ''(merces)''; those who sold them therefore were not merchants or traders ''(mercatores)'' but sellers ''(venalicarii).''<ref>Hughes, "The Proclamation of Non-Defective Slaves", p. 255, citing [[Sextus Caecilius Africanus|Africanus]], ''Digest'' L 16.207 (3 ''ad Quaestiones'').</ref>

====Slave-traders====
[[File:Grave relief of Caius Aiacius Römisch-Germanisches Museum Cologne retouched.jpg|thumb|upright|Funerary monument of Gaius Aiacius, a slave-trader ''(mango)'' at the [[Romano-Germanic Museum|Römisch-Germanisches Museum in Cologne]] (''[[Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum|CIL]]'' 13.8348; 30–40&nbsp;BC)]]

The Latin word for slave-trader was ''venalicius'' or ''venalicarius'' (from ''venalis'', "something that can be bought", especially as a substantive, a human being for sale)<ref>''Oxford Latin Dictionary'' (1985 printing), s.v. ''venalicarius'', ''venalicius'', and ''venalis'', pp. 2025–2026.</ref> or ''mango'', plural ''mangones'',<ref>Walter Scheidel, "The Roman Slave Supply", in ''The Cambridge World History of Slavery: The Ancient Mediterranean World'', vol. 1 (Cambridge University Press, 2011), p. 300.</ref> a word of likely Greek origin<ref>''Oxford Latin Dictionary'', s.v. ''mango'', p. 1073.</ref> that had connotations of "huckster";<ref>Brent D. Shaw, "The Great Transformation: Slavery and the Free Republic", in ''The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic'' (Cambridge University Press, 2014), p. 189.</ref> in Greek more bluntly ''somatemporos'', a dealer in bodies.<ref>Shaw, "The Great Transformation", p. 190. For a local dealer, ''andrapodokapelos'': C.&nbsp;M. Reed, ''Maritime Traders in the Ancient Greek World'' (Cambridge University Press, 2003), p. 22.</ref> Slave-traders had a reputation for dishonesty and deceptive practices, but most of the moral judgments are about defrauding customers rather than the welfare of the slaves.<ref name="Scheidel p. 300">Scheidel, "The Roman Slave Supply", p. 300.</ref> While the senatorial class disdained commerce in general as sordid,{{sfn|Bosworth, "Vespasian and the Slave Trade"|pp=}}{{page needed|date=May 2025}} rhetoric reviling slave-traders in particular is found widely in Latin literature.<ref name="Scheidel p. 300"/> Although slaves play leading roles in the [[#Roman comedy|comedies of Plautus]], no major character is a slave-trader.<ref>Shaw, "The Great Transformation", p. 190.</ref>

Professional slave-traders are rather shadowy figures, as their social standing and identities are not well documented in ancient sources.<ref name="Scheidel p. 300"/> They appear to have formed trade organizations ''([[societas|societates]])'' that lobbied for legislation and perhaps also for the purpose of raising investment capital.<ref name="Scheidel p. 301">Scheidel, "The Roman Slave Supply", p. 301.</ref> Most of those known by name are Roman citizens;<ref name="Scheidel p. 301"/> of these, most are freedmen.{{sfn|Pleket, "Urban Elites and Business in the Greek Part of the Roman Empire"|p=139}} Only a few slave-traders receive prominent mention by name in literature; one Toranius Flaccus was considered a witty dinner companion and socialized with the future emperor Augustus.<ref>{{harvtxt|Harris, "Towards a Study of the Roman Slave Trade"|p=129}}, citing Pliny, ''Natural History'' 7.56; Suetonius, ''Divus Augustus'' 69; Macrobius, ''Saturnalia'' 2.4.28.</ref> [[Mark Antony]] relied on Toranius as a procurer of female slaves, and even forgave him upon learning that the supposedly twin boys he had purchased were in fact not consanguineous, the ''mango'' having persuaded the [[Second Triumvirate|triumvir]] that their identical appearance was therefore all the more remarkable.{{sfn|Bosworth, "Vespasian and the Slave Trade"|p=356 , citing Pliny, ''Natural History'' 7.56}}

A few slave-traders were comfortable enough with their occupation that they had themselves identified as such in their epitaphs.{{sfn|Harris, "Towards a Study of the Roman Slave Trade"|p=}}{{page needed|date=February 2025}} Others are known from inscriptions recognizing them as benefactors, indicating that they were prosperous and locally prominent.{{sfn|Pleket, "Urban Elites and Business in the Greek Part of the Roman Empire"|p=139}} The ''Genius venalicii'', an obscure guardian spirit to do with the slave market, is honored presumably by slave-traders in four inscriptions, one of which is dedicated to this ''[[Genius (mythology)|genius]]'' in the company of [[Dea Syria]], perhaps reflecting the heavy trade in Syrian slaves from which arose a Syrian neighborhood in the city of Rome.<ref>Taco T. Terpsta, "The Palmyrene Temple in Rome and Palmyra's Trade with the West", in ''Palmyrena: City, Hinterland and Caravan Trade Between Orient and Occident. Proceedings of the Conference Held in Athens, December 1–3, 2012'' (Archaeopress, 2016), p. 44, citing ''CIL'' 6.399. Terpsta expresses doubt about the sufficiency of the standard interpretation, primarily of [[Filippo Coarelli|Coarelli]], that this dedication should be connected to the [[Palmyra|Palmyrene]] community of either slaves or slave traders in Rome.</ref> The cultivation of various ''genii'' was an everyday feature of classical Roman religion; the ''Genius venalicii'' normalizes the trade in slaves as like any other prosperity-seeking marketplace.{{sfn|Joshel, ''Slavery in the Roman World''|p=95}}

Slaves were also sold widely by people who made their main living in other ways and by merchants dealing primarily in other goods.{{sfn|Harris, "Towards a Study of the Roman Slave Trade"|p=129}} In late antiquity, itinerant Galatians protected by powerful patrons become prominent in the North African trade.<ref name="Scheidel p. 301"/> Although elite owners generally acquired slaves through intermediaries,{{sfn|Harris, "Towards a Study of the Roman Slave Trade"|pp=132–133}} some may have been more directly involved than literary sources like to acknowledge. When the future emperor [[Vespasian]] returned bankrupt from his proconsulate in Africa, he is thought to have restored his fortunes by trading in slaves, possibly specializing in [[eunuch]]s as a luxury good.{{sfn|Bosworth, "Vespasian and the Slave Trade"|pp=350-357|ps= , arguing on the basis of [[Suetonius]], ''Vespasianus'' 4.3 and other mentions that this trade was not in mules as is sometimes thought; this view is accepted also by Scheidel, "The Roman Slave Supply", p. 301}}

====Taxes and tariffs====
During the Republic, the only regular revenue from slaveholding collected by the state was a tax placed on manumissions starting in 357 BC, amounting to 5 percent of the slave's estimated value.{{sfn|Westermann, ''The Slave Systems of Greek and Roman Antiquity''|p=71}} In 183 BC, Cato the Elder as [[Roman censor|censor]] placed a [[sumptuary tax]] on slaves that had cost 10,000 ''[[as (coin)|asses]]'' or more, calculated at a rate of 3 ''[[denarius|denarii]]'' per 1,000 ''asses'' on an assessed value ten times the purchase price<ref>{{harvtxt|Westermann, ''The Slave Systems of Greek and Roman Antiquity''|p=71, citing Plutarch, ''Cato the Elder'' 18.2, and remarking on "Cato's bitter statement that handsome slaves cost more than a farm" (Diodorus Siculus 31.24).</ref> In 40 BC, the [[second triumvirate|triumvirs]] attempted to impose a tax on slave ownership, which was squelched by "bitter opposition.{{sfn|Westermann, ''The Slave Systems of Greek and Roman Antiquity''|p=71}}

In AD 7, [[Augustus]] imposed the first tax on Roman citizens as purchasers of slaves{{sfn|Westermann, ''The Slave Systems of Greek and Roman Antiquity''|p=95}} at a rate of 2 percent, estimated to generate annual revenues of about 5 million [[sesterces]]—a figure that may indicate some 250,000 sales.<ref name="trade">{{harvp|Harris|2000|p=721}}</ref> By comparison, the sales tax on slaves in [[Ptolemaic Egypt]] had been 20 percent{{sfn|Westermann, ''The Slave Systems of Greek and Roman Antiquity''|p=95}} The slave-sales tax was increased under [[Nero]] to 4&nbsp;percent,<ref>{{harvp|Harris|2000|p=722}}</ref> with a misguided attempt to divert the burden to the seller, which only increased prices<ref>{{harvtxt|Westermann, ''The Slave Systems of Greek and Roman Antiquity''|p=95}}, citing Tacitus, ''Annales'' 13.31.2.</ref>

[[Tariff]]s on slaves imported to or exported from Italy were taken at harbor [[customs]], as they were all around the Empire{{sfn|Westermann, ''The Slave Systems of Greek and Roman Antiquity''|p=95}} In AD 137, for example, the customs dues in [[Palmyra]] for teenage slaves was 2 to 3 percent of value.<ref name="Scheidel p. 302">Scheidel, "The Roman Slave Supply", p. 302.</ref> At [[Zaraï]] in Roman [[Numidia]], the tariff for a slave was the same as for a horse or mule.<ref>{{harvtxt|Harris, "Towards a Study of the Roman Slave Trade"|pp=124, 138 n. 81}}, citing ''CIL'' 8.4508.</ref> A law of the censors exempted the ''paterfamilias'' from paying harbor tax at Sicily on ''servi'' brought into Italy for his direct employment in a wide range of roles, indicating that the Romans saw a difference between obtaining slaves who were to be incorporated into the life of the household and those traded for profit.{{sfn|Saller, "''Pater Familias, Mater Familias, and the Gendered Semantics of the Roman Household''"|p=187 , citing the ''Digest'' 50.16.203}}

===Types of work===
Slaves worked in a wide range of occupations that can be roughly divided into five categories: household or domestic service, urban crafts and services, agriculture, [[#Public and imperial slaves|imperial or public]] service, and manual labor such as mining.<ref name="Hunt-2010"/> Both free and enslaved labor was employed for nearly all forms of work, though the proportion of free workers to slaves might vary by task and at different time periods.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}} Legal texts state that slaves' skills were to be protected from misuse; examples given include not using a stage actor as a bath attendant, not forcing a professional athlete to clean latrines, and not sending a ''librarius'' (scribe or manuscript copyist) to the countryside to carry baskets of [[Roman concrete#Material properties|lime]].{{sfn|Schermaier, ''The Position of Roman Slaves''|p=242 , citing Digest (Ulpian ''ad Sabinum'', book 18) 7.1.15.1–2.}} Regardless of the status of the worker, labor in the service of another was regarded as a form of submission in the ancient world,<ref>Christian Laes, "Child Slaves at Work in Roman Antiquity", ''Ancient Society'' 38 (2008), p. 240, citing Paulus, ''Sent''. 2.18.1.</ref> and Romans of the governing class regarded wage-earning as equivalent to slavery.{{sfn|Temin, "The Labor Market of the Early Roman Empire"|p=519|ps=citing Cicero, ''De officiis'' 21.1.150–151}}

====Household slaves====
<!-- please do not delete this image, as it is referenced in the body text under "Clothing"; please correct the link there if moving -->[[File:Carthage museum mosaic 1.jpg|thumb|250px|Mosaic from a Roman villa at [[Sidi Ghrib]] (in present-day Tunisia) depicting two female slaves (''ancillae'') attending their mistress]]

Epitaphs record at least 55&nbsp;different jobs a household slave might have,<ref name=Hunt-2010>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Hunt |first=Peter |date=2010 <!--print-date=2010 also--> |title=Slavery |editor-last=Gagarin |editor-first=Michael |encyclopedia=The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome |location=Oxford |publisher=[[Oxford University Press|OUP]] |isbn=978-0-19-538839-8 <!--print:9780195170726--> |oclc=502156964 |doi=10.1093/acref/9780195170726.001.0001 |at=part ''Slavery in Rome'', §&nbsp;'Occupation' |via=[[WP:TWL|TWL]] |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780195170726.001.0001/acref-9780195170726-e-1170?rskey=lXPrx2&result=1161#acref-9780195170726-eSub-0229 |access-date=2 March 2025|url-access=subscription }}</ref> including barber, butler, cook, hairdresser, handmaid (''ancilla''), launderer, [[wet nurse]] or [[List of Roman birth and childhood deities#Child development|nursery attendant]], teacher, secretary, seamstress, accountant, and physician.<ref name="moyak1"/> For large households, job descriptions indicate a high degree of specialization: handmaids might be assigned to the upkeep, storage, and readiness of the mistress's wardrobe or specifically mirrors or [[Roman jewelry|jewelry]].<ref>Marice E. Rose, "The Construction of Mistress and Slave Relationships in Late Antique Art", ''Woman's Art Journal'' 29:2 (2008), p. 41</ref> Rich households with specialists who might not be needed full-time year round, such as goldsmiths or furniture painters, might lease them out to friends and desirable associates or give them license to run their own shop as part of their ''[[#Peculium|peculium]]''.<ref>Susan Treggiari, "Jobs in the Household of Livia", ''Papers of the British School at Rome'' 43 (1975) p. 55.</ref> A "poor" household was one in which the same few slaves did everything without specialization.{{sfn|Bradley, ''Slavery and Society at Rome''|p=57}}

In [[Roman Egypt]], [[Oxyrhynchus Papyri|papyri]] preserve [[apprenticeship]] contracts written in Greek that indicate the training a worker might require to become skilled, usually for a full year. A beautician ''(ornatrix)'' required a three-year apprenticeship; in one Roman legal case, it was ruled that a slave who had studied for only two months could not be considered an ''ornatrix'' as a matter of law.{{sfn|Forbes, "The Education and Training of Slaves in Antiquity"|pp=332–333}}

In the Imperial era, a large elite household (a ''[[domus]]'' in town, or a ''[[Roman villa|villa]]'' in the countryside) might be supported by a staff of hundreds;<ref name="Hunt-2010"/> or on the lower end of scholarly estimates, perhaps an average of 100 slaves per ''domus'' during the time of Augustus. Possibly half the slaves in the city of Rome served in the houses of the senatorial order and of the richer [[equestrian order|equestrians]].<ref>[[Ramsay MacMullen]], "The Unromanized in Rome", in ''Diasporas in Antiquity'' (Brown Judaic Studies 2020), pp. 49–50, basing his guess of one hundred per household on his earlier demographic work in ''Changes in the Roman Empire'' (1990).</ref> The living conditions of the ''familia urbana''—slaves attached to a ''domus''—were sometimes superior to those of many free urban poor in Rome,<ref>[http://abacus.bates.edu/~mimber/Rciv/slavery.htm Roman Civilization] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090203055358/http://abacus.bates.edu/~mimber/Rciv/slavery.htm |date=2009-02-03 }}</ref> though even in the grandest houses, they would have lived "packed in to basement rooms and odd crannies".<ref>MacMullen, "The Unromanized in Rome", p. 49.</ref> Still, household slaves likely enjoyed the highest standard of living among Roman slaves, next to [[#Public and imperial slaves|publicly owned slaves]] in administration, who were not subject to the whims of a single master.<ref name="Roman Life"/>

====Urban crafts and services====
[[File:Pompeii - Fullonica of Veranius Hypsaeus 1 - MAN.jpg|thumb|[[Fullonica|Fullers]] at work in a wall painting from Pompeii; free and enslaved people often cannot be distinguished in depictions of labor]]

Of slaves in the city of Rome not attached to a ''domus'', most were engaged in trades and manufacturing. Occupations included [[fullonica|fullers]], engravers, shoemakers, bakers, and mule drivers. The Roman ''domus'' itself should not be thought of as a "private" home in the modern sense, as business was often conducted there, and even commerce—the first-floor rooms facing the street might be shops used or rented out as commercial spaces.<ref>John R. Clarke, ''The Houses of Roman Italy, 100 B.C.-A.D. 250: Ritual, Space, and Decoration'' (University of California Press, 1991), p. 2.</ref> The work done or the goods made and sold by enslaved labor from these storefronts complicates the distinction between household and general urban labor.

Through the end of the 2nd century BC, skilled labor throughout Italy, such as pottery design and manufacture, was still predominated by free workers, whose corporations or guilds ''([[Collegium (ancient Rome)|collegia]])'' might own a few slaves.{{sfn|Westermann, ''The Slave Systems of Greek and Roman Antiquity''|p=73}} In the Imperial era, as many as 90 percent of workers in these areas might be slaves or former slaves.<ref name="MacMullen p. 51">MacMullen, "The Unromanized in Rome", p. 51.</ref>

Training programs and apprenticeships are well if briefly documented. Slaves whose ability was noticed might be trained from a young age in trades requiring a high degree of artistry or expertise; for example, an epitaph mourns the premature death of a talented boy, only age 12, who was already apprenticing as a [[goldsmith]].<ref>{{harvnb|Forbes, "The Education and Training of Slaves in Antiquity"|p=334}}, citing ''ILS'' 7710.</ref> Girls might be apprenticed particularly in the textile industry; contracts specify apprenticeships of varying durations. One four-year contract from Roman Egypt that apprentices an underage girl to a master weaver shows how detailed terms could be. The owner is to feed and clothe the girl, who is to receive periodic pay raises from the weaver as her skills level up, along with eighteen holidays a year. Sick days are to be tacked onto her term of service, and the weaver is responsible for taxes.{{sfn|Forbes, "The Education and Training of Slaves in Antiquity"|pp=331–332}} The contractual aspect of benefits and obligations seems "distinctly modern"{{sfn|Temin, "The Labor Market of the Early Roman Empire"|p=514}} and indicates that a slave on a skills track might have opportunities, bargaining power, and relative social security nearly on a par with or exceeding free but low-skill workers living at a subsistence level. The widely attested success of freedmen might have been one possible motivation for [[#Self-sales|contractual self-sale]], as a well-connected owner might be able to obtain training for the slave and market access later as a patron to the new freedman.{{sfn|Temin, "The Labor Market of the Early Roman Empire"|pp=525–526, 528}}

[[File:DGJ 0336 - Thermopolium (5154197732).jpg|thumb|An ancient Roman restaurant ''([[thermopolium]])'' near the [[Forum (Roman)|forum]] in [[Ostia Antica]]: all aspects of food preparation and service employed both free and slave labor]]

In the city of Rome, working people and their slaves lived in ''[[insulae]]'', multistory buildings with shops on the ground floor and apartments above.<ref name="MacMullen p. 51"/> Most apartments in Rome lacked proper kitchens and might have only a charcoal [[brazier]].<ref>John E. Stambaugh, ''The Ancient Roman City'' (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1988), p. 144, 144, 178; Kathryn Hinds, ''Everyday Life in the Roman Empire'' (Marshall Cavendish, 2010) ,p. 90.</ref> Food therefore was widely prepared and sold by free and slave labor at pubs and bars, inns, and food stalls ''([[taberna]]e, cauponae, [[popina]]e, [[thermopolium|thermopolia]])''.<ref>Claire Holleran, Holleran, ''Shopping in Ancient Rome: The Retail Trade in the Late Republic and the Principate'' (Oxford Universwity Press, 2012), p. 136ff.</ref> But [[carryout]] and dining-in establishments were for the lower classes; fine dining was offered in wealthy homes with an enslaved [[Brigade de cuisine|kitchen staff]] comprising a head chef ''(archimagirus)'', sous chef ''(vicarius supra cocos)'', and assistants ''(coci)''.<ref>J. Mira Seo, "Cooks and Cookbooks", in ''The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome'' (Oxford University, 2010), pp. 298–299.</ref> [[Columella]] decries the extravagance of [[cooking school|culinary workshops]] that produce chefs and professional servers when [[Agricultural education|schools for agriculture]] don't exist.{{sfn|Forbes, "The Education and Training of Slaves in Antiquity"|p=335 , citing Columella, 1 praef. 5 ("workshop" is ''officina'')}} Seneca mentions the specialized training required for poultry-carving, and the habitually indignant [[Juvenal]] rails about a carver ''(cultellus)'' who rehearses dance-like moves and knife-wielding to meet the exacting standards of his teacher.{{sfn|Forbes, "The Education and Training of Slaves in Antiquity"|pp=335-336 , citing Seneca, ''Moral Epistle'' 47.6, and Juvenal 5.121}}

In the Roman world, [[Ancient Roman architecture|architects]] were usually freeborn men for hire or freedmen, but the names of some high-profile enslaved architects are known, including Corumbus, the slave of Caesar's friend [[Lucius Cornelius Balbus (consul 40 BC)|Balbus]],<ref>{{harvnb|Forbes, "The Education and Training of Slaves in Antiquity"|p=334}}, citing Cicero, ''Letter to Atticus'' 14.3.1.</ref> and Tychicus, whom the emperor [[Domitian]] owned.<ref>{{harvnb|Forbes, "The Education and Training of Slaves in Antiquity"|p=334}}, citing ''ILS'' 7733a.</ref>

====Agriculture====
[[File:Trier1107.jpg|thumb|250px|Agricultural workers using a [[reaper]] on a relief from [[Roman Gaul]]]]

[[Farming in ancient Rome|Farm slaves]] (''familia rustica'') may have lived in more healthful conditions than their urban counterparts in trade and manufacturing. Roman agricultural writers expect that the workforce of a farm will be mostly slaves,<ref name="Hunt-2010"/> who are regarded as speaking versions{{sfn|Bradley, "Animalizing the Slave"|p=110, citing Varro, ''De re rustica'' 1.17.1.}} of the animals they tend. [[Cato the Elder|Cato]] advises farm owners to dispose of old and sickly slaves just as they would worn-out oxen,{{sfn|Bradley, "Animalizing the Slave"|p=110, citing Cato, ''De agricultura'' 2.7.}} and [[Columella]] finds it convenient to house slaves next to the cattle or sheep they tend.{{sfn|Bradley, "Animalizing the Slave"|p=110, citing Columella, ''De re rustica'' 1.6.8.}} Roman law was explicit that farm slaves were to be equated with quadrupeds kept in herds.{{sfn|Bradley, "Animalizing the Slave"|p=111, citing the jurist Gaius interpreting the ''[[Lex Aquilia]]'' at ''Digest'' 9.2.2.2.}} They were far less likely to be manumitted than either skilled urban or household slaves.{{sfn|Harris, "Towards a Study of the Roman Slave Trade"|p=118}}

Large farms employing slaves for planting and harvesting are found in the eastern empire as well as Europe, and are alluded to in the Christian [[Gospels]].{{sfn|Martin, "Slavery and the Ancient Jewish Family"|p=128, citing for example the parable in Matthew 13:24–30.}}

The ratio of male slaves to female on a farm was likely to be even more disproportionate than in a household (perhaps as high as 80 percent). The relatively few women would spin and weave wool, make clothes, and work in the kitchen.{{sfn|Harris, "Towards a Study of the Roman Slave Trade"|p=119}} The slaves on a farm were managed by a ''[[vilicus]]'', who was often a slave himself.<ref name="Hunt-2010"/> Male slaves who had proven their loyalty and ability to manage others might be allowed to form a long-term relationship with a female fellow slave ''(conserva)'' and have children. It was especially desirable for the ''vilicus'' to have a quasi marriage ''([[contubernium]])''.<ref>{{harvtxt|Harris, "Towards a Study of the Roman Slave Trade"|p=120}}, citing Columella 1.8.4.</ref> The ''vilica'' who supervised food preparation and textile production for the estate<ref>Ulrike Roth, "Thinking Tools: Agricultural Slavery between Evidence and Models", ''Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies'' 92 (2007), pp. 3, 17, 36, citing Columella 12.1.5, 12.3.3, and 12.3.8 and Cato, ''De agricultura'' 143.3.</ref> held her position on her own merit and only infrequently was the woman who lived with the ''vilicus'' as his wife.<ref>Roth, "Thinking Tools", p. 49, citing Cato, ''De agricultura'' 143.1.</ref>

From the Middle Republic on, unmanageable slaves might be punished by confinement to an ''[[ergastulum]]'', a work barracks for those subjected to [[#Chaining|chaining]]; Columella says every farm needs one.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}{{efn|In "The Later Roman Colonate and Freedom", Miroslava Mirković notes that, in other contexts, the ''ergastulum'' seems to be a penal workhouse not necessarily for agricultural labor, as when Livy (2.2.6) contrasts a debtor who is led ''non in servitium sed in ergastulum'', "not into slavery but into the workhouse".{{sfn|Mirković, ''The Later Roman Colonate and Freedom''|p=42}}}}

====Hard labor====<!-- {{More|Mining in ancient Rome#Labor}}-->
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 | image1    = Bakery of Popidius Priscus (VI 2,22) one of the largest in Pompeii excavated in the 1820s Pompeii Prowalk.jpg
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   | caption1  = Remains of a mill and bakery complex in Pompeii
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   | caption2  = A slave ''(far right)'' working a mill alongside chained horses, fragment of a [[Roman sarcophagus|sarcophagus]] relief
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In the Republican era, a punishment that slaves feared was hard labor in chains at mill and bakery operations ''(pistrina)'' or work farms ''([[ergastulum|ergastula]])''.{{sfn|Millar, "Condemnation to Hard Labour in the Roman Empire"|pp=143–144}} In an early example of condemnation to hard labor, enslaved captives from the [[Second Punic War|war with Hannibal]] were [[#Chaining|chained]] and sent to work in a quarry after they rebelled in 198 BC.<ref>William Heinemann, notes to Livy 32.26.17–18, in ''Livy: Books XXXI-XXXIV with an English Translation'' (Harvard University Press, 1935), pp. 236–237.</ref>

Prison sentences for citizens were not a part of the Roman criminal justice system; jails were meant for holding prisoners transitionally. Instead, in the Imperial era the convicted would be sentenced to hard labor and sent to camps where they would be put to work in the [[Mining in ancient Rome|mines]] and quarries or the mills.{{sfn|Millar, "Condemnation to Hard Labour in the Roman Empire"|pp=131–132}} ''Damnati in metallum'' ("those condemned to the mine", or ''metallici'') lost their freedom as citizens (''libertas''), forfeited their property (''bona'') to the state, and became ''servi poenae'', slaves as a legal penalty. Their status under the law differed from that of other slaves; they could not buy their freedom, be sold, or be set free. They were expected to live and often die in the mines.<ref>Alfred Michael Hirt, ''Imperial Mines and Quarries in the Roman World: Organizational Aspects 27–BC&nbsp;AD&nbsp;235'' (Oxford University Press, 2010), sect.&nbsp;3.3.</ref> In the later Empire, the permanence of their status was indicated by a tattooing of the forehead.<ref>W. Mark Gustafson, "''Inscripta in Fronte'': Penal Tattooing in Late Antiquity", ''Classical Antiquity'' 16:1 (1997), p. 81.</ref>

Convicts numbering in the tens of thousands were condemned to the notoriously brutal conditions of enslavement in the mines and quarries.<ref name="Hunt-2010"/> Christians felt that their community was particularly subject to this penalty.{{sfn|Millar, "Condemnation to Hard Labour in the Roman Empire"|pp=124–125}} The condemnation of free inhabitants of the Empire to conditions of slavery was among the punishments that degraded the citizenship status of the lower classes—the ''humiliores'' who had not held office at the level of [[Decurion (administrative)|decurion]] or higher and were most of the populace—in ways that would have been intolerable during the Republic.{{sfn|Millar, "Condemnation to Hard Labour in the Roman Empire"|pp=127–128, 132, 137–138, 146}} Slaves could also end up in the mines as punishment, and even in the mines were subject to harsher discipline than the formerly free convicts.{{sfn|Millar, "Condemnation to Hard Labour in the Roman Empire"|pp=128, 138}} Women could be sentenced to lighter work at the mines.{{sfn|Millar, "Condemnation to Hard Labour in the Roman Empire"|pp=139}} Some provinces did not have mines, so those condemned as ''metallici'' might have to be transported great distances to serve their sentence.{{sfn|Millar, "Condemnation to Hard Labour in the Roman Empire"|pp=139–140}}

Convict labor played a role in [[public works]] in the municipalities; the quarrying of building stone and fine stone such as [[alabaster]] and [[porphyry (rock)|porphyry]]; the mining of metals and minerals (such as [[lime (material)|lime]], which was used in [[Roman concrete]], and [[sulfur mining|sulphur]]), and perhaps in [[History of salt|salt works]]. In the 3rd and 4th centuries, convicts began to be sentenced to ''pistrina'' in Rome, a punishment formerly reserved for slaves, and to the new state-owned factories that made clothing for the military and imperial household.{{sfn|Millar, "Condemnation to Hard Labour in the Roman Empire"|pp=140, 145–146}} The Imperial novelty of sentencing free people to hard labor may have compensated for a declining supply of war captives to enslave, though ancient sources don't discuss the economic impact as such, which was secondary to demonstrating the "coercive capacities of the state"—the cruelty was the point.{{efn|[[Eusebius]], writing of those who were subjected to mutilations that reduced their capacity to work and were then sent to the copper mines "not so much for service as for the sake of ill treatment and hardship" (''[[Church History (Eusebius)|Historia Ecclesiastica]]'' 8.12.10).{{sfn|Millar, "Condemnation to Hard Labour in the Roman Empire"|pp=141, 147}}}}

Not all mining labor was unfree, as indicated for example by an employment contract dating to AD 164. The employee agrees to provide "healthy and vigorous labor" at a gold mine for wages of 70 denarii and a term of service from May to November; if he chooses to quit before that time, 5 sesterces for each day not worked will be deducted from the total.{{sfn|Temin, "The Labor Market of the Early Roman Empire"|p=520}} There is no evidence that convict labor was used in the major mining district in [[Lusitania]], the Imperial gold mines in [[Dacia]], or Imperial quarries in [[Phrygia]]; these would have employed the usual combination of free and slave labor.{{sfn|Millar, "Condemnation to Hard Labour in the Roman Empire"|pp=141–142}} Mine administration and management was often handled by imperial slaves and freedmen of the ''familia Caesaris''.<ref>Hirt, ''Imperial Mines and Quarries'', sect. 4.2.1.</ref>

Contrary to modern popular imagery, the [[Roman navy]] did not employ [[galley slaves]] except in wartime when there was a shortage of free oarsman.<ref>Christian G. De Vito and Alex Lichtenstein, "Writing a Global History of Convict Labour", in ''Global Histories of Work'' (De Gruyter, 2016), p. 58.</ref> While it's likely that merchants regularly used enslaved oarsmen for shipping, the practice is not well attested.<ref>Lionel Casson, "Galley Slaves", ''Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association'' 97 (1966), p. 35.</ref>

====Public and imperial slaves====
[[File:Dedication to Hadrian's freedman Publius Aelius Liberalis, from Castelporziano, first half of the 2nd cent. AD, National Museum of Rome, Baths of Diocletian, Rome (13823381815).jpg|thumb|upright|Inscription from the base of a statue honoring the imperial freedman Publius Aelius Liberalis as the patron of the ''[[vicus|vicus Augustanus]]'' in [[Ostia Antica|Ostia]], where he held several governmental positions up to that of [[Procurator (ancient Rome)|procurator]] of the grain supply ''([[Cura Annonae|annona]])'']]

A ''servus publicus populi Romani'' was a slave owned not by a private individual, but by the [[SPQR|Roman people]]. Public slaves at Rome worked in [[Roman temple|temples]] and other public buildings and were attached especially to the public treasury ''([[aerarium]])''.<ref>Buckland, ''The Roman Law of Slavery'', pp. 318–319.</ref> Most performed general, basic tasks as servants to the [[College of Pontiffs]], [[Roman magistrate|magistrates]], and other officials. They were often employed as messengers. They might be assigned to revenue collection, archives, waterworks, firefighting, and other [[public works]].<ref name="Buckland, p. 320">Buckland, ''The Roman Law of Slavery'', p. 320.</ref> Less savory tasks also fell to public slaves, such as carrying out executions.<ref>Sarah Bond, ''Trade and Taboo: Disreputable Professions in the Roman Mediterranean'' (University of Michigan Press, 2016), pp.70–71.</ref> Some well-qualified public slaves did skilled office work such as accounting and secretarial services: "the greater part of the business of Rome seems to have been conducted through slaves."<ref name="Buckland, p. 320">Buckland, ''The Roman Law of Slavery'', p. 320.</ref> Often entrusted with managerial roles, they were permitted to earn money for their own use,{{sfn|Berger, ''Encyclopedic Dictionary of Roman Law''|loc=''peculium'' and ''servus publicus''|p=624, 706}} and they were paid a yearly stipend from the treasury.<ref>Buckland, ''The Roman Law of Slavery'', pp. 320–321.</ref>

Because they had an opportunity to prove their merit, public slaves could acquire a reputation and influence, and their chances for manumission were higher. During the [[Roman Republic|Republic]], a public slave could be freed by a magistrate's declaration, with the prior authorization of the [[Roman senate|senate]]; in the [[Roman Empire|Imperial era]], liberty would be granted by the [[Roman emperor|emperor]]. A public slave acquired his own position and it was not passed down to a son.<ref name="Buckland, p. 320">Buckland, ''The Roman Law of Slavery'', p. 320.</ref> Public slaves held testamentary rights that even informally manumitted freedmen were not permitted: a ''servus publicus'' could write a will and bequeath up to half his estate, and could also receive bequests.<ref>Wolfram Buchwitz, "Giving and Taking: The Effects of Roman Inheritance Law on the Social Position of Slaves", in ''The Position of Roman Slaves'', pp. 183–184, citing Tit. Ulp. 20.16; ''CIL'' VI.2354 and X.4687.</ref>

Since women did not serve in the government, women were not themselves public slaves in the privileged sense of a ''servus publicus'', though they could be in the possession of the state temporarily as captives or confiscated property,<ref>Buckland, ''The Roman Law of Slavery'', p. 319, especially n. 4.</ref> and as the quasi-marital partner of a public slave would share some of his privileges.<ref>Buchwitz, "Giving and Taking: The Effects of Roman Inheritance Law on the Social Position of Slaves", pp.&nbsp;183–184, citing ''CIL'' VI 2354 on the designation of a public slave's ''[[concubinatus|concubina]]'' as his heir.</ref>

[[File:Romersk gravrelief.jpg|thumb|275px|Gravesite marker<!-- ''Loculusplatte''--> (2nd century&nbsp;AD) for the wool merchant Titus Aelius Evangelus, likely a freedman of [[Antoninus Pius]], along with his wife, Ulpia Fortunata; Ulpius Telesphorus, of likely [[Trajan]]ic freedman lineage and a relative of the wife or a ''conlibertus''; Gaudenia Marcellina, the natural daughter of Evangelus from a previous union; and their freedpersons and descendants<ref>Peter J. Holliday, "The Sarcophagus of Titus Aelius Evangelus and Gaudenia Nicene", ''The J. Paul Getty Museum Journal'' 21 (1993), pp. 94, 96.</ref>]]

The term "imperial slave" is broader and includes not only slaves owned by the emperor and serving in the imperial bureaucracy but also more generally the ''familia Caesaris'', the slaves employed in the emperor's household, including those on his wife's staff. Women were therefore part of the ''familia Caesaris''.<ref name="Hunt-2010"/> Public and imperial slaves were among those most likely to have a ''[[contubernium]]'', an informally recognized union that could become a legal marriage if both parties were manumitted.<ref>Susan Treggiari, "''Contubernales'' in ''CIL'' 6", ''Phoenix'' 35:1 (1981), p. 50.</ref>

Because public slaves primarily assisted the [[Roman senate|senatorial]] functions of government, the institution waned in the Imperial era<ref>Buckland, ''The Roman Law of Slavery'', p. 319.</ref> as the emperor's own slaves assumed their administrative roles. Vast numbers of imperial slaves helped drive the large-scale public works of the Roman Empire; for example, [[Frontinus]] (1st century AD) says that personnel for the city of Rome's [[Roman aqueduct|aqueducts]] alone numbered 700.{{sfn|Madden, "Slavery in the Roman Empire Numbers and Origins"|p= , citing Frontinus, ''De aquaeductu'' 116–117.}}{{page missing|date=May 2025}}

Municipal slaves were owned by the [[municipium|municipalities]] and served similar functions as the public slaves of the Roman state. Municipal public slaves could be freed by their municipal council.{{sfn|Berger, ''Encyclopedic Dictionary of Roman Law''}}{{page needed|date=March 2025}} Imperial and municipal slaves are better documented than most slaves because their higher status prompted them to identify themselves as such in inscriptions.<ref>Marianne Béraud, Nicolas Mathieu, Bernard Rémy, "Esclaves et affranchis chez les Voconces au Haut-Empire: L'apport des inscriptions", ''Gallia'' 74:2 (2017), p. 80.</ref>

====Business managers and agents====
A slave whose master gave him "free administration" ''(libera administratio)'' could travel and act independently on business.{{sfn|Westermann, ''The Slave Systems of Greek and Roman Antiquity''|p=83}} One common managerial role was the ''institor'', someone who ran a business that remained fully owned by the [[Principal (commercial law)|principal]].<ref>William V. Harris, "Roman Terracotta Lamps: The Organization of an Industry", ''Journal of Roman Studies'' 70 (1980), p. 140.</ref> The ''institor'' (translated loosely as "agent")<ref>David Johnston, "Law and Commercial Life of Rome", ''Proceedings of the Cambridge Philological Society'' 43 (1997), p. 59.</ref>—who might be the business owner's slave, another person's slave, a freedman, or a freeborn person such as his son—could operate a branch business in the provinces on behalf of a business owner living in Italy, or in Italy on behalf of a provincial owner.<ref>Harris, "Roman Terracotta Lamps: The Organization of an Industry", pp. 140–141; Johnston, "Law and Commercial Life", p. 56 ''et passim'', on the son as ''institor''.</ref> Other managerial positions regularly held by slaves were ''actor'', a general term for manager or agent;<ref>Leonhard Schumacher, "On the Status of Private ''Actores'', ''Dispensatores'' and ''Vilici''",''Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies'' suppl. 109 (2010), p. 31.</ref> ''vilicus'', originally the overseer on an agricultural estate but later in an urban setting a general supervisor; and ''dispensator'', a keeper of accounts who handled disbursements in the household and served generally as its steward.<ref>[[Susan Treggiari]], "Jobs in the Household of Livia", ''Papers of the British School at Rome'' 43 (1975), p. 49.</ref> Because Roman [[Contract#History|contract law]] permitted only [[Law of agency|direct agency]], slaves were placed in these roles for the very reason that they lacked independent personhood and legally could act only as an instrument of their master rather than as a third-party representative.<ref>Treggiari, ""Jobs in the Household of Livia", p. 50.</ref> ''Dispensatores'' in particular could expect to become wealthy and be manumitted; their wives{{efn|Since slaves could not enter into a marriage contract, "wife" usually refers to a ''[[contubernalis]]'', a spouse in a sort of common-law marriage or a marriage conducted according to rites not recognized within Roman law. If a ''dispensator'' wished to retain the advantages of his position, he might arrange to have his ''contubernalis'' manumitted instead of himself so that any children they had would be born as free citizens.<ref>Schumacher, "On the Status of Private ''Actores'', ''Dispensatores'' and ''Vilici''", pp. 36–38.</ref>}} were often free.<ref>Treggiari, "Jobs in the Household of Livia", p. 50.</ref> Although these most lucrative financial positions were held most often by male slaves, inscriptions also record women in the role of ''dispensatrix''.<ref>Gamauf, "''Dispensator'': The Social Profile of a Servile Profession", p. 130, n. 24; Jesper Carlsen, ''"Vilici" and Roman Estate Managers until AD 284'' (L'Erma di Bretschneider, 1995), p. 148, n. 492, cites ''CIL'' IX 2558 and ''CIL'' IX 4644 (= ''ILS'' 3857) on two ''dispensatrices''.</ref>

The owner who set aside money or property as a ''[[#Peculium|peculium]]'' for the slave to manage in effect created a company with [[limited liability]].{{sfn|Zwalye, "Valerius Patruinus’ Case Contracting in the Name of the Emperor"|p=160}} But the agency of slaves in conducting business could raise complex legal issues, with hazards for the slave and potential blowback for the master.<ref>Baha Yiğit Sayin, Legal Aspects of the Commercial Dealings of Slaves During the Roman Imperial Period,
Bahçeşehir Üniversitesi Hukuk Fakültesi Dergisi, 18(3), 2023, p. 481</ref> If a slave was accused of fraud, for example, or a suit was brought in civil court, the master faced a dilemma: he could acknowledge his ownership and defend the slave, making himself liable for paying damages if they lost the case, or he could decline to defend the slave{{sfn|Westermann, ''The Slave Systems of Greek and Roman Antiquity''|p=82}} and surrender all claims to ownership and future patronage.<ref>Buckland, ''The Roman Law of Slavery'', pp. 162, 274–275.</ref> The slave was therefore vulnerable to the master's calculations on the relative advantages of defending him or not.{{sfn|Westermann, ''The Slave Systems of Greek and Roman Antiquity''|p=82}}

This situation was more than hypothetical; some local laws in the provinces seem aimed at dealing with the legal peculiarities of the relative freedom Romans gave slaves at this operational level. A city in [[Caria]], for example, spelled out that if a Roman slave violated local banking regulations, the owner could either pay a fine or punish the slave; the punishment was specified as fifty blows and six months of prison.{{sfn|Westermann, ''The Slave Systems of Greek and Roman Antiquity''|p=82}} If the slave had to testify in cases involving contract law to defend either his master or his own actions, there is no indication that he was exempt from the law that his testimony could be accepted only under torture; the slave  therefore had a compelling incentive to meet the most scrupulously high standards in conducting business.{{sfn|Watson, "Roman Slave Law and Romanist Ideology"|pp=56-57}}

Slaves may even have been routinely preferred to paid free labor in areas of employment such as [[Banking in ancient Rome|banking]] and accounting. At times, an estate might be managed by slaves while free persons provided manual labor.{{sfn|Silver, "Contractual Slavery in the Roman Economy"|p=90}} Households that are settings for narratives in the Christian [[Gospels]] also show privileged slaves acting as estate managers and agents, collecting rent and produce from tenant farmers, or investing money and conducting business on behalf of their master,{{sfn|Martin, "Slavery and the Ancient Jewish Family"|p=128, citing Matthew 21:34 and 25:14–30.}} as well as serving as ''[[Oikonomos|oikonomoi]]'' (household managers or "economists") in charge of allocating and disbursing food and funds to other members of the  ''familia''.{{sfn|Martin, "Slavery and the Ancient Jewish Family"|p=128, citing Matthew 24:45 and Mark 13:35.}}

====Gladiators, entertainers, and prostitutes====

{{Main|Gladiator|Theatre of ancient Rome|Prostitution in ancient Rome}}

Gladiators, entertainers such as actors and dancers, and prostitutes were among those persons in Rome who existed in the social limbo of ''[[infamia]]'' or disrepute, regardless of whether they were enslaved or technically free. Like slaves, they could not bring a case in court nor have someone represent them; like freedmen, they were not eligible to hold public office.<ref>Catherine Edwards, "Unspeakable Professions: Public Performance and Prostitution in Ancient Rome", in ''Roman Sexualities'' (Princeton UP 1997), pp. 72–73, citing the ''[[Tabula Heracleensis]]'' on some restrictions outside the city of Rome.</ref> In a legal sense, ''infamia'' was an official loss of standing for a freeborn person as a result of misconduct, and could be imposed by a [[Roman censor|censor]] or [[praetor]] as a legal penalty.{{sfn|McGinn, ''Prostitution, Sexuality, and the Law in Ancient Rome''|p=65ff}} Those who displayed themselves to entertain others had surrendered the right of citizens not to subject their body to use: "They lived by providing sex, violence, and laughter for the pleasure of the public."<ref>Edwards, "Unspeakable Professions", pp. 66–67.</ref>

Those deemed ''infames'' had few legal protections even if they were Roman citizens who were not subject to being traded as slaves.<ref>Edwards, "Unspeakable Professions", p. 66.</ref> They were liable to corporal punishment of the kinds usually reserved for slaves.<ref>Edwards, "Unspeakable Professions", p. 73.</ref> Their daily life probably differed little from that of a slave within the same area of employment, though they had control of their income and more freedom to make decisions about their living arrangements. Their lack of legal standing arose from the kind of work they did—perceived as a morally suspect manipulation of and simultaneous surrender to others' desires for pleasure—not the fact that they worked alongside slaves, since that would be true of nearly all forms of labor in Rome. ''Lenones'' (pimps) and ''lanistae'' (trainers or managers of gladiators) shared the disreputable status of their workers.<ref>Edwards, "Unspeakable Professions", pp. 76, 82–83.</ref>

[[File:Lyon 5e - Musée Lugdunum - Exposition SPECTACULAIRE - Scène iconique de la comédie romaine.jpg|thumb|300px|Terra cotta relief (late 1st century BC–early 1st century AD): a slave seeks refuge at an altar to escape his master's punishment in a scene from Roman comedy ([[Louvre]])]]

Actors were moreover subversive because the theatre was a place for [[Marsyas#Prophecy and free speech at Rome|free speech]]. Actors were known to mock politicians from the stage, and there was established law from the 4th century BC and into the late Republic that they could be subjected to physical punishment as slaves were.<ref>Edwards, "Unspeakable Professions", pp. 74–75, citing Livy 7.2.12; Augustus mitigated the practice.</ref> The comic playwright known in English as [[Terence]] was a slave who was manumitted because of his literary abilities.<ref>D. Selden, "How the Ethiopian Changed His Skin", ''Classical Antiquity'' 32:2 (2013), p. 329, citing [[Aelius Donatus|Donatus]], ''Vita Terenti'' 1.</ref>

In the Late Republic, about half the gladiators who fought in Roman arenas were slaves, though the most skilled were often free volunteers.<ref>Alison Futrell, ''A Sourcebook on the Roman Games'' (Blackwell, 2006), p.&nbsp;124.</ref> Freeborn gladiators erased the distinction between citizen and slave by taking an oath to subject their bodies to physical abuse, including being branded and beaten, both marks of slavery.<ref>Edwards, "Unspeakable Professions", p. 82.</ref> Enslaved gladiators who enjoyed success in the arena were occasionally rewarded with manumission but remained in a state of ''infamia''.

Prostitutes in the city of Rome had to be registered with the [[aedile]]s,<ref>Edwards, "Unspeakable Professions", p. 81.</ref> and prostitution was legal throughout the Roman Empire in all periods before [[Christian privilege#Christian hegemony|Christian hegemony]].<ref>Amy Richlin, "Sexuality in the Roman Empire", in ''A Companion to the Roman Empire'' (John Wiley & Sons, 2009), p. 350.</ref> However, Romans saw prostitution as worse than slavery, since slavery did not inherently or permanently damage the slave's personal morality, and so a woman's contract might include a clause specifying that [[Prostitution in ancient Rome#Rights and restrictions|she was not to be prostituted]].{{sfn|McGinn, ''Prostitution, Sexuality, and the Law in Ancient Rome''|pp=293, 316<!--additional source may be needed on the morality part-->}} Prostitutes who worked in brothels ''([[lupanar]]ia)'' were more likely to be slaves than were [[streetwalker]]s, who might start selling sex under economic duress and be self-employed. A few freedwomen who were former prostitutes amassed enough wealth to become public benefactors, but most enslaved brothel workers are likely to have received little or no payment for their own use.{{sfn|Flemming, "Quae Corpore Quaestum Facit"|pp=4}} Male prostitutes also existed.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}}

Selling a slave against his will to a training camp for gladiators was a punishment.{{sfn|Westermann, ''The Slave Systems of Greek and Roman Antiquity''|p=76}} and the emperor [[Hadrian]] banned the sale of slaves to pimps or gladiator managers "without cause", indicating that prostitution and violence in the arena were considered beyond the pale of standard servitude.<ref>{{harvtxt|Flemming, ''Quae Corpore Quaestum''|pp=53, citing ''Scriptores Historiae Augustae'', "Hadrian" 18.8.</ref> Legislation under Christian emperors likewise forbade masters to employ slaves as stage actors against their will or to prevent actors from retiring from the theatre.<ref>Buckland, ''The Roman Law of Slavery'', p. 38, citing ''Codex Iustiniani'' 1.4.14, 33; ''Institutiones'' 1.8.2.</ref> Sexual slavery was forbidden by the Church, and Christianization was a factor in curtailing or altogether ending traditional spectacles and games ''([[ludi]])'' such as gladiator matches and public theatrical performances.<ref>''Codex Theodosianus'' 9.40.8 and 15.9.1; Symmachus, ''Relatio'' 8.3.</ref>

===Serfdom===
{{Further|Colonus (person)#Adscripticii}}
By the 3rd century AD, the [[Roman Empire]] faced a labour shortage. Large Roman landowners increasingly relied on Roman freemen, acting as [[tenant farmers]], instead of slaves to provide labour.<ref name="Mackay298">{{cite book |last=Mackay |first=Christopher |title=Ancient Rome: A Military and Political History |location=New York |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2004 |page=298 |isbn=978-0-521-80918-4 }}</ref> The status of these tenant farmers ''([[colonus (person)|coloni]])'' steadily eroded.  Because the tax system implemented by [[Diocletian]] assessed taxes based on both land and the inhabitants of that land, it became administratively inconvenient for peasants to leave the land where they were counted in the census.<ref name="Mackay298" /> In 332 AD [[Constantine the Great|Constantine]] issued legislation that greatly restricted the rights of the ''[[colonus (person)|coloni]]'' and tied them to the land.

As a result, from the [[Crisis of the Third Century|3rd century onward]], differentiating a slave, a worker hired under contract, and a peasant tied to the land became at best academic, as socio-legal status devolved into a bifurcation of [[honestiores and humiliores|''honestiores'' and ''humiliores'']]: the tiny percentage of the populace who had access to power and wealth, having attained honors to the rank of [[Decurion (administrative)|decurion]] or higher; and those of humbler free status who were increasingly subjected to forms of [[#Punishments|control]] reserved for slaves in the Republican era. By the 5th century, the legal status that had distinguished free citizen from slave had all but vanished; what remained was the ''honestiores'' who held legally defined privilege, and the ''humiliores'' subject to exploitation.{{sfn|Vuolanto, "Selling a Freeborn Child"|p=191}} Some{{who|date=July 2023}} see these laws as the beginning of medieval [[serfdom]] in Europe.

==Demography==
{{See also|Demography of the Roman Empire}}

Demographic studies of antiquity are plagued by incomplete data requiring extrapolation and conjecture. Conclusions should be understood as relative, and scholars who employ demographic models typically issue caveats. For example:
<blockquote>
For Italy of the period from the mid-sixties to 30 BC ''it has been assumed'' that 100,000 new slaves were needed annually, and that for the empire as a whole from 50 BC to AD 150 in excess of 500,000 new slaves were required each year, ''on the hypothesis'' that the slave population was ten million in a total imperial population of 50 million.
''None of these figures is capable of proof.'' [italic added]<ref>Keith R. Bradley, "On the Roman Slave Supply and Slavebreeding", in ''Classical Slavery'' (Frank Cass, 2000), p. 53.</ref>
</blockquote>
Estimates for the proportion of slaves in the population of the Roman Empire therefore vary.

The percentage of the population of Italy who were slaves by the end of the 1st century BC is estimated at about 20% to 30% of Italy's population, upwards of one to two million slaves.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rosenstein |first=Nathan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iPJECQAAQBAJ |quote=Recent studies of Italian demography have further increased doubts about a rapid expansion of the peninsula's servile population in this era. No direct evidence exists for the number of slaves in Italy at any time. Brunt has little trouble showing that Beloch's estimate of 2 million during the reign of Augustus is without foundation. Brunt himself suggests that there were about 3 million slaves out of a total population in Italy of about 7.5 million at this date, but he readily concedes that this is no more than a guess. As Lo Cascio has cogently noted, that guess in effect is a product of Brunt's low estimate of the free population |title=Rome at War: Farms, Families, And Death in the Middle Republic |date=2005-12-15 |publisher=Univ of North Carolina Press |isbn=978-0-8078-6410-4 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=Goldhill/><ref>Walter Scheidel. 2005. 'Human Mobility in Roman Italy, II: The Slave Population', ''Journal of Roman Studies'' 95: 64–79. Scheidel, p.&nbsp;170, has estimated between 1 and 1.5&nbsp;million slaves in the 1st&nbsp;century&nbsp;BC.</ref>{{efn|Jason Paul Wickham, in ''The Enslavement of War Captives by the Romans to 146&nbsp;BC'', notes the difficulty in estimating the size of the slave population and the supply needed to maintain and grow the population.{{sfn|Wickham, ''The Enslavement of War Captives by the Romans to 146&nbsp;BC''|p=198}}}} One study estimated that for the empire as a whole during the period 260–425 AD, the slave population was just under five&nbsp;million, representing 10–15% of the total population of 50–60 million inhabitants. An estimated 49% of all slaves were owned by the elite, who made up less than 1.5% of the empire's population. About half of all slaves worked in the countryside where they were a small percentage of the population except on some large agricultural, especially imperial, estates; the remainder of the other half were a significant percentage – 25% or more – in towns and cities as domestics and workers in commercial enterprises and manufacturers.{{efn|No contemporary or systematic census of slave numbers is known; in the Empire, under-reporting of male slave numbers would have reduced the tax liabilities attached to their ownership.{{sfn|Harper, ''Slavery in the Late Roman World, AD 275–425''|pp=58–60, and footnote&nbsp;150}}}}

Slaves (especially foreigners) had higher mortality rates and lower birth rates than natives and were sometimes even subjected to mass expulsions.{{sfn|Noy, ''Foreigners at Rome''|p=}}{{page needed|date=May 2025}} The average recorded age at death for the slaves of the city of Rome was extraordinarily low: seventeen and a half years (17.2 for males; 17.9 for females).<ref>{{cite book|last1=Harper|first1=James|title=Slaves and Freedmen in Imperial Rome|date=1972|publisher=Am J Philol}}</ref> By comparison, average life expectancy at birth for the population as a whole was in the mid-twenties.<ref>Frier, "Demography", 789; Scheidel, "Demography", 39.</ref>

{|class="wikitable"
|+ Estimated distribution of citizenship in the Roman Empire<br />(middle of the 1st century AD)<ref name=Goldhill>{{cite book|last1=Goldhill|first1=Simon|title=Being Greek Under Rome: Cultural Identity, The Second Sophistic and the Development of Empire|date=2006|publisher=Cambridge University Press}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=John W Welch |author2=John F Hall |title=Charting the New Testament |section-url=https://byustudies.byu.edu/further-study-chart/6-4-estimated-distribution-of-citizenship-in-the-roman-empire/ |section=Chart 6-4: Estimated Distribution of Citizenship in the Roman Empire}}</ref>
|-
! Region !! Citizens<br />(per cent) !! Noncitizen<br />residents<br />(per cent) !! Slaves<br />(per cent)
|-
| Rome || 55 || 15 || 30
|-
| Italy || 70 || 5 || 25
|-
| Spain and Gaul || 10 || 70 || 20
|-
| Other Western Provinces || 3 || 80 || 17
|-
| Greece and Asia Minor || 3 || 70 || 27
|-
| North African Provinces || 2 || 70 || 28
|-
| Other Eastern Provinces || 1 || 80 || 19
|}

===Race and ethnicity===
{{See also|Pre-modern conceptions of whiteness#Ancient Rome}}
Roman slavery was not based on [[Race (human categorization)|race]],<ref>Bruce W. Frier and Thomas A. J. McGinn, ''A Casebook on Roman Family Law'' (Oxford University Press, 2004), p.&nbsp;15.</ref>{{efn|In ''Africa in Europe: Antiquity into the Age of Global Expansion'', Stefan Goodwin explains that "Roman slavery was a nonracist and fluid system."{{sfn|Goodwin, ''Africa in Europe''|p=41}}}} particularly not race as characterized by skin color,{{sfn|Bradley, "Animalizing the Slave"|p=111}} with the caveat that modern definitions of "race" may not align with ancient expressions of the concept. Slaves were drawn from all over Europe and the Mediterranean, including but not limited to [[Roman Gaul|Gaul]], [[Hispania]], [[Africa (Roman province)|North Africa]], [[Roman Syria|Syria]], [[Germania Antiqua|Germany]], [[Roman Britain|Britannia]], the [[Roman Dacia|Balkans]], and [[Greece in the Roman era|Greece]].{{sfn|Noy, ''Foreigners at Rome''|p=}}{{page needed|date=May 2025}}<ref>The Cambridge World History of Slavery: Volume 2, AD 500-AD 1420. (2021). Storbritannien: Cambridge University Press. p.29</ref>

However, Greek and Roman ethnographers did attribute a set of characteristics to peoples<!--not a typo; plural of "a people" in the sense of a nation--> based on their understanding, or misunderstanding, of cultural customs that differed from their own, and on where a people lived, believing that climate and environmental factors affected temperament.<ref>Thomas Harrison, "Classical Greek Ethnography and the Slave Trade", ''Classical Antiquity'' 38:1 (2019), p. 39.</ref> Place of origin (''natio'') was one of the pieces of information that had to be disclosed at time of sale. Slaves from certain "nations" were thought to perform better at tasks that might be of value to the prospective buyer.<ref>Jane Rowlands, "Dissing the Egyptians: Legal, Ethnic, and Cultural Identities in Roman Egypt", ''Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies'' 120 (2013), p. 235.</ref> The Roman scholar [[Varro]] stated that "in buying human beings as slaves, we pay a higher price for one that is better by nationality."<ref>Harrison, "Classical Greek Ethnography", citing Varro, ''De Lingua Latina'' 9.93.</ref> The association of job and ''natio'' could be quite specific; [[Bithynia]]ns were touted as [[litter (vehicle)|litter-bearers]].<ref>{{harvtxt|Westermann, ''The Slave Systems of Greek and Roman Antiquity''|p=29}}, note 29, citing [[Catullus]] 10.14–20</ref><ref>Kathryn Tempest, "Saints and Sinners: Some Thoughts on the Presentation of Character in Attic Oratory and Cicero's ''Verrines''", in ''"Sicilia Nutrix Plebis Romanae": Rhetoric, Law, And Taxation In Cicero's "Verrines"'' (Institute of Classical Studies, 2007), p. 31, citing ''Ad Verrem'' 5.27.</ref> and desired as a status symbol.<ref>L. Richardson Jr., "Catullus 4 and Catalepton 10 Again", ''American Journal of Philology'' 93:1 (1972), p. 217.</ref><ref>Maeve O'Brien, "Happier Transports to Be: Catullus' Poem 4: ''Phaselus Ille''", ''Classics Ireland'' 13 (2006), pp. 71.</ref>

[[Ethnic stereotype]]s among the Romans included the belief that [[Asiatic Greeks]], Jews, and Syrians were by nature more susceptible to living as slaves.{{sfn|Bradley, ''Slavery and Society at Rome''|p=42}}<ref>"Roman Slavery and Roman Law", p. 481.</ref> Asia Minor was such an important source of slaves that the typical slave was stereotyped as a Cappadocian or Phrygian.{{sfn|Harris, "Towards a Study of the Roman Slave Trade"|p=122}} In practice, Jews were "both slaves and slaveholders. They were the slaves of Jews and non-Jews and owned both Jewish and non-Jewish slaves" throughout the Classical period.{{sfn|Hezser, "Slavery and the Jews"|p=439}}{{efn|A similar conclusion is expressed by Dale B. Martin,{{sfn|Martin, "Slavery and the Ancient Jewish Family"|p=118 , citing evidence from inscriptions and papyri of Jewish slave owners in [[Transjordan (region)#Classical period|Transjordan]], Egypt, Italy, Greece, and Asia Minor, and evidence of Jewish slaves in Jerusalem, Galilee, Egypt, Italy, and Greece.}}}} Historian of Christianity [[Dale Martin (scholar)|Dale Martin]] has noted, "The relevant factors for slave structures and the existence of slavery itself were geographical and socio-economic and had little if anything to do with ethnicity or religion."{{sfn|Martin, "Slavery and the Ancient Jewish Family"|p=113}}

==Quality of life==
The "gross power differential" inherent in slavery is not peculiar to Rome, but as a universal characteristic of the institution, it defines Roman practice as it does that of other slave cultures: "slaves stood powerless before their masters' or mistresses' whims and presumably remained in a perpetual state of unease, not necessarily able to anticipate when the next act of cruelty or degradation would come yet certain it would."{{sfn|Dolansky, "Reconsidering the Matronalia and Women's Rites"|p=206}} Many{{quantify|date=May 2025}}—if not most—slaves could expect to be subjected to relentless labor; corporal punishment or physical abuse in varying degrees of severity; sexual exploitation; or the caprices of owners in selling or threatening to sell them.{{sfn|Bradley, "Animalizing the Slave"|p=117}} [[Cato the Elder]] was a particularly harsh "slave-driver" whose exploitation was "unmitigated by any consideration of the needs of the slave as a human being.{{sfn|Westermann, ''The Slave Systems of Greek and Roman Antiquity''|p=76}}

The enslaved who were traded on the open market might find themselves transported great distances across the empire: the epitaph of a slave woman in [[Roman Spain]] records her home as having been in Northern Italy;<ref>{{harvtxt|Harris, "Towards a Study of the Roman Slave Trade"|p=128}}, citing ''Eph. Ep.'' 8 (1899) 524 no. 311.</ref> a [[History of Crete#Roman, Byzantine, and Arab Crete|Cretan]] woman was traded between two Romans in [[Dacia]];<ref>{{harvtxt|Harris, "Towards a Study of the Roman Slave Trade"|p=128}}, citing ''FIRA'' 3 no. 89.</ref> a ten-year-old girl named Abaskantis, taken from [[Galatia]], was sold to a buyer from [[Alexandria, Egypt]], a destination about 1,500 miles from her home.<ref>Bradley, "'The Regular Daily Traffic in Slaves'", pp. 133, 137.</ref> The conditions experienced by the hundreds of thousands traded in Roman antiquity have been described as "personal degradation and humiliation, cultural disorientation, material deprivation, severance of familial bonds, emotional and psychological trauma".<ref>Bradley, "'The Regular Daily Traffic in Slaves'", p. 133.</ref>

[[File:Museum Petronell - Grabstein Florus.jpg|thumb|upright|A bilingual Latin-Greek tombstone from [[Carnuntum]] for a 26-year-old slave named Florus, set up by his master ''ob meritis'', in recognition of his merits (''[[L'Année épigraphique|AE]]'' 1973, 421)<ref>Rudolf Franz Ertl and Helmut Leitner, ''Wasser für Carnuntum: Versorgung, Entsorgung, Badekultur im Römischen Reich und in der Stadt an der Donau'', vol. 2: Carnuntum (Hollitzer, 2023), p. 735.</ref>]]

At the same time, despite this "natal alienation", slaves could not have been completely deprived by their masters of agency in carrying out everyday actions; even if the ongoing negotiation of power was grossly asymmetrical, as human beings slaves would have sought emotional connections and ways to improve their conditions in the moment.<ref>Eftychia Bathrellou and Kostas Vlassopoulos, ''Greek and Roman Slaveries'' (Wiley, 2022), pp. 4–5.</ref> No single picture of the "typical" Roman slave's life emerges from the widely ranging conditions of work performed by slaves and the complex distinctions of legal status that affected the terms of their service, their prospects of manumission, and the degree to which they enjoyed rights if freed.<ref>Ulrike Roth, "''Peculium'', Freedom, Citizenship: Golden Triangle or Vicious Circle? An Act in Two Parts", ''Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies'' suppl. 109 (2010), p. 105.</ref> The stratification of free Roman society manifests also in slave society, from penal slaves ''(servi poenae)'' at the bottom to the sometimes wealthy and influential slaves of the imperial house ''(servi caesaris)'' at the top, with an in-between range of slaves whose skills and knowledge gave them social value not defined by law.{{sfn|Schermaier, ''The Position of Roman Slaves''|pp=vi, 6–7}}

[[Latin literature|Literary sources]] were mostly written by or for slaveholders, and [[epigraphy|inscriptions]] set up by slaves and freedmen preserve only glimpses of how they saw themselves.<ref>Sandra R. Joshel, "Nurturing the Master's Child: Slavery and the Roman Child-Nurse", ''Signs'' 12:1 (1986), p. 4, with reference to the classic work of [[Moses Finley]], ''Ancient Slavery and Modern Ideology''.</ref> Elite literature indicates that how a Roman treated a slave was viewed as evidence of the master's character. Although the judicial torture of slaves was standard practice, a zeal for torture, particularly of a slave known to be loyal and truthful, was considered contemptible.<ref>Victoria Emma Pagán, "Teaching Torture in Seneca, ''Controversiae'' 2.5", ''Classical Journal'' 103:2 (Dec.–Jan. 2007/2008), p. 175, citing Cicero, ''[[Pro Cluentio]]'' 175–177.</ref> Masters were expected to be neither gratuitously cruel and wrathful nor overly affectionate and attached to a slave. The type of the ''saeva domina'' (cruel slave mistress) emerges from Roman literature as the woman who flies into a rage at her handmaids' minor faults, stabbing them with pins or biting them and then punishing them with a beating.{{sfn|Dolansky, "Reconsidering the Matronalia and Women's Rites"|pp=205–206}} But Cicero was concerned that his grief over the death of Sositheus, a companionable young slave who had served him as a reader ''(anagnostes)'', might appear to others as excessive.{{sfn|Treggiari, "The Freedmen of Cicero"|pp=195 , citing ''[[Letters to Atticus|Ad Atticum]]'' 1.12.4.}}

[[Plutarch]] writes approvingly that Cato bought slaves for their robust utility and never paid extra for mere good looks; but he finds fault with Cato for using his slaves like "beasts of burden" and then selling them off when they started to age "instead of feeding them when they were useless"—the implication being that a "good" master would provide care.<ref>Gerard B. Lavery, "Training, Trade and Trickery: Three Lawgivers in Plutarch", ''Classical World'' 67:6 (1974), p. 377; Plutarch, ''Life of Cato'' 4.4–5.1.</ref><ref name="Mellor">Mellor, Ronald. ''The Historians of Ancient Rome.'' New York: Routledge, 1997. (467).</ref> [[Aulus Gellius]] in turn records an anecdote about Plutarch that exemplifies what slaveholders meant by restraint and moderate behavior. Plutarch owned a slave who had a philosophical education, despite or because of which he had developed a rebellious character. When Plutarch "for some offense or other" ordered him stripped and whipped, instead of screaming the slave began to shout that to act in anger in such a way was shameful for someone with philosophical pretensions. Plutarch simply replied, with utter composure, that he wasn't angry; they could continue their discussion along with the lashes.{{sfn|Forbes, "The Education and Training of Slaves in Antiquity"|p=338|ps=, citing Aulus Gellius, ''Attic Nights'' 1.26}} In [[Letter 47 (Seneca)|one of the ''Moral Epistles'']] often cited for its humane considerations of the slave as a human being, [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]] expressed the prevailing utilitarian view<ref>Peter Garnsey, ''Ideas of Slavery from Aristotle to Augustine'' (Cambridge University Press, 1996), pp. 17, 93, 238.</ref> that a slave who was treated well would perform a better job than a poorly treated one.

===Healthcare===
Mentions in ancient literature of medical care for slaves are infrequent. The medical writer [[Rufus of Ephesus]] has one title among his works that stands out as not self-evidently medical: ''On the Purchase of Slaves'', which presumably gave advice to the trade on assessing slave fitness and possibly their care,{{sfn|Harris, "Towards a Study of the Roman Slave Trade"|p=127}} since health defects could invalidate a sale.{{sfn|Westermann, ''The Slave Systems of Greek and Roman Antiquity''|pp= 99–100}} Ongoing care would have depended on the utility of keeping workers healthy to maximize productivity, and at times on the owner's humane impulses or attachment to a particular slave. [[Pliny the Younger]] indicates that slaves did receive care from ''medici'' (medical attendants or physicians), but he observes that while "slaves and free persons differ not at all when they are in ill health, the free receive gentler and more merciful treatment<ref>{{harvtxt|Westermann, ''The Slave Systems of Greek and Roman Antiquity''|p=107}}, citing Pliny, ''Epistle'' 8.24.5}}</ref>

Pliny himself had sent his slave Zosimus, for whom he expresses his affection and esteem at length, to Egypt to seek therapy for a lung disease that had him coughing up blood. Zosimus was restored to health and at some point was manumitted, but the symptoms later returned. Pliny then wrote to ask if he could send Zosimus for rehab in the more healthful climate of a friend's country estate in a part of Gaul that is today the south of France.<ref>{{harvtxt|Westermann, ''The Slave Systems of Greek and Roman Antiquity''|p=107}}, citing Pliny, ''Epistle'' 5.19.1–4</ref>

Individual acts of compassion by slaveholders stand apart as exceptions. The practice of abandoning sick slaves on Rome's [[Tiber Island]], where a temple to the healing god [[Aesculapius]] was located, led to such homelessness and contagion that the emperor [[Claudius]] decreed any slave who survived abandonment could not be reclaimed by his owner and was automatically free. Law was also enacted under Claudius that criminalized the killing of a sick or disabled slave as murder even by his owner.<ref>{{harvtxt|Westermann, ''The Slave Systems of Greek and Roman Antiquity''|pp= 107 and 114}}, citing Suetonius, ''Claudius'' 25 and the ''Digest'' of Justinian 40.8.2.</ref>

While Roman law had no provision for [[medical malpractice]], a physician who harmed or killed a slave through incompetence could be sued by the owner for property damage.<ref>Gary B. Ferngren, "Roman Lay Attitudes towards Medical Experimentation", ''Bulletin of the History of Medicine'' 59:4 (1985), p. 504. Free people had no recourse, though pharmacological malpractice that resulted in death by poisoning could result in a charge of homicide against the physician under the ''[[Lex Cornelia de sicariis et veneficis]]''.</ref>

[[File:Stele di pupius, 54-68 dc, da interno cattedrale di ferrara.JPG|thumb|upright|Publius Pupius Mentor, a freedman and medical doctor ''([[Palazzo dei Consoli#Interior|Civico Lapidario]], [[Umbria]])'']]

====Physicians====
{{Further|Medicine in ancient Rome}}
Medicine was held in higher regard in Greece as a ''[[techne|technē]]'' (art or skill) than it was in Rome. The best Greek medical schools did not admit slaves, and some [[polis|city-states]] restricted slaves to practicing medicine only on fellow slaves. Though denied advanced theoretical study, slaves were part of a two-tier system to deliver care to the lower classes, and could receive often extensive training as physicians' assistants, becoming well versed in practical medicine.{{sfn|Forbes, "The Education and Training of Slaves in Antiquity"|pp=343–344}}<ref>Westermann, ''Slave Systems'', p. 114, using the word ''technē''.</ref>

At Rome, medicine was considered an unsuitable occupation for the upper classes because it requires tending to the needs of another's body. {{efn|Noting Cicero's tactful if condescending dismissal that "professions such as medicine, architecture, and teaching of the liberal arts which either involve higher learning or are utilitarian to no small degree are honorable for those whose social status they are suited" (''De officiis'' 1.42.151)—that status not being senatorial.{{sfn|Forbes, "The Education and Training of Slaves in Antiquity"|p=344}}}} Elite households were attended by Greek physicians, either one of great prestige enticed to Rome with privileges and an offer of citizenship,<ref>Ramsay MacMullen, "Social Ethic Models: Roman, Greek, 'Oriental'",
''Historia'' 64:4 (2015), p. 491.</ref> or a staff of freedmen or enslaved ''medici''{{sfn|Westermann, ''The Slave Systems of Greek and Roman Antiquity''|p=114}}{{sfn|Forbes, "The Education and Training of Slaves in Antiquity"|pp=344–345}} During the reign of Augustus, the celebrated Publius Decimus Eros Merula of [[Assisi]] was an enslaved clinical physician, surgeon, and eye specialist who eventually bought his freedom for 50,000 [[sesterces]] and left a fortune of 800,000.<ref>George C. Boon, "Potters, Oculists and Eye-Troubles", ''Britannia'' 14 (1983), p. 6, citing ''CIL'' 11.5400, ''ILS'' 7812; on the size of his estate, Cornelia M. Roberts, "Roman Slaves", ''Classical Outlook'' 43:9 (1966), p. 97, gives 400,00</ref>{{sfn|Forbes, "The Education and Training of Slaves in Antiquity"|p=347}}<ref>''floruit'' of Merula from Barbara Kellum, review of ''Rome's Cultural Revolution'' by Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, ''American Journal of Philology'' 132:2 (2011), p. 334.</ref> There were also free itinerant doctors who could be hired to provide care to households that lacked the means or desire to have a full-time medical attendant. Some slaves might assist with healthcare as nurses, midwives, medics, or orderlies<ref>{{harvtxt|Westermann, ''The Slave Systems of Greek and Roman Antiquity''|p=74}}, citing Suetonius, ''Augustus'' 11; ''CIL'' 10.388; Cicero, ''Pro Cluentio'' 47</ref> During the Imperial era, the desire of freedmen to acquire medical training was such that it was exploited by scam medical schools.<ref>Westermann, Slave Systems, p. 114, citing Galen, ''Therapeutikē technē'' 1 (Kühn) and Pliny, ''Natural History'' 29.1.4 (9).</ref>

The physician [[Galen]], who came to Rome from [[Pergamum]], developed his surgical techniques attending to the injuries of enslaved gladiators, and recorded a case study of one gladiator who had suffered a grievous wound to the abdomen but made a complete recovery after a high-risk [[omentectomy]].<ref>Véronique Boudon-Millot, "Greek and Roman Patients under Galen's Gaze: A Doctor at the Crossroads of Two Cultures", in ''"Greek" and "Roman" in Latin Medical Texts: Studies in Cultural Change and Exchange in Ancient Medicine'' (Koninklijke Brill, 2014), pp. 7, 10.</ref> From the perspective of the physician, the diversity of the city of Rome and its slave population made it an "exceptional field of observation".<ref>Boudon-Millot, "Greek and Roman Patients", p. 9.</ref>

===Cicero and Tiro===
Among [[Cicero]]'s [[Epistulae ad Familiares|collected letters]] are those he wrote to one of his administrative slaves, the well-educated [[Marcus Tullius Tiro|Tiro]]. Cicero remarked that he wrote to Tiro "for the sake of keeping to [his] established practice"<ref>Cicero. ''Ad familiares'' 16.6</ref> and occasionally revealed personal care and concern for his slave, whose education he had taken into his own hands.<ref>Cicero. ''Ad familiares'' 16.3</ref> He sought Tiro's opinions and seems to have expected him to speak with exceptional freedom,<ref>{{harvp|Bankston, ''Administrative Slavery in the Ancient Roman Republic: The Value of Marcus Tullius Tiro in Ciceronian Rhetoric''|p=209}}</ref> though in collecting Cicero's papers for publication, Tiro did not publish his own replies along with those of other correspondents.{{sfn|Treggiari, "The Freedmen of Cicero"|p=200}} While these letters suggest a personal connection between master and slave, each letter contains a direct command, suggesting that Cicero relied on familiarity to ensure performance and loyalty from Tiro.<ref>{{harvp|Bankston, ''Administrative Slavery in the Ancient Roman Republic: The Value of Marcus Tullius Tiro in Ciceronian Rhetoric''|p=215}}</ref>

Tiro was either a [[#Vernae|''verna'' or ''alumnus'']],<ref>Bradley, "Roman Slavery and Roman Law", p. 484.</ref> part of the household from birth or childhood, and as Cicero's trusted secretary, he would have been afforded better living and working conditions than most slaves. He was freed before his master's death and was successful enough to retire on his own country estate, where he died at the age of 99.<ref>Cicero, ''Ad familiares'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Cic.+Fam.+16.21 16.21]</ref><ref>Jerome, ''Chronological Tables'' [http://www.attalus.org/translate/jerome2.html 194.1]</ref><ref>William Smith, ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'' {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20061207013811/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/3486.html vol.&nbsp;3, p.&nbsp;1182]}}</ref>

===Names===
[[File:Grave Relief of a Silversmith.jpg|thumb|Publius Curtilius Agatho, a freed craftsman who worked in silver ''([[Getty Villa]] Roman Collection)'']]

As a freedman, Cicero's slave Tiro became [[Marcus Tullius Tiro]], adopting Cicero's family name. The use of a single male name in an inscription or legal document is usually taken to indicate that the person was a slave.<ref>Valerie Hope, "Fighting for Identity: The Funerary Commemoration of Italian Gladiators", ''Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies'' 73 (2000), p. 101.</ref> By the Late Republic, the nomenclature of freeborn Roman men had become normalized as the ''[[tria nomina]]'': [[praenomen]], first name; [[gentilicium]], the name of the family or clan ''([[gens]])''; and [[cognomen]], a distinguishing last name that originally was earned by an individual but then might be passed down, added to, or replaced.{{efn|Because of the cultural importance of carrying on family lineage, Roman names are of limited variety, so that members of the same ''gens'' are often readily confused with one another in the historical sources.}} When a slave was manumitted, he was renamed as free by the use of the ''tria nomina'', most often appending his single name to the praenomen and gentilic name of his former master, now his [[Patronage in ancient Rome|patron]].<ref>Christer Bruun, "Greek or Latin? The owner's choice of names for ''vernae'' in Rome", in ''Roman Slavery and Roman Material Culture'' (University of Toronto Press, 2013), pp. 21–22.</ref> The use of a cognomen as a distinguishing third name became widespread among freedmen before it was standard for the upper class.<ref>Brent D. Shaw, "The Great Transformation: Slavery and the Free Republic", in ''The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Republic'' (Cambridge University Press, 2014), p. 196.</ref>

For example, the [[silversmith]] Publius Curtilius Agatho (d. early 1st century AD), known from his [[#Commemoration|funerary monument]], would have been called by his Greek name Agatho ("the Good") as a slave. Upon manumission he appended his patron's Latin names, Publius Curtilius, to create his full citizen name.<ref>"Grave Relief of a Silversmith", Getty Museum Collection, object number 96.AA.40, https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/104034. See more on Publius Curtilius Agatho under [[#Commemoration|"Commemoration"]] below.</ref> Naturalized citizens followed this same convention, which might result in a ''tria nomina'' construction with two Latin names and a strikingly non-Latin cognomen.{{efn|For example, [[Gaius Julius Vercondaridubnus]] was an [[Aedui|Aeduan]] [[Gauls|Gaul]] who held the first high priesthood in the [[Roman imperial cult|imperial cult]] at the [[Sanctuary of the Three Gauls]] in the first century BC; his cognomen is distinctively [[Continental Celtic|Celtic]], and his praenomen and ''gens'' name may indicate that Julius Caesar himself granted his family's citizenship,<ref>J.&nbsp;F. Drinkwater, "The Rise and Fall of the Gallic Julii: Aspects of the Development of the Aristocracy of the Three Gauls under the Early Empire", ''Latomus'' 37 (1978) 817–850.</ref>}}

Throughout the Republican era, slaves in the city of Rome might bear a name that was also in use by free [[Italic peoples|Italians]] or was common as a Roman praenomen, such as ''Marcus'', or diminutives of the name (''Marcio'', ''Marcellus'').{{sfn|Cheesman, "Names in -por and Slave Naming in Republican Rome"|pp=516, 523}} ''Salvius'', for example, was a very common name for slaves that was also in wide use as a free praenomen in Rome and throughout Italy during this time, morphing into names for freedpersons such as ''Salvianus'', ''Salvillus'' ([[grammatical gender|feminine]] ''Salvilla''), and possibly ''Salvitto''.{{sfn|Cheesman, "Names in -por and Slave Naming in Republican Rome"|p=516}}

[[File:Narcissus-von-Venafro.jpg|thumb|Epitaph for a Narcissus, one of the most popular Greek names for slaves]]

Ancient Roman scholars thought that in earliest times slaves had been given the first name of their master suffixed with ''-por'', perhaps to be taken as a form of ''puer'', "boy".{{sfn|Cheesman, "Names in -por and Slave Naming in Republican Rome"|pp=511, 519, 521, ''et passim''}} Male slaves were often addressed as ''puer'' regardless of age;{{sfn|Cheesman, "Names in -por and Slave Naming in Republican Rome"|pp=521, 527}} a slave was one who was never emancipated into adulthood and thus never allowed to become fully a man ''(vir)''. Names such as ''Marcipor'', sometimes contracted to ''Marpor'', are attested,{{sfn|Cheesman, "Names in -por and Slave Naming in Republican Rome"|p=524}} ''Marcipor'' is also the name of a [[Menippean satire]] by [[Varro]].</ref> but rather than being suffixed to the master's name, the ''-por'' may have marked someone as a slave when his name was also in common use for free men.{{sfn|Cheesman, "Names in -por and Slave Naming in Republican Rome"|p=528}}

In the Late Republic and Early Empire, more differentiation between slave and free names seems to have been desired.{{sfn|Cheesman, "Names in -por and Slave Naming in Republican Rome"|p=512}} In Cicero's day, Greek names were the trend.{{sfn|Cheesman, "Names in -por and Slave Naming in Republican Rome"|p=517}} Fanciful Greek names such as [[Hermes]], [[Narcissus (mythology)|Narcissus]], and [[Eros (mythology)|Eros]] were popular among the Romans but had not been used among free Greeks for either themselves or their slaves.{{sfn|Cheesman, "Names in -por and Slave Naming in Republican Rome"|p=524}} Several of Cicero's slaves are known by name, mainly from the extensive collection of his letters; those with Greek names include the readers (''anagnostes'') Sositheus and Dionysius; Pollex, a footman; and Acastus.{{sfn|Treggiari, "The Freedmen of Cicero"|p=196}} The slaves and freedmen Cicero mentions by name are most often his secretaries and literary assistants; he rarely refers by name to slaves whose duties were humbler.{{efn|The status of some servants he names is not clear from context; they could be either slaves or freedmen still working for him.{{sfn|Treggiari, "The Freedmen of Cicero"|p=196}}}}

[[File:Stele diadumenos Pio-Clementino.jpg|thumb|upright=1|The only known instance of a Roman tombstone representing the deceased with a work of art and not his own portrait: the freedman Titus Octavius Diadumenus was objectified and named for a type of statue ''([[diadumenos]])'' that depicted a youth of "remarkable beauty"<ref>Anna Anguissola, "Remembering the Greek Masterpieces: Observations on Memory and Roman Copies", in ''"Memoria Romanum": Memory in Rome and Rome in Memory'', American Academy in Rome (University of Michigan Press, 2014), pp. 121–122.</ref>{{efn|Pliny the Elder describes the "[[Fillet (clothing)|fillet]]-bearer" ''(diadumenos)'' statue type as a ''molliter iuvenis'', a young man depicted with grace and softness (''Natural History'' 34.55.}}]]

Slave names at times may reflect ethnic origin; in the early Republic, [[Oscan language|Oscan]] names such as ''Paccius'' and ''Papus'' occur.{{sfn|Cheesman, "Names in -por and Slave Naming in Republican Rome"|p=517}} But the distribution of slave names as recorded by inscriptions and [[Oxyrhynchus Papyri|papyri]] are cautions against assuming a slave's ethnicity based on the linguistic origin of their name.{{sfn|Westermann, ''The Slave Systems of Greek and Roman Antiquity''|p=96}} The first-century BC scholar Varro noted that some slaves had geographical names, such as ''Iona'' from [[Ionia]], and was likely right to think these names indicated places where they were traded and not their ethnic origin, which by law had to be stated separately in sales documents.<ref>{{harvtxt|Westermann, ''The Slave Systems of Greek and Roman Antiquity''|p=96}}, citing Varro, ''De lingua latina'' 8.21</ref>

Among the mismatched appellations found in surviving documents are the Greek names ''Hermes'' for a German, ''Paramone'' for a Jewish woman whose child was named Jacob, ''Argoutis'' for a Gaul, and ''Aphrodisia'' for a Sarmatian woman.<ref>{{harvtxt|Westermann, ''The Slave Systems of Greek and Roman Antiquity''|p=96}} and especially n. 2</ref> In late antiquity, Christians might bear Greek names expressing a willing servility as a religious value, such as ''Theodoulos'', "God's slave" (''theos'', "god"; ''doulos'', "slave").{{sfn|Cheesman, "Names in -por and Slave Naming in Republican Rome"|p=518}}{{efn|See also [[#Temple slaves|"Temple slaves"]].}} German slaves memorialized in the family tomb of the [[Statilia gens|Statilii]] in Rome mostly have Latin names such as ''Felix'', ''Castus'', ''Clemens'', ''Urbanus'', and ''Strenuus''; two are named ''Nothus'' and ''Pothus'', Latinized forms of Greek names.{{sfn|Westermann, ''The Slave Systems of Greek and Roman Antiquity''|p=96}} Greek names became so common for slaves that they began to be regarded as inherently servile; this taint may be why home-reared ''vernae'', who generally had enhanced opportunities, are statistically more likely to have received a Latin name that would help them "[[Passing (sociology)|pass]]" if they were manumitted.{{efn|So argued by Bruun, "Greek or Latin? The owner's choice of names for ''vernae'' in Rome." Bruun also argues that naming your own children might have been one of the perks of being a ''verna''.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}}}{{nonspecific|date=February 2025}}

Gladiators are sometimes memorialized by what appear to be "stage names", such as Pardus ("the Leopard") or Smaragdus ("Emerald").<ref>Hope, "Fighting for Identity", p. 101, citing inscriptions ''EAOR'' 1.63 and ''EAOR'' 2.41 = ''AE'' (1908) 222.</ref> A slave who took a path other than citizen integration might also adopt a new name. The "Salvius" who was the first leader of [[Second Servile War|the Sicilian slave revolt in 104 BC]] restyled himself as [[Salvius Tryphon|Tryphon]].<ref>{{harvnb|Cheesman, "Names in -por and Slave Naming in Republican Rome"|p=516}}, citing [[Diodorus Siculus]] 36.4.4.</ref>

In Latin epitaphs, a slave commemorating his deceased master sometimes refers to him by praenomen with the pronoun ''noster'', for example "our Marcus". In speaking of himself to a person of higher status, a slave might identify by his role in relation to his master's first name; Cicero records a conversation in which a slave owned by [[Mark Antony]] is asked "Who are you?" ''(Quis tu?)'' and replies "The tabellarius [courier] from Marcus" ''(a Marco tabellarius)''.<ref>{{harvtxt|Cheesman, "Names in -por and Slave Naming in Republican Rome"|p=518}}, citing Cicero, ''Philippics'' 2.77: "Quis tu?" "A Marco tabellarius."</ref> A standard phrase in sales contracts refers to the slave "named so-and-so, or by whatever name he/she is called"{{sfn|Westermann, ''The Slave Systems of Greek and Roman Antiquity''|p=96}}—the slave's name was subject to the master's whim.
{{Clear}}

===Clothing===
[[File:Wall painting - Ares and Aphrodite - Pompeii (VII 2 23) - Napoli MAN 9249 - 02.jpg|thumb|Handmaid looking through a storage box, detail of a wall painting from Pompeii]]

Certain items of clothing or adornment were restricted by law to freeborn people entitled to wear them as markers of high status; "slave clothing" ''(vestis servilis)'' was clothing of lesser quality that lacked distinguishing features<ref>Michele George, "Slave Disguise", in ''Representing the Body of the Slave'' (Routledge, 2002, 2013), p. 42 ''et passim''.</ref>—slaves did not wear clothing meant to identify them as such.<ref>Thomas Wiedemann and Jane Gardner, introduction to ''Representing the Body of the Slave'', p. 4; George, "Slave Disguise", p. 43.</ref> The clothing of slaves was determined primarily by the kind of work they did and secondarily by the wealth of the household they belonged to.<ref name="Rose, p. 43">Rose, "The Construction of Mistress and Slave", p. 43, with reference to George, "Slave Disguise", p. 44.</ref> Most working slaves would have been given clothing that looked like that of free people who did similar work; [[Edict on Maximum Prices|Diocletian's edict on price controls]] (301 AD) lists clothes for "common people or slaves" as a single category.{{sfn|Croom, ''Roman Clothing and Fashion''|p=}}{{page needed|date=May 2025}} In a crowd, slaves would not have been immediately legible as unfree,<ref>Wiedemann and Gardner, introduction to ''Representing'', p. 4; George, "Slave Disguise", p. 44.</ref> as the everyday attire of most people was a [[tunic]]. Men wore a shorter tunic, while the tunics of women covered the legs.<ref>George, "Slave Disguise", p. 43.</ref>

In depictions of domestic scenes, tunics of handmaids ''([[ancillae]])'' are sometimes shorter, reaching to mid-calf, while the mistress's tunic falls to her feet.<ref>George, "Slave Disguise", p. 38.</ref> In a mosaic from [[Sidi Ghrib]], the handmaids wear ankle boots,{{sfn|Joshel, ''Slavery in the Roman World''|p=133}} and ancillary hairstyles are simpler than those of the centrally depicted mistress.{{sfn|Croom, ''Roman Clothing and Fashion''|p=56}} Female slaves tucked in the loose fabric of their tunics under the bust and shaped the sleeves with belting to give themselves more freedom of movement for their tasks.{{sfn|Croom, ''Roman Clothing and Fashion''|p=39}} An ''ancilla'' in one of the comedies of [[Plautus]] is mocked "for dressing above her station" and wearing bronze rings.<ref>[[Amy Richlin]], ''Slave Theater in the Roman Republic: Plautus and Popular Comedy'' (Cambridge University Press, 2017), pp. 116, 121, citing ''[[Truculentus]]'' 270–275.</ref>

[[File:Wall painting - banquet scene - Pompeii (V 2 4) - Napoli MAN 120029 - 01.jpg|thumb|A dinner party in a wall painting from Pompeii: a small slave in a white tunic (lower left) helps the master with his shoes; the slave in the center offers him a drink; another slave (lower right) supports a vomiting guest who's overindulged.{{efn|The scene may suggest{{according to whom|date=May 2025}} a sequential narrative—changing into party shoes, drinking, the aftermath upon departure—rather than the simultaneous actions of two different guests.{{sfn|Joshel, ''Slavery in the Roman World''|pp=133, 137}}}}]]

Domestic slaves who would be visible to the family and their guests were given garments that met their owners' standards for pleasing appearance and quality.<ref name="Rose, p. 43"/> Presentability was desired for slaves who served as personal attendants. Slaves wore few accessories but were themselves an extension of their masters' accessories. Because Roman clothing lacked structured pockets, the slaves who always accompanied the well-to-do on excursions carried anything needed.{{sfn|Croom, ''Roman Clothing and Fashion''|p=8}}<!-- Croom page numbers are probably wrong --> They might hold parasols or wield fans to shield the privileged from the heat.{{sfn|Croom, ''Roman Clothing and Fashion''|p=68–69}} They went with them to the [[Roman baths|public baths]] to watch over their valuable clothing, since theft was common in the dressing areas. At dinner parties, guests took off their outdoor shoes and put on light house shoes ''(soleas)'', so a rich attendee would bring a slave to wrangle their footwear.{{sfn|Croom, ''Roman Clothing and Fashion''|p=8–9}}

Clothing for laborers was meant to be economical, durable, and practical. A relief from Roman Germany shows mine workers wearing a tunic and an apron of leather "feathers" ([[pteruges]]).{{sfn|Joshel, ''Slavery in the Roman World''|pp=133, 135}} Columella recommended weather-resistant clothing of leather, patchwork, and "thick shoulder capes" for farm workers.<ref>{{harvtxt|Croom, ''Roman Clothing and Fashion''|p=}}, citing <!--possibly in error--> Columella 1.8.9 ''(sic)''.</ref>{{page needed|date=May 2025}} A male farm slave working for the stern and frugal Cato could expect to be issued a tunic and a cloak ''([[sagum]]'') every other year, and would have to turn in the old outfit so it could be recycled for patchwork.<ref>{{harvtxt|Croom, ''Roman Clothing and Fashion''|p=}}, citing Cato, ''On agriculture'' 59.</ref>{{page needed|date=May 2025}} The fragility of textiles makes them rare in the archaeological record, but a store of regularly cut pieces measuring about 10 by 15 centimeters from Roman Egypt, found at the [[Mons Claudianus]] quarry, is evidence of organized patchworking.{{sfn|Croom, ''Roman Clothing and Fashion''|p=}}{{page needed|date=May 2025}}

One of the causes of the [[First Servile War|Sicilian slave rebellion of 135 BC]], which broke out among rural workers, was the master's refusal to accept responsibility for providing clothing. When the enslaved herdsmen came asking, the master, Damophilos, told them to get their own clothes, so they did—by banding together to raid small farms and waylay travelers. When violence escalated to full-scale insurrection, Damophilos was among the first to be killed.<ref>R. T. Pritchard, "Land Tenure in Sicily in the First Century B.C.", ''Historia'' 18:5 (1969), pp. 349–350, citing [[Diodorus Siculus]] 34.2.34.</ref>

At one point, the Roman senate debated whether to require slaves to wear a sort of uniform to distinguish them as such, but eventually decided that was a bad idea: it would make the enslaved more conscious of having a group identity, and they would see how strong their numbers were.<ref>George, "Slave Disguise", p. 44, 51, n. 14 citing Seneca.</ref>

==Resistance and control==
Open rebellion and mass violence arose among the large population of the enslaved only sporadically across the millennium of ancient Roman history.{{sfn|Bradley, "Slave Kingdoms and Slave Rebellions In Ancient Sicily"|p=435}} A more persistent form of resistance was escape; as [[Moses Finley]] remarked, "Fugitive slaves are almost an obsession in the sources."<ref>M.&nbsp;I. Finley, ''Ancient Slavery and Modern Ideology'' (1980), p. 111, as cited by Bradley, "Roman Slavery and Roman Law", p. 489, n. 35.</ref> Runaway slaves were considered criminals and were harshly punished.

Resistance might occur on a daily basis at a low-grade, even comic level. [[Cato the Elder|Cato]], without suspecting that this might be deliberate mischief, was concerned that his taking of the [[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#auspicia privata|auspices]] at home, which required ritual silence, would be vitiated by the farting of his napping slaves.<ref>Dan-el Padilla Peralta, "Slave Religiosity in the Roman Middle Republic",
''Classical Antiquity'' 36:2 (2017), p. 355, citing Cato ''apud'' [[Sextus Pompeius Festus|Festus]] 268 L.</ref> [[Plutarch]] tells the story of how one Pupius Piso, having ordered his slave not to speak unless spoken to, waited in embarrassment and in vain for the guest of honor to arrive at his dinner party. The slave had received the guest's regrets, but the master didn't ask him to speak, so he didn't.<ref>Keith Bradley, "The Problem of Slavery in Classical Culture" (review article), ''Classical Philology'' 92:3 (1997), pp. 278–279, citing Plutarch, ''Moralia'' 511d–e.</ref>

A master might even seek to extend his control over a slave beyond his own death; although wills were a common way to manumit slaves, they sometimes included clauses that expressly prohibited the freeing of certain slaves perceived as unworthy.<ref>Thomas E.&nbsp;J. Wiedemann, "The Regularity of Manumission at Rome", ''Classical Quarterly'' 35:1 (1985),
p. 165, citing ''Codex Justinianus'' 3.36.5 = ''GARS'' 199, 7.12.2 = ''GARS'' 10; and ''CIL'' 6.2.10229 (starting at line 80).</ref>

===Rebellions===
{{Main|First Servile War|Second Servile War|Third Servile War}}

The earliest slave uprisings occurred during, and in the immediate aftermath of, the [[Second Punic War]], when many slaves held by the Romans would have been soldiers captured from the armies of [[Hannibal]], and when at times as many as half the Roman male population of fighting age would have been away serving in the military.{{sfn|Parker, "Crucially Funny or Tranio on the Couch"|p=237}} The Augustan historian [[Livy]] is the main but not always a clear source for these uprisings.{{sfn|Parker, "Crucially Funny or Tranio on the Couch"|p=237}}

The first recorded rebellion comes in 217 BC, when an informer reported that twenty-five slaves were conspiring on the [[Campus Martius]]; they were punished in the earliest securely attested instance of [[#Crucifixion|crucifixion]] among the Romans.{{sfn|Parker, "Crucially Funny or Tranio on the Couch"|p=237, citing <!--and correcting the error in Oldfather's citation --> Livy 22.33.2}}<ref>William A. Oldfather, "Livy i, 26 and the ''Supplicium de More Maiorum''", ''Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association'' 39 (1908), p. 62</ref> In 198 BC, Carthaginian captives rebelled at [[Setia]], which they may have held briefly before being met with force and fleeing, though two thousand were captured and executed. They next made an attempt on [[Praeneste]] but were again defeated, resulting in the execution of another five hundred.<ref>Holt, "Crucially Funny", pp. 237–238, citing Livy 32.26.4–18 and [[Zonaras]] 9.16.6.</ref> This uprising prompted more policing of the streets and the building of places of confinement.{{sfn|Parker, "Crucially Funny or Tranio on the Couch"|p=238}} Two years later, it took a full [[Roman legion|legion]] to quell an uprising in [[Etruria]], after which the leaders were flogged and crucified.{{sfn|Parker, "Crucially Funny or Tranio on the Couch"|p=238, citing Livy 33.36.1–3.}}

The last rebellion of this period broke out in 185 BC in [[Apulia]] among herdsman, who were also to play a leading role in the first two [[Servile Wars]]. The Apulian shepherds were accused of banditry ''([[latrocinium]])'', and 7,000 were condemned to death; some escaped.{{sfn|Parker, "Crucially Funny or Tranio on the Couch"|p=238, citing Livy 39.29.8–10.}}

The Greek historian [[Diodorus Siculus]] (1st&nbsp;century&nbsp;BC) chronicled the three major slave rebellions of the Roman Republic known as the [[Servile Wars]], the first two of which originated in Rome's first [[Roman province|province]], [[Roman Sicily|Sicily]].<ref>Diodorus Siculus, ''The Civil Wars''; ''Siculus'' means "the Sicilian".</ref> Diodorus gives the total number of slaves participating in the first rebellion as 200,000 (elsewhere, the figure is given as 60,000–70,000), and 40,000 in the second.{{efn|Some scholars{{who|date=May 2025}} question whether Sicilian grain production or ranching was extensive enough at this time to sustain such large-scale slaveholding, or the extent to which the rebellions might also have attracted poorer or disadvantaged free persons.{{sfn|Verbrugghe, "Sicily 210-70 B. C.: Livy, Cicero and Diodorus"|pp=535-559}}{{sfn|Verbrugghe, "The ''Elogium'' from Polla and the First Slave War"|pp=25–35}}{{sfn|Pritchard, "Land Tenure in Sicily in the First Century B.C."|pp=545–556|ps= on ''latifundia'' pushing out small farmers in favor of ranching operations employing slaves.}}}} While these large round numbers in ancient sources seem inflated, their significance here lies in indicating the scope of rebellion.{{sfn|Bradley, "Slave Kingdoms and Slave Rebellions In Ancient Sicily"|p=443}}

====First Servile War (135–132 BC)====

The [[First Servile War]] began as a protest by enslaved herdsmen against deprivation and mistreatment, localized on the "[[ranch]]" ''([[latifundium]])''<ref>Verbrugghe, "Sicily 210-70 B.C.", p. 540; on a certain type of ''latifundium'' functioning as a ranch, K. D. White, "''Latifundia''", ''Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies'' 14 (1967), p. 76.</ref> of Damophilos in [[Enna#Classical period|Enna]], but soon spread to include slaves in the thousands.{{sfn|Bradley, "Slave Kingdoms and Slave Rebellions In Ancient Sicily"|pp=441–442}} They attained a major strategic objective in controlling both Enna and [[Agrigento#Roman period|Agrigentum]], two towns key to holding Sicily that Rome and Carthage had fought over repeatedly during the first two [[Punic Wars]].<ref>Peter Morton, "The Geography of Rebellion: Strategy and Supply in the Two 'Sicilian Slave Wars'", ''Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies'' 57:1 (2014), pp. 26.</ref> To assure a food supply, they refrained from laying waste to the farms around their strongholds and did not target small farmers.<ref>Morton, "The Geography of Rebellion", pp. 28–29.</ref> They were militarily capable of mounting direct confrontations with Roman troops, which were brought to bear speedily.<ref>Morton, "The Geography of Rebellion", pp. 29, 35.</ref>

The leader, [[Eunus]], maintained communal cohesion and motivation on the model of the [[Hellenistic kingdoms|Hellenistic kings]], even restyling himself by name as [[Antiochus (disambiguation)#The Seleucid Empire|Antiochus]]<!-- deliberate link to a dab which is actually a list article, since he is claiming to be among these Antiochoi and not to be any single one --> and minting coins.{{sfn|Bradley, "Slave Kingdoms and Slave Rebellions In Ancient Sicily"|pp=436–437 <!-- (reviewing other scholars on the subject) and moderating views of Eunus's actual monarchical ambitions-->, 439–440}} Slave families formed a community at the stronghold of [[History of Taormina|Tauromenium]].{{sfn|Bradley, "Slave Kingdoms and Slave Rebellions In Ancient Sicily"|p=447}} The rebel slaves were able to sustain their movement within the difficult Sicilian environment<ref>Morton, "The Geography of Rebellion", p. 22ff., from the logistical perspective of "terrain";</ref> for four years—eight or more, in some accounts{{sfn|Bradley, "Slave Kingdoms and Slave Rebellions In Ancient Sicily"|p=441}}—before Roman forces managed a decisive defeat, primarily by besieging and starving out Tauromenium.

====Second Servile War (104–100 BC)====
The [[Second Servile War]] had its roots in the piratical kidnapping that subjected freeborn people to random seizure and enslavement mostly in the eastern Mediterranean.{{sfn|Beek, "The Pirate Connection: Roman Politics, Servile Wars, and the East"|p=100}} People who had been enslaved illegally in this way had a right to reclaim their freedom under the recently passed ''Lex de Plagiariis'', a law concerning piracy and the slave trade associated with it.{{sfn|Beek, "The Pirate Connection: Roman Politics, Servile Wars, and the East"|p=100}} The [[praetor]] assigned to Sicily, [[Publius Licinius Nerva|Licinius Nerva]], had been holding hearings and releasing the enslaved in numbers great enough to offend the privilege of the slaveholding landowners, who pressured him to desist—whereupon the slaves revolted.<ref>{{harvnb|Beek, "The Pirate Connection: Roman Politics, Servile Wars, and the East"|p=100}} "citing Diodorus 36.3.2."</ref> The rebellion started in two households and soon encompassed 22,000 slaves.{{sfn|Bradley, "Slave Kingdoms and Slave Rebellions In Ancient Sicily"|p=442}}

Their leader, whose slave name was [[Salvius Tryphon|Salvius, adopted the name Tryphon]], perhaps in honor of [[Diodotus Tryphon]] to rally the many enslaved Cilicians among the rebels.{{sfn|Beek, "The Pirate Connection: Roman Politics, Servile Wars, and the East"|pp=104–106}} He organized the slaves into cavalry and infantry units, besieged [[Morgantina]] and—along with the slave general [[Second Servile War#The Battle of Scirthaea|Athenion]]{{efn|Athenion's name is inscribed on several [[Sling (weapon)|sling bullets]] found at multiple sites in Sicily.{{sfn|Beek, "The Pirate Connection: Roman Politics, Servile Wars, and the East"|pp=31–32}}}}—had a string of early successes against Roman troops as the number of rebels grew to "immense proportions".{{sfn|Bradley, "Slave Kingdoms and Slave Rebellions In Ancient Sicily"|p=442}} Unlike the first rebellion, however, they were unable to hold towns or maintain supply lines, and seem to have lacked the long-term strategic objectives of Eunus; the less focused, at times incompetent Roman response enabled them to prolong the rebellion.{{sfn|Beek, "The Pirate Connection: Roman Politics, Servile Wars, and the East"|pp=32–34}}

Eunus and Salvius each had held a privileged place in his household when enslaved; both Eunus and Athenion are noted as having been born into freedom. These experiences may have enhanced their ability to lead through articulating a vision of life beyond slavery.{{sfn|Bradley, "Slave Kingdoms and Slave Rebellions In Ancient Sicily"|pp=449–550}}

====Third Servile War (73–71 BC)====
[[File:Spartacus 12 2013.jpg|thumb|The Third Servile War has lent itself to countless [[classical tradition|cultural interpretations]]; the [[Soviet Union|Soviet-era]] ballet ''[[Spartacus (ballet)|Spartacus]]'', composed by [[Aram Khachaturian]], has been perennially restaged since 1956 by the [[Bolshoi Ballet|Bolshoi]] (here in 2013) to suit the prevailing ideology.<ref>Anne Searcy, "The Recomposition of Aram Khachaturian's ''Spartacus'' at the Bolshoi Theater, 1958–1968", ''Journal of Musicology'' 33:3 (2016), pp. 362-400, citing the 2013 production as an example of the "heavily revised version … [that] has become canonical" (p. 398) and describing it as "no longer … an exploration of musical national diversity" but nationalist (p. 399) and devoid of the ethnic diversity of Spartacus's followers as originally conceived by the composer (p. 365).</ref>]]

The so-called [[Third Servile War]] was briefer; the cause, "to break the bonds of their own grievous oppression".{{sfn|Gruen, ''The Last Generation of the Roman Republic''|p=20}} But its leader, [[Spartacus]], arguably the most famous slave from all antiquity and idealized by [[Marxist]] historians and creative artists, has captured the popular imagination over the centuries to such an extent that an understanding of the rebellion beyond his tactical victories is hard to retrieve from the various ideologies it has served.{{sfn|Gruen, ''The Last Generation of the Roman Republic''|p=20}}

The rebellion broke out on a relatively trivial scale, only seventy-four [[gladiator]]s from a training school in [[Capua]]. The two best-known leaders are the Thracian fighter Spartacus, who in some accounts is said to have served formerly in the Roman auxiliary troops, and the Gaul [[Crixus]]. They entrenched themselves at [[Vesuvius]] and quickly dispatched the forces of three successive [[praetor]]s as the insurgency grew to 70,000 men "with alarming speed", both slaves and free herdsmen joining up,{{sfn|Seager, ''The Rise of Pompey''|p=221}} ultimately reaching a force of 120,000.{{sfn|Gruen, ''The Last Generation of the Roman Republic''|p=20}}

Spartacus's plan seems to have been to head to northern Italy, where the men could disperse and head to their countries of origin, free; but the Gauls were keen on plundering first and spent weeks ravaging southern Italy, giving the Romans a more urgent reason and time to make up for their "tardy and ineffective" initial response.{{sfn|Seager, ''The Rise of Pompey''|pp=221–222}}{{sfn|Gruen, ''The Last Generation of the Roman Republic''|p=21}} Crixus and his Gauls were soon dealt with, but Spartacus got as far as north as [[Cisalpine Gaul]] before turning back for a possible assault on Rome, about which he then changed his mind. After more rebel military successes without clear objectives, the senate gave [[Marcus Crassus]] special command of the consular forces, and the tide of the war turned.{{sfn|Seager, ''The Rise of Pompey''|p=222}}

Spartacus headed south, hoping to cross to Sicily and "resuscitate the embers" of the slave rebellion three decades earlier; instead, the pirates who had accepted payment for transport set sail without him.<ref>[[T. Corey Brennan]], ''The Praetorship in the Roman Republic'', vol. 2 (Oxford University Press, 2000), p. 489, citing Plutarch.</ref> After some weeks of increasingly successful fighting, Crassus obtained a victory in which Spartacus was said to have died, though his body was not identified; 5,000 fugitives fled north and ran into troops led by [[Pompey]], who "annihilated" them; and Crassus concluded his victory by crucifying 6,000 captured rebels along the [[Appian Way]].{{sfn|Seager, ''The Rise of Pompey''|pp=222–233}}

====Later uprisings====
The last slave rebellion of the Republic was put down at [[Thurii]] in southern Italy by [[Gaius Octavius (father of Augustus)|Gaius Octavius]], the father of the future emperor Augustus. In 60 BC, Octavius received a commission from the senate to hunt down fugitives who were alleged (emphasis on "alleged") to be the remnants of Spartacus's men and slaves who had been drawn into the [[Catilinarian conspiracy]].<ref>Christopher J. Furhmann, ''Policing the Roman Empire: Soldiers, Administration, and Public Order'' (Oxford University Press, 2012), p. 24.</ref>

Though they failed, the Servile Wars left Romans with a deep-seated fear of slave uprisings<ref>Naerebout and Singor, "De Oudheid", p.&nbsp;296</ref> that resulted in stricter laws regulating the keeping of slaves and harsher measures and punishments to keep enslaved people under control.<!-- These laws included a prohibition against arming slaves or giving them martial training, and a limit on the number of slaves that could be kept in one place.{{cn}}--><ref name="Furhmann, p. 24">Furhmann, ''Policing the Roman Empire'', p. 24.</ref> In AD 10, the senate decreed that if a master was killed by one or a group of his slaves, all the slaves "under the same roof" were to be tortured and executed.<ref>Bradley, "Roman Slavery and Roman Law", p. 488, citing ''Digest'' 29.5.1.27 (Ulpian).</ref> In the early Imperial period, the slave uprisings against [[Lucius Pedanius Secundus]], who was killed by one of his household slaves (all 400 were executed), and Larcius Maceo, a praetor who was murdered in his private bath, occasioned panic among slaveholders but failed to catch fire as the Sicilian rebellions had.{{sfn|Bradley, "Slave Kingdoms and Slave Rebellions In Ancient Sicily"|p=443}}<ref>"Roman Slavery and Roman Law", p. 488 on the number executed.</ref> None of the sporadic attempts at rebellion over the next centuries encompassed nearly as much territory as that led by Spartacus.

===Fugitive slave-catching===
Fugitive slaves were considered criminals, whose crime was [[theft]] of the owner's property—themselves.<ref>A legal principle reaching "the level of the preposterous" notes Keith R. Bradley, "Roman Slavery and Roman Law, ''Historical Reflections / Réflexions Historiques'' 15:3 (1988), p. 489; ''Digest'' 47.2.61 ([[Sextus Caecilius Africanus|Africanus]]), as cited by Silver, "Places for Self-Selling", p. 582.</ref>  From the perspective of owners, runaway slaves not only caused economic harm but stoked fears of a return to the social upheavals of the [[#Rebellions|Servile Wars]].<ref>Christopher J. Furhmann, ''Policing the Roman Empire: Soldiers, Administration, and Public Order'' (Oxford University Press, 2012),  p. 42.</ref> The harboring of fugitive slaves was against the law, and professional slave-catchers ''(fugitivarii)'' were hired to hunt down runaways. Advertisements were posted with precise descriptions of escaped slaves, and offered rewards.<ref>Bradley, Keith [https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/romans/slavery_04.shtml Resisting Slavery in Ancient Rome]</ref>

Slave-catching was an unusually intensive police activity in that it involved coordination among all four forms of policing in the Roman Empire, which otherwise operated more or less independently: civilian or private security forces; the imperial guard; troops under the command of provincial governors, or municipal public slaves used as a quasi-police force; and the Roman army.{{sfn|Fuhrmann, ''Policing the Roman Empire''|pp=31ff}} Augustus himself boasted in [[Res Gestae Divi Augusti|his official record of achievements]] of having 30,000 fugitive slaves rounded up and returned for punishment to their owners.<ref name="Furhmann, p. 24"/>

Although the [[Apostle Paul]] expresses sympathy for runaway slaves, and some Christians seem to have taken in runaways, fugitives were still a concern as the Empire was Christianized. The [[Synod of Gangra]] in the mid-4th century placed any Christian who encouraged slaves to escape under [[anathema]].{{sfn|Fuhrmann, ''Policing the Roman Empire''|p=28, note 28}}

====The fugitive in Roman culture====
In a society where slavery was not based on race, a slave who escaped could hope to blend in and go unnoticed among the free.{{sfn|Bradley, "Animalizing the Slave"|p=124}} Certain temples in Greece had long offered asylum to slaves who ran away, and in the Imperial era, a fugitive could claim asylum at the foot of the [[Roman imperial cult|emperor's statue]].{{sfn|Silver, "Contractual Slavery in the Roman Economy"|p=76}}

[[File:Androcles - Jean-Léon Gérôme.jpg|thumb|''Androcles'' (1902) by the French [[academic painter]] [[Jean-Léon Gérôme]], a different take from the scenes of violence in the Roman arena for which Gérôme helped establish modern visual conventions<ref>María Isabel Baldasarre, "Comentario sobre ''Androcles''", Museo Nacional de Buenos Aires, inv. 5498, https://www.bellasartes.gob.ar/coleccion/obra/5498/</ref>]]

A fugitive slave is the protagonist of a tale that became familiar from [[Aesop's Fables|the fables of Aesop]], who according to tradition was himself traded as a slave. The earliest written version of [[Androcles|Androclus and the lion]]<!-- This is the spelling in Aulus Gellius --> is narrated by [[Aulus Gellius]] (2nd century AD). Androclus is serving in the household of the [[proconsul|Roman proconsul]] for the [[Africa (Roman province)|province of Africa]], who had him beaten unjustly every day. Driven to escape, he seeks solitude in the wilderness, resigned to death by starvation, which would at least bring him peace. When he comes upon a lion nursing its wounded paw, he removes the thorn causing pain, thereby becoming a ''[[#Physicians|medicus]]'' for the beast. The two live as companions in the wild for three years, with the lion providing food.

One day when the lion is out on the hunt, Androclus goes walking and is captured by soldiers, taken back to Rome, and [[damnatio ad bestias|condemned to the beasts]] in the arena. But as it turns out, the lion he had befriended has also been captured, and instead of attacking him fawns over him affectionately. [[Caligula]] himself is among the spectators, and the emperor pardons both Androclus and the lion, who are thereafter spotted strolling freely about the city as companions. Gellius sketches the story within the specific framework of a Roman slave's experience: desperation, escape, capture and punishment, and the fantasy of mercy and freedom.{{sfn|Bradley, ''Slavery and Society at Rome''|p=107 , citing Aulus Gellius 5.14, who credits [[Apion]] as an eyewitness attending the ''[[venatio]]''; Seneca, ''De beneficiis'' 2.19.1; Aelian, ''De natura animalium'' 7.48.}}

The experiences of captives, slaves, and fugitives were on constant display in Roman culture.<ref>Keith Bradley, "On Captives under the Principate", ''Phoenix'' 58:3/4 (2004), pp. 298-318.</ref> The ''[[Captivi]]'' ("Captives") of [[Plautus]] is a [[Roman comedy|comedy]], but with "a plot featuring kidnapping, enslavement, chaining, direct discussions of flight, and torturous punishments … that were extreme enough to serve as an example to other slaves".{{sfn|Fuhrmann, ''Policing the Roman Empire''|p=26}}
<!--===Juridical torture===-->

===Punishments===
As the Romans increased the numbers of slaves they held, their fear of them grew, as did the severity of discipline.{{sfn|Westermann, ''The Slave Systems of Greek and Roman Antiquity''|p=75f}} Cato the Elder whipped the household slaves for even small mistakes and kept his enslaved agricultural workers in chains during the winter.<ref>{{harvtxt|Westermann, ''The Slave Systems of Greek and Roman Antiquity''|pp= 76–77}}, citing Plutarch, ''Cato the Elder'' 21.3, and Cato, ''On agriculture'' 56.</ref> In the ''[[Satyricon]]'', the immensely specialized household staff of the fictional freedman [[Trimalchio]] includes a pair of torturers who stand by with whips.<ref>Jennifer A. Glancy, "Slaves and Slavery in the Matthean Parables", ''Journal of Biblical Literature'' 119:1 (2000), p. 67, citing Petronius, ''Satyricon'' 49.</ref> The physician [[Galen]] observed slaves being kicked, beaten with fists, and having their teeth knocked out or their eyes gouged out, witnessing the impromptu blinding of one slave by means of a reed pen. Galen himself had been taught not to strike a slave with his hand but always to use a reed whip or strap.<ref>{{harvtxt|Westermann, ''The Slave Systems of Greek and Roman Antiquity''|p=105}}, citing Galen, ''De animi morbis'' 4 (Kühn 5:17).</ref> The future emperor [[Commodus]] at age 12 is supposed to have ordered one of his bath attendants to be thrown into the furnace, though this order may not have been carried out.<ref>{{harvtxt|Westermann, ''The Slave Systems of Greek and Roman Antiquity''|p=105}}, ''Script. Hist. Aug., Commodus'' 1.9.</ref>

In his treatise ''[[De Ira]]'' ("On Anger"), Seneca offers a lurid anecdote<ref>As characterized by Matthew Roller, "In the Intersignification of Monuments in Augustan Rome", ''American Journal of Philology'' 134:1 (2013), p. 126.</ref> on the proportionality of punishment, famously retold, referenced,<ref>By Pliny the Elder, ''Natural History'' 9.77; [[Cassius Dio]] 54.23.1–5; and indirectly [[Tacitus]], ''Annales'' 1.10, 12.60, as cited by Thomas W. Africa, "Adam Smith, the Wicked Knight, and the Use of Anecdotes", ''Greece & Rome'' 42:1 (1995), pp. 71–72.</ref><ref>Likely alluded to in a similar incident at Trimalchio's dinner party, ''Satyricon'' 52.4, according to Barry Baldwin, "Careless Boys in the ''Satyricon''", ''Latomus'' 44:4 (1985), pp. 847-848.</ref> and analyzed.<ref>{{harvnb|Watson, "Roman Slave Law and Romanist Ideology"|p=56}} "citing ''De ira'' 3.40.1–3."</ref> At a dinner party hosted by [[Vedius Pollio]] with Augustus in attendance, a young slave broke a crystal cup. Vedius flew into a rage and ordered him seized and thrown into the [[lamprey]] ponda to be fed upon.{{efn|[[Fishkeeping#Origins of fishkeeping|Fishkeeping]] was a hobby dear to some upperclass Romans, both for pleasure and as a source of fresh delicacies for the table. Lampreys ''(muraenae)'' were eaten, but some scholars{{who|date=May 2025}} have wondered whether Vedius may rather have kept [[moray eel]]s for this purpose.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}}} The boy wriggled away and threw himself at Augustus's feet, begging to be killed rather than eaten alive—apparently aware that the lamprey "clamps its mouth on the victim and bores a dentated tongue into the flesh to ingest blood".<ref>Africa, "Adam Smith", pp. 70–71.</ref> Taken aback by the sheer novelty of this cruel punishment, Augustus ordered the boy set free, the rest of the crystal smashed, and the lamprey pond backfilled. Vedius, who became a "stock villain" in Latin literature, fell so out of favor for this and other more political reasons that Augustus eventually razed his entire villa.<ref>Africa, "Adam Smith", pp. 71 ("stock villain"), 75, and 77, note 16.</ref> Seneca bookends his moral criticism of Vedius in ''[[De Clementia]]'' ("On Mercy"), comparing the torture pond to a snake pit and saying that Vedius was universally despised for his excessive cruelty.<ref>Africa, "Adam Smith",  pp. 73, citing Seneca, ''De Clementia'' 1.18.2.</ref>

Such acts of casual sadism<ref>Africa, "Adam Smith", p. 73, for the characterization.</ref> are perhaps to be distinguished from the head of household's ancient right to pass sentence on a dependent for perceived wrongdoing, but the slaveholder's right to punish a slave was only weakly limited by law.{{sfn|Parker, "Crucially Funny or Tranio on the Couch"|p=237}} The [[Roman censor|censors]] were a countervailing moral authority ''(regimen morum)''  if the ''paterfamilias'' exceeded community standards of cruelty, but the office was often left vacant or manipulated toward other ideological ends, and there is little or no evidence that the censors would rebuke others of their class for the abuse of slaves.{{sfn|Watson, "Roman Slave Law and Romanist Ideology"|pp=  , citing the Greek historian [[Dionysius of Halicarnassus|Dionysius]] ''Roman Antiquities'' 20.13 as "weak" evidence of censorial powers and likely not well informed.}} Unless the excessive cruelty had been blatantly public, there was no process for bringing it to the attention of the authorities—the slave boy targeted by Vedius was saved extrajudicially by the chance presence of an emperor willing to be offended,{{sfn|Watson, ''Roman Slave Law''|pp=55–56}} the only person with the authority to stop what was allowed by law.<ref>Africa, "Adam Smith", p. 71.</ref>

When slaves did commit an actual crime, the penalties prescribed by law were far more severe than for free persons. For instance, the regular penalty for [[counterfeiting]] was deportation and confiscation of property, but a slave was put to death.<ref>Bradley, "Roman Slavery and Roman Law", pp. 491–492.</ref> The liberty of a Roman citizen, by contrast, was defined by freedom from physical coercion and by the judicial right of appeal after receiving a capital sentence.<ref>Michelle T. Clarke, "Doing Violence to the Roman Idea of Liberty? Freedom as bodily integrity in Roman Political Thought", ''History of Political Thought'' 35:2 (2014), pp. 212,</ref> This definition holds into the early Imperial era as a common understanding: in the [[Acts of the Apostles]], when [[Paul the Apostle|Paul]] asserts his rights as a Roman citizen to a [[centurion]] after having been bound and threatened with flogging, the [[military tribune|tribune]] who has seized him acknowledges the error by backing off.<ref>Clarke, "Doing Violence to the Roman Idea of Liberty", pp. 219–220, citing Acts 22:23–29.</ref>
<!--the following is not verified at present by other sources, so without a way to integrate it, it seems random
When the state put someone to death for a crime, a [[#Public and imperial slaves|public slave]] served as executioner ''(carnifex)'' for both other slaves and free persons.<ref>[[Elizabeth Rawson]], "Sallust on the Eighties?" ''Classical Quarterly'' 37:1 (1987), p. 165.</ref>-->

In the later Imperial era, the status of "convict" versus "slave" often becomes a distinction without a practical difference,<ref>W. Mark Gustafson, "''Inscripta in Fronte'': Penal Tattooing in Late Antiquity", ''Classical Antiquity'' 16:1 (1997), p. 79.</ref> as free people of lower social status were increasingly subjected to more severe legal penalties once reserved for slaves.<ref>Bradley, "Roman Slavery and Roman Law", pp. 492–493.</ref>

====Chaining====
[[File:Roman slave shackles.jpg|thumb|Slave shackle from [[Roman Britain]]]]

Chaining was a legal penalty imposed with some specificity; chains weighing ten pounds were ordered for the enslaved captives who rebelled in 198 BC.{{sfn|Parker, "Crucially Funny or Tranio on the Couch"|p=238; Livy 32.26.18.}} Archaeological evidence of fetters, manacles, and shackles has been found mainly in the northern provinces and only infrequently in Italian villa settings.<ref>Michele George, "Slavery and Roman Material Culture", in ''The Cambridge World History of Slavery: Volume 1, The Ancient Mediterranean World'' (Cambridge UP, 2011), p. 395.</ref>

In the Republican period, a large agricultural estate would have an ''[[ergastulum]]'' (plural ''ergastula''), a place of work confinement, built partially underground, where slaves were often kept in chains for disobedience, acts of resistance, or committing crimes. Slaves sent to the ergastulum might be sold for exploitation in gladiatorial games.<ref>{{harvtxt|Westermann, ''The Slave Systems of Greek and Roman Antiquity''|p=76}}, citing Cicero, ''Pro Sestio'' 134.</ref> However, despite the assumptions{{POV statement|date=May 2025}} of some scholars{{who|date=May 2025}} and modern images of chained slaves at hard labor, there is no evidence that agricultural slaves routinely worked in chain gangs.<ref>Ulrike Roth, "Men Without Hope", ''Papers of the British School at Rome'' 79 (2011), p. 73.</ref> Roman writers on agriculture regarded slaves who were controllable only through chaining as an inferior form of farm labor and deprecated their use on the commercial ''[[latifundia]]'' under absentee ownership.<ref>Roth, "Men Without Hope", ''passim'', especially pp. 88–90, 92–93.</ref>

A slave who had been put in chains as punishment was labeled thereafter as a ''servus vinctus''. As a category of property value, the "chained slave" had to be identified as such if sold, and would bring a lower price on the market. As a category of legal status, after the Augustan law that created a class of slaves to be counted permanently among the ''[[dediticii]]'' who were technically free but held no rights, the ''servus vinctus'' was barred from obtaining citizenship even if manumitted.<ref>Roth, "Men Without Hope", p. 76.</ref>

====Tattooing and branding====
[[File:Villa Romana del Casale (356479938).jpg|thumb|Mosaic (early 4th century) depicting two fishermen [[Cupid]]s at left wearing servile clothing, with a V for [[Venus]] forehead tattoo chastising them as penal slaves of love<ref>''Servitium amoris'', a theme of Latin love poetry; Martin Beckmann, "Stigmata and the Cupids of Piazza Armerina", ''American Journal of Archaeology'' 125:3 (2021) 461–469; the V had previously been interpreted as a manufacturer's mark.</ref>]]

Fugitive slaves might be marked by letters tattooed on their forehead, called ''stigmata'' in Greek and Latin sources,{{sfn|Fuhrmann, ''Policing the Roman Empire''|p=29}} a practice most attested as a consequence of condemnation to [[#Hard labor|hard labor]].<ref>Gustafson, "''Inscripta in Fronte''", p. 79.</ref> The tattooing of slaves had been expressly banned in [[Hellenistic Egypt]] except as part of a criminal sentence, when a forehead tattoo came with a beating.<ref>Westerman, ''Slave Systems'', p. 53, citing the [[Lille Stesichorus|Lille Papyrus]] 29:27–36.</ref> The Romans picked up slave tattooing from the Greeks, who in turn had acquired it from the Persians.<ref>C. P. Jones, "''Stigma'': Tattooing and Branding in Graeco-Roman Antiquity", ''Journal of Roman Studies'' 77 (1987), p. 155.</ref> [[Attic comedy]] frequently mentions slave ''stigmata'', and the most notable passage in Latin literature comes in the ''[[Satyricon]]'' when Encolpius and Giton fake tattooing as an absurd form of disguise.<ref>Jones, "''Stigma''", pp. 139–140, 147.</ref> Tattooing slaves with text to mark them as previous fugitives is most abundantly attested among the Greeks, and there is "no direct evidence for what was inscribed on runaways' foreheads in Rome",{{sfn|Kamen, "A Corpus of Inscriptions"|p=101}} though criminals generally were labeled with the name of their crime.<ref>Such as ''FUR'' for "thief"; Gustafson, "''Inscripta in Fronte''", p. 93.</ref> Literature alludes to the practice, as when the epigrammatist [[Martial]] satirizes a luxuriously attired freedman at the theater who keeps his inscribed forehead under wraps,<!-- although this makes no sense because in the time of Martial he would have been a "dediticius" unlikely to be so privileged --> and [[Libanius]] mentions a slave growing out [[bangs (hair)|bangs]] to cover his stigmata.{{sfn|Kamen, "A Corpus of Inscriptions"|p=104, citing Martial, 2.29.9–10 and Libanius 25.3.}}

In inscriptions from the [[Sanctuary of Asclepius, Epidaurus|Temple of Asclepius]] at [[Epidaurus]], Greek slaves who had been tattooed ask the god to remove their markings, and in some cases thank him for doing so.{{sfn|Kamen, "A Corpus of Inscriptions"|p=106}} Less miraculous means might also be sought, as various sources record medical procedures for removing stigmata, mostly herbal applications for which complete success was not guaranteed.<ref>Jones, "''Stigma''", p. 143</ref>{{sfn|Kamen, "A Corpus of Inscriptions"|pp=105–107}}

The evidence for Roman branding of slaves is less certain.<ref>Jones, "''Stigma''", p. 154–155.</ref>{{sfn|Kamen, "A Corpus of Inscriptions"|p=100}} The methodical tortures to which slaves were subjected juridically included the application of hot metal plates or rods,<ref>S. J. Lawrence, "Putting Torture (and Valerius Maximus) to the Test", Classical Quarterly 66:1 (2016), p. 254.</ref> which would leave marks that could be seen as brands,{{sfn|Kamen, "A Corpus of Inscriptions"|pp=95, 98}} since the branding of herd animals is known in the Roman world.<ref>Jones, "''Stigma''", p. 151.</ref> The scars left by whipping were also "read" as inscribing slaves.{{sfn|Kamen, "A Corpus of Inscriptions"|pp=96–97, 99}}

Slaves who played visible or public roles on behalf of a household, and female slaves in general, were not disfigured with markings.{{sfn|Kamen, "A Corpus of Inscriptions"|p=95}} That stigmatized slaves were those who had been marked as irredeemably criminal is indicated by their inclusion among the ''[[dediticii]]'', those who held no citizen rights even if manumitted.{{sfn|Kamen, "A Corpus of Inscriptions"|p=104}}

====Collaring====
[[File:ServusCollare.jpg|thumb|Zoninus collar]]

What appears to be a distinctly Roman practice is the riveting of a "humiliating" metal collar around the former fugitive's neck.{{sfn|Fuhrmann, ''Policing the Roman Empire''|pp=29–30|ps=for the word "humiliating"}} Because of the role the hope of manumission played in motivating the industry of slaves, the Romans may have preferred removable collars to permanent disfigurement,{{sfn|Kamen, "A Corpus of Inscriptions"|p=101}} or for keeping open the possibility of resale.{{sfn|Trimble, "The Zoninus Collar and the Archaeology of Roman Slavery"|p=461}}

Some forty-five examples of Roman slave collars have been documented, most found in Rome and central Italy, with three from cities in Roman North Africa. All date from the Christian era of the 4th and 5th centuries,{{efn|Some collars have been lost after being documented in the early modern era.{{sfn|Trimble, "The Zoninus Collar and the Archaeology of Roman Slavery"|pp=447–448, 459}}}} and some have the Christian [[Chi Rho|chi-rho]] symbol or a [[Palm branch|palm frond]].{{sfn|Trimble, "The Zoninus Collar and the Archaeology of Roman Slavery"|p=448}} Some were found still on the necks of human skeletons or with remains, suggesting that the collars might be worn for life and not just as a temporary ID tag; others seem to have been removed, lost, or discarded.{{sfn|Trimble, "The Zoninus Collar and the Archaeology of Roman Slavery"|pp=457–458}} In circumference, they are about the same size as Roman neck shackles (see relief under [[#Enslavement of Roman citizens|"Enslavement of war captives"]]), tight enough to keep them from slipping over the head but not so tight as to restrict breathing.{{sfn|Trimble, "The Zoninus Collar and the Archaeology of Roman Slavery"|p=460}}

Fugitive slave collars have been found in urban environments rather than settings for hard labor.{{sfn|Trimble, "The Zoninus Collar and the Archaeology of Roman Slavery"|p=459}} One tag from [[Bulla Regia]] in Africa identifies the fugitive wearing it as a ''[[meretrix]]'', a wage-earning prostitute.<ref>{{harvtxt|Flemming, "Quae Corpore Quaestum Facit"}} citing ''ILS'' 9455.</ref> The tags are typically inscribed with the owner's name, status, and occupation, and the "address" to which the slave should be returned.{{efn|The owners range in rank from a linen manufacturer to a [[Roman consul|consul]].{{sfn|Trimble, "The Zoninus Collar and the Archaeology of Roman Slavery"|pp=455–456}}}} The most common instructional text is ''tene me'' ("hold me") with either ''ne fugiam'' ("so I don't run away") or ''quia fugi'' ("because I've run away").{{sfn|Trimble, "The Zoninus Collar and the Archaeology of Roman Slavery"|pp=460–461}} The tag on the most intact example of these collars reads "I have escaped, catch me; when you return me to my master Zoninus, you'll receive a [[solidus (coin)|gold coin]]."<ref>{{harvtxt|Kamen, "A Corpus of Inscriptions"|p=101: ''Fugi, tene me'' <nowiki>|</nowiki> ''cum revocu''<nowiki>|</nowiki>''veris me d(omino) m(eo)'' <nowiki>|</nowiki> ''Zonino accipis'' <nowiki>|</nowiki> ''solidum'' (''CIL'' 15.7194).}}</ref>

====Crucifixion====
[[File:Ivory plaque of the Crucifixion of Christ.jpg|thumb|One of the earliest extant depictions (ca. AD 420–430) of the [[crucifixion of Jesus]], on an [[ivory carving]] that also shows the suicide of [[Judas]]: the crucified Christ is serenely detached from the suffering of torture<ref>Kurt Weitzmann, introduction to "The Late Roman World", ''Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin'' 35:2 (1977), pp. 70–71.</ref> and defiantly alive on a dead tree, while Judas hangs dead on a living tree<ref>Allyson Everingham Sheckler and Mary Joan Winn Leith, "The Crucifixion Conundrum and the Santa Sabina Doors", ''Harvard Theological Review'' 103:1 (2010), pp. 79–80, with possible iconographical resemblance to the ''[[Ficus Ruminalis]]''.</ref> ''(British Museum''<ref>[[Casket (decorative box)|Casket]], The British Museum, museum no. 1856,0623.5, https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/H_1856-0623-5</ref>)]]
{{Main|Crucifixion}}

Crucifixion was the [[capital punishment]] meted out specifically to slaves, traitors, and bandits.<ref>Strauss, pp.&nbsp;190–194, 204</ref><ref>Fields, pp.&nbsp;79–81</ref><ref>Losch, p.&nbsp;56, n.&nbsp;1</ref><ref>[[wikisource:Philippians#chapter_2|Philippians&nbsp;2:5–8]]</ref> Crucifixion is rarely mentioned among the Greeks.{{sfn|Westermann, ''The Slave Systems of Greek and Roman Antiquity''|p=75}} and the Romans said that they had learned the technique from the Carthaginians during the Punic Wars.<ref>William A. Oldfather, "Livy i, 26 and the ''Supplicium de More Maiorum''", ''Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association'' 39 (1908), pp. 61–65</ref>{{sfn|Parker, "Crucially Funny or Tranio on the Couch"|p=239}} The earliest crucifixion among the Romans definitively described as such dates to 217 BC and was inflicted on rebellious slaves;{{sfn|Parker, "Crucially Funny or Tranio on the Couch"|p=237, citing Livy 22.33.2<!--Oldfather erroneously cites 22.23.2.-->}} Hannibal had crucified an Italian serving as his guide only a few weeks before, and several previous crucifixions by the Carthaginians were known to the Greeks and Romans.<ref>Oldfather, "Livy i, 26 and the ''Supplicium de More Maiorum''", p. 62, listing (note 5) numerous references in Greek and Roman sources to Carthaginian crucifixions.</ref> The few mentions of what might be construed as Roman crucifixion before that time are more likely to have been archaic punishments such as being bound to a stake and flogged, or being suspended from a tree (perhaps an ''[[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#arbor felix|arbor infelix]]''<ref>John Granger Cook, "Crucifixion as Spectacle in Roman Campania", ''Novum Testamentum'' 54:1 (2012), p. 90, citing Livy 1.26.6.</ref>) or ''[[Furca (punishment)|furca]]'' and beaten to death.<ref>Oldfather, pp. 65–71, ''contra'' the view of [[Theodor Mommsen|Mommsen]] (pp. 65–66), who thought that the ''supplicium servile'' and the ''supplicium de more maiorum'' were one and the same.</ref> [[Defixio|Curse tablets]] urging the hated person to commit suicide by hanging use language that overlaps with some details of crucifixion.<ref>Cook, "Crucifixion as Spectacle in Roman Campania", ''Novum Testamentum'' 54:1 (2012), p. 91.</ref>

From its early use at a time when citizens were infrequently sentenced to death, crucifixion became the ''servile supplicium'', reserved for slaves during the Republican era, and the worst punishment that could be inflicted on a slave.<ref>{{harvtxt|Westermann, ''The Slave Systems of Greek and Roman Antiquity''|pp=75, citing Tacitus, ''Historiae'' 4.11; ''Script. Hist. Aug.'', Avidius Cassius 4.6.</ref> Crucifying Roman citizens is one of Cicero's most vehement accusations in the prosecution of [[Verres]] as a corrupt governor of Sicily.{{sfn|Cook, "Envisioning Crucifixion"|pp=268, 274}}

An inscription from the late 1st century BC documents a law at [[Puteoli]] that made the services of an executioner available to private citizens who had decided to crucify a slave.{{sfn|Cook, "Envisioning Crucifixion"|pp=265–266}} The law specifies that the ''patibulum'', generally taken as another term for the cross ''(crux)'', will be carried to the site of execution, probably by the slave to be executed,{{efn|The text of the inscription is not entirely clear on this point, but references in Plautus make the slave as the bearer of the cross the more likely reading.{{sfn|Cook, "Envisioning Crucifixion"|pp=266–267}} The ''patibulum'' may be only the crossbar that distinguishes a cross from the stake.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}}} who will also be scourged before affixed to it.{{sfn|Cook, "Envisioning Crucifixion"|pp=266, 270}} Advertisements for gladiatorial games sometimes promoted crucifixions as part of the spectacle, presumably as a prelude to beast-baiting or burning at the stake, since it was a notoriously slow and "static" way to die.<ref>John Granger Cook, "Crucifixion as Spectacle", pp. 69–70, 80–82.</ref>

<!-- Couple more sentences here on when crucifixion was used on citizens, and when it was removed as a legal penalty; under Constantine? -->Although crucifixion under the Christian emperors abated, the [[Christian apologetics|Christian apologist]] [[Lactantius]] (d. ca. 325) still thought that runaway slaves should be whipped, chained, and even crucified.<ref>{{harvtxt|Fuhrmann, ''Policing the Roman Empire''|p=28}}, citing Lactantius, ''Divine Institutions'' 5.19.14 (= CSEL 19.460).</ref>

===Suicide===
[[File:106 Conrad Cichorius, Die Reliefs der Traianssäule, Tafel CVI.jpg|thumb|250px|A relief from [[Trajan's Column]] shows the defeated Dacian king [[Decebalus]] surrounded by Roman cavalry and holding his ''[[sica]]'' to his throat, in the moment before he commits suicide to escape captivity ''(from the plates of [[Conrad Cichorius]])''.<ref>[[Michael P. Speidel]], "The Suicide of Decebalus on the Tropaeum of Adamklissi", ''Revue Archéologique'' 1 (1971), pp. 75-78.</ref>]]

Reports of [[mass suicide]] or [[suicide]] by an individual to avoid enslavement or submission as a result of war are not rare in the Roman world.{{sfn|Bradley, ''Slavery and Society at Rome''|pp=44, 111}} In one incident, a group of captive Germanic women told [[Caracalla]] that they would rather be executed than enslaved. When he ordered them sold anyway, they committed suicide en masse, some of them first killing their children.<ref>Keith Bradley, 'On Captives under the Principate", ''Phoenix'' 58:3/4 (2004), p. 314, citing Cassius Dio 77.14.2.</ref>

Such an act could be considered honorable or rational in antiquity, and a slave might commit suicide for the same reasons a free person would, such as an agonizing health condition, religious fanaticism, or mental health crisis.{{sfn|Bradley, ''Slavery and Society at Rome''|p=122}} But suicide among the enslaved might also be the ultimate way to resist and escape the master's control or abuse. One of [[Cato the Elder|Cato]]'s slaves was so distraught after doing something he thought his master would disapprove of that he killed himself.{{sfn|Bradley, ''Slavery and Society at Rome''|p=111 , citing Plutarch, ''Cato the Elder'' 10.5.}} An inscription from [[Moguntiacum]] records the killing of a freedman by one of his slaves, who then committed suicide by drowning himself in a river.{{sfn|Bradley, ''Slavery and Society at Rome''|pp=111–112 , citing ''CIL'' 13.7070.}}

Roman law recognized that slaves might be driven to suicidal despair. A suicide attempt was one of the pieces of information about a slave that had to be disclosed on a bill of sale, indicating that such attempts occurred often enough to be of concern. However, the law did not always regard slaves as criminally fugitive if they ran away in despair and attempted suicide. The [[Julius Paulus|jurist Paulus]] wrote, "A slave acts to commit suicide when he seeks death out of wickedness or evil ways or because of some crime that he has committed, but not when he is able no longer to bear his bodily pain."{{sfn|Bradley, ''Slavery and Society at Rome''|p=112 , citing ''Digest'' 21.1.17.4 ([[Vivianus (jurist)|Vivianus]]), 21.1.17.6 ([[Gnaeus Arulenus Caelius Sabinus|Caelius]]), and 21.1.43.4 ([[Julius Paulus|Paulus]]).}}

==Slavery and Roman religion==
===Slaves in classical Roman religion===
[[File:CIL VI 147.jpg|thumb|250px|Bronze plaque recording the fulfillment of a vow to Feronia, a tutelary goddess of freedmen, by an ''ancilla'' named Hedone (''[[Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum|CIL]]'' 6.147, 2nd century AD)]]

[[Religion in ancient Rome|Religious practices]] attest to the presence of slaves in Roman society from the earliest period.<ref>Bradley, "The Early Development of Roman Slavery", pp. 2–3.</ref> The [[Matralia]] was a women's [[Roman festival|festival]] held June 11 in connection with the goddess [[Mater Matuta]],<ref name="Bradley_18">{{harvp|Bradley|1994|p=18}}</ref> whose temple was among Rome's oldest.<ref>Bradley, "The Early Development of Roman Slavery", pp. 2–3, noting the existence of archaeological evidence.</ref> According to tradition, it was established in the sixth century BC by the slave-born king [[Servius Tullius]].<ref>Bradley, "The Early Development of Roman Slavery", p. 3.</ref> The observance featured the ceremonial beating of a slave girl by free women, who brought her into the temple and then drove her from it. Slave women were otherwise forbidden from participation.<ref>[[Plutarch]], ''Moralia'' 267D (''Quaestiones Romanae'' 16).</ref> It has been conjectured that this [[scapegoat|scapegoat ritual]] reflected the wives' anxiety about the introduction of slave girls into the household as [[paelex|sexual usurpers]].<ref>Angela N. Parker, "One Womanist's View of Racial Reconciliation in Galatians", ''Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion'', 34:2 (2018), p. 36, citing Jennifer Glancy, ''Slavery in Early Christianity'' (Fortress 2006), p. 23.</ref>

Another slaves' holiday (''servorum [[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#festus|dies festus]]'') was held August&nbsp;13<ref>Richard P. Saller, "Symbols of Gender and Status Hierarchies in the Roman Household", in ''Women and Slaves in Greco-Roman Culture'' (Routledge, 1998; Taylor & Francis, 2005), p.&nbsp;90.</ref> in honor of Servius Tullius himself. Like the [[Saturnalia]], the holiday involved a role reversal: the matron of the household washed the heads of her slaves, as well as her own.<ref>[[Plutarch]], ''Roman Questions'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Moralia/Roman_Questions*/E.html#100 100]</ref><ref>Saller, "Symbols of Gender and Status Hierarchies", p.&nbsp;91.</ref> Following the [[Matronalia]] on March 1, matrons gave slaves of their household a feast, a custom that also evokes Saturnalian role reversal. Each matron feasted her own slaves in her capacity as ''domina'' or slave mistress. Both [[Solinus]] and [[Macrobius]] see the feast as a way to manipulate obedience, indicating that physical compulsion was not the only technique for domination; social theory suggests that the communal meal also promotes household cohesion and norms by articulating the hierarchy through its temporary subversion.{{sfn|Dolansky, "Reconsidering the Matronalia and Women's Rites"|pp=197, 201–204 (and especially n. 40}, citing [[Solinus]] 1.35; [[Macrobius]], ''Saturnalia'' 1.12.7; [[John the Lydian|Ioannes Lydus]], ''De mensibus'' 3.22, 4.22.}}{{efn|On social theory, Dolansky cites C. Grignon, "Commensality and Social Morphology: An Essay of Typology", in ''Food, Drink, and Identity'', ed.P. Scholliers (Oxford 2001), pp. 23–33, and [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], ''Epistle'' 47.14.}}

The temple of [[Feronia (mythology)|Feronia]] at [[Terracina]] in [[Latium]] was the site of special ceremonies pertaining to manumission. The goddess was identified with [[Libertas]], the personification of liberty,<ref>[[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]], in his note to ''[[Aeneid]]'' 8.564, citing [[Varro]].</ref> and was a [[tutelary deity|tutelary goddess]] of freedmen (''dea libertorum''). A stone at her temple was inscribed "let deserving slaves sit down so that they may stand up free."<ref>Peter F. Dorcey, ''The Cult of Silvanus: A Study in Roman Folk Religion'' (Brill, 1992), p.&nbsp;109, citing [[Livy]], 22.1.18.</ref>

====Saturnalia====
{{Main|Saturnalia}}
The [[Roman festival]] most famously celebrated by slaves was the Saturnalia, a December observance of role reversals during which time slaves enjoyed a rich banquet, gambling, [[Marsyas#Prophecy and free speech at Rome|free speech]] and other forms of license not normally available to them. To mark their temporary freedom, they wore the ''[[Pileus (hat)|pilleus]]'', the cap of freedom, as did free citizens, who normally went about bareheaded.<ref>H.S. Versnel, "Saturnus and the Saturnalia", in ''Inconsistencies in Greek and Roman Religion: Transition and Reversal in Myth and Ritual'' (Brill, 1993, 1994), p.&nbsp;147</ref><ref>{{harvp|Dolansky|2010|p=492}}</ref> Some ancient sources suggest that master and slave dined together,<ref>[[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]], ''Epistulae''&nbsp;47.14</ref>{{sfn|Barton, ''The Sorrows of the Ancient Romans''|p=498}} while others indicate that the slaves feasted first, or that the masters actually served the food. The practice may have varied over time.<ref>{{harvp|Dolansky|2010|p=484}}</ref> Saturnalian license also permitted slaves to enjoy a pretense of disrespect for their masters, and exempted them from punishment. The [[Augustan literature (ancient Rome)|Augustan]] poet [[Horace]] calls their freedom of speech "December liberty" (''libertas Decembri'').<ref>Horace, ''Satires'' 2.7.4</ref><ref>Hans-Friedrich Mueller, "Saturn", in ''The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome'' (Oxford University Press, 2010), pp.&nbsp;221,222.</ref>

====Festival of Handmaids====

Slave women were honored at the ''Ancillarum Feriae'' on July&nbsp;7.<ref>[[William Warde Fowler]], ''The Roman Festivals of the Period of the Republic'' (London, 1908), p.&nbsp;176.</ref>{{efn|The calendar of [[Polemius Silvius]] is the only one to record the holiday.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}}}} The holiday is explained as commemorating the service rendered to Rome by a group of ''ancillae'' (female slaves or "handmaids") during the war with the [[Fidenates]] in the late 4th century BC.<ref>[[Plutarch]], ''Life of Camillus'' 33, as well as Silvius.</ref><ref>By [[Macrobius]], ''Saturnalia'' 1.11.36</ref> Weakened by the [[Gallic siege of Rome|Gallic sack of Rome]] in 390 BC, the Romans next had suffered a stinging defeat by the Fidenates, who demanded that they hand over their wives and virgin daughters as hostages to secure a peace. A handmaid named either [[Philotis (mythology)|Philotis]] or Tutula came up with a plan to deceive the enemy: the ''ancillae'' would put on the apparel of the free women, spend one night in the enemy camp, and send a signal to the Romans about the most advantageous time to launch a counterattack.<ref name="Bradley_18"/><ref>Jennifer A. Glancy, ''Slavery in Early Christianity'' (Oxford University Press, 2002; First Fortress Press, 2006), p.&nbsp;27</ref> Although the historicity of the underlying tale may be doubtful, it indicates that the Romans thought they had already had a significant slave population before the [[Punic Wars]].<ref>K.R. Bradley, "On the Roman Slave Supply and Slavebreeding", in ''Classical Slavery'' (Frank Cass Publishers, 1987, 1999, 2003), p.&nbsp;63.</ref>

[[File:Roman priest w axe.JPG|thumb|upright|left|Attendant with ax at a sacrifice, a ''popa'' or ''[[victimarius]]'' (from Carthage, 50-150 AD)]]

===Temple slaves===
Among the public slaves ''([[#Public and imperial slaves|servi publici]])'' were those who served Rome's traditional religious practices.  The cult of [[Great Altar of Hercules|Hercules at the Ara Maxima]] was transferred to the keeping of public slaves in 312 BC when the [[Patrician (ancient Rome)|patrician]]  families originally charged with its maintenance died out.{{efn|These were the [[Potitia gens|Potitia]] and the [[Pinaria gens|Pinaria]] ''[[gens|gentes]]''{{sfn|Rüpke, ''Religion of the Romans''|p=26}}}}

The ''calator'' was a public slave who assisted the [[flamines maiores|flamens]], the senior priests of the state, and carried out their day-to-day business.<ref>[[Jörg Rüpke]], ''Religion of the Romans'' (Polity Press, 2007, originally published in German 2001), p. 227, citing [[Sextus Pompeius Festus|Festus]], p. 354 L2 = p. 58 M.</ref> An epitaph records the career of a ''calator'' of the [[augur]]s who rose to the position after serving as a ''[[#Business managers and agents|dispensator]]'' (keeper of accounts) for a senator; he had been manumitted before he died at the age of 32.<ref>Leonhard Schumacher, "On the Status of Private ''Actores'', ''Dispensatores'' and ''Vilici''",''Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies'' suppl. 109 (2010), p. 32, citing ''CIL'' 6.7445.</ref> The ''popa'', depicted in sacrificial processions as carrying a mallet or axe with which to strike the sacrificial animal, is said in sources from [[late antiquity]] to have been a public slave.<ref>Marietta Horster, "Living on Religion: Professionals and Personnel", in ''A Companion to Roman Religion'' (Blackwell, 2007), pp. 332–334.</ref>

In the East, especially during the first century BC, large numbers of "holy" slaves (Greek ''hierodouloi'') served in temples such as those of [[Ma (goddess)|Ma]] in [[Comana (Cappadocia)|Comana, Cappadocia]], where 6,000 male and female slaves served, and of the [[Cybele|Great Mother]] at [[Pessinus]] in [[Galatia]].{{efn|Also temples of a local [[Zeus]] in Morimene, [[Cappadocia]]; of the [[Men (deity)#Mēn Pharnakou|Men of Pharnaces]] at [[Cabeira]]; and of [[Anaitis]] at Zela (modern-day [[Zile]], Turkey).<ref>{{harvtxt|Harris, "Towards a Study of the Roman Slave Trade"|p=128}}, citing Strabo 12.12.535, 537, 557–559, 567.</ref>}} The notion that ''hierodouloi'' in the Roman era engaged in [[sacred prostitution]] is mostly a modern fantasy arising from the presence of prostitutes at temples and festivals, either as members of the participating community or peripherally plying their trade where potential customers would congregate.<ref>{{harvtxt|Flemming, "Quae Corpore Quaestum Facit"|p=46}}, n. 35 citing Mary Beard and John Henderson, "'With This Body I Thee Wed': Sacred Prostitution in Antiquity", ''Gender and History'' 9 (1997) 480–503.</ref> Temple slaves were not traded as chattel,{{sfn|Harris, "Towards a Study of the Roman Slave Trade"|p=128}} and the Romans, given their instinct for religion as a source of social order, tended not to capitalize on them as such. [[Strabo]] states that the chief priest of the Temple of Ma at Comana did not have the right to sell ''hierodouloi''; however, as the sites of such temples are often associated with trading centers, they might have played some role in facilitating the slave trade.<ref>{{harvtxt|Harris, "Towards a Study of the Roman Slave Trade"|p=128}}, citing Strabo 12.558 on the chief priest of Ma at Comana.</ref>

===Mithraic cult===
[[File:Musei Vaticani - Mithra - Sol invictus 01136.JPG|thumb|Dedication to [[Mithras]] by the Imperial slave Atimetus]]

The [[Mithraic mysteries]] were open to slaves and freedmen, and at some cult sites most or all [[votum|votive offerings]] are made by slaves, sometimes for the sake of their masters' wellbeing.{{sfn|Clauss, ''The Roman Cult of Mithras''|pp=33, 37–39}} The slave Vitalis is known from three inscriptions involving the cult of Mithras at Apulum ([[Alba Iulia]] in present-day Romania).The best preserved is the dedication of an altar to [[Sol Invictus]] for the wellbeing of a free man, possibly his master or a fellow Mithraic initiate.<ref>Mariana Egri, Matthew M. McCarty, Aurel Rustoiu, and Constantin Inel, "A New Mithraic Community at Apulum (Alba Iulia, Romania)" ''Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik'' 205 (2018), pp. 268–276. The other two are dedicated to [[Cautes and Cautopates|Mithraic torch-bearers]] (p. 272).</ref> Vitalis was an ''arcarius'', a treasurer probably in the administration of imperial [[customs]] (''portorium''); his position gave him the opportunity to earn the wealth required for setting up stone monuments.<ref>Egri et al., "A New Mithraic Community", pp. 269–270.</ref>

Numerous Mithraic inscriptions from the reaches of the empire record the names of both privately held slaves and imperial slaves, and even one Pylades in Roman Gaul who was the slave of an imperial slave.<ref>Andrew Fear, ''Mithras'' (Routledge 2022), p. 40 ''et passim''.</ref> Mithraic cult, which valued submission to authority and promotion through a hierarchy, was in harmony with the structure of Roman society, and thus the participation of slaves posed no threat to social order.{{sfn|Clauss, ''The Roman Cult of Mithras''|pp=40, 143}}

===Early Christian church===
<!-- This section is for the roles that enslaved people played within the Church as an institution, how they participated in worship, how the role of Christian slaves was integrated into Roman society (or caused conflict with Roman notions of proper social hierarchy), and aspects of "doing" rather than believing; please contribute information about Christian attitudes and theology regarding slavery under the Christian heading within "Morality" below -->Christianity gave slaves an equal place within the religion, allowing them to participate in the liturgy. According to tradition, [[Pope Clement I]] (term c. 92–99), [[Pope Pius I]] (158–167), and [[Pope Callixtus I]] (c. 217–222) were former slaves.<ref>Catholic Encyclopedia, s.v. [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14036a.htm "Slavery and Christianity"].</ref>

==Commemoration==
{{Further|Roman funerary practices}}
[[Epitaph]]s are one of the most common forms of Roman writing to survive, arising from the intersection of two salient activities of Roman culture: the [[Roman funerary practices|care of the dead]] and what [[Ramsay MacMullen]] called the "[[epigraphy|epigraphic]] habit".<ref>Ramsay MacMullen, "The Epigraphic Habit in the Roman Empire", ''American Journal of Philology'' 103:3 (1982), pp. 233–246, pp. 238–239 on epitaphs in particular.</ref> One of the ways that Roman epitaphs differ from those of the Greeks is that the name of the commemorator is typically given along with that of the deceased.<ref>Elizabeth A. Meyer, "Explaining the Epigraphic Habit in the Roman Empire: The Evidence of Epitaphs", ''Journal of Roman Studies'' 80 (1990), p. 75.</ref> Commemorations are found both for slaves and by slaves.

[[File:Funeral stele cook Terme.jpg|thumb|''"Eros the cook, slave of Posidippus, lies here"'' (''[[Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum|CIL]]'' VI, 6246)]]

Simple epitaphs for domestic slaves might be set up in the communal tomb of their household. This inclusion perpetuated the ''domus'' by enlarging the number of survivors and descendants who might carry out tomb maintenance and the many [[Roman funerary practices#Festivals and cults of the dead|ritual observances for the dead]] on the Roman religious calendar.<ref>David Noy, review of ''Roman Death'' by V.M. Hope, ''Classical Review'' 60:2 (2010), p. 535.<!-- better cite needed and hopefully to come --></ref>

The commemoration of slaves often included their job—cook, jeweler, hairdresser—or an emblem of their work such as tools.<ref>Valerie Hope, "Fighting for Identity: The Funerary Commemoration of Italian Gladiators", ''Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies'' 73 (2000), p. 108, citing G. Zimmer, ''Römische Berufdarstellungen'' (Berlin 1982)</ref><ref>See also the tabulation made by Richard P. Saller and Brent D. Shaw, "Tombstones and Roman Family Relations in the Principate: Civilians, Soldiers and Slaves", ''Journal of Roman Studies'' 74 (1984), pp. 147–156, which includes commemorative inscriptions by masters for slaves.</ref> The funerary relief of the freed silversmith Publius Curtilius Agatho (see under [[#Names|"Names"]] above) shows him in the process of working a cup that lies incomplete by his left hand. He holds a hammer in his right hand, and a [[Punch (tool)|punch]] or [[Burin (engraving)|graver]] in his left. Despite these realistic details of his craft, Agatho is depicted wearing a [[toga]]—which [[J. Paul Getty Museum|Getty Museum]] curator Kenneth Lapatin has compared to going to work in a [[tuxedo]]—that expresses his pride in his citizen status,<ref>"Grave Relief of Silversmith, feat. Kenneth Lapatin" (audio file), Getty Museum Collection, https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/104034.</ref> just as the choice of marble as the medium rather than the more common limestone gives evidence of his level of success.<ref>Funerary Relief of Publius Curtilius Agatho, Silversmith, feat. Kenneth Lapatin (audio file), Getty Museum Collection, https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/104034</ref>

[[File:The Colchester Vase, around 175 AD, Colchester Castle Museum, Camulodunum (Roman Colchester) (23175635162).jpg|thumb|The [[Colchester Vase]] from [[Roman Britain]] (c. 175 AD) is inscribed around the top with the names of four gladiators; on this side, the ''murmillo'' Secundus fights the ''retiarius'' Marius.]]

Although not required on tombstones,{{sfn|Martin, "Slavery and the Ancient Jewish Family"|p=114}} the deceased's status at times can be identified by Latin abbreviations such as ''SER'' for a slave; ''VERN'' or ''VER'' specifically for ''vernae'', slaves born into a ''familia'' (see [[#Vernae|funerary bust above]]); or ''LIB'' for a freedperson. This legal status is usually absent for gladiators, who were social outcasts regardless of having been freeborn, manumitted, or enslaved at the time of death; instead they were identified by their fighting specialty such as ''[[retiarius]]'' or ''[[murmillo]]'' or less often as a freeborn man, ''LIBER'', a status which was not typically asserted.<ref>Hope, "Fighting for Identity", pp. 101–102.</ref> Gladiators who had become celebrities might also be remembered by fans ''(amatores)'' in popular media—images of gladiators, sometimes labeled by name, appeared widely on everyday items such as oil lamps and vessels.

Epitaphs represent only slaves who were more highly favored or esteemed within their household or who belonged to communities or social organizations (such as ''[[collegium (ancient Rome)|collegia]]'') that offered care of the dead. With the permission of their master, slaves could join burial societies along with free people of modest means and freed slaves who pooled their resources to ensure decent entombment and commemoration.<ref>Keith Hopkins, ''Death and Renewal: Society Studies in Roman History'', vol. 2 (Cambridge University Press, 1983), pp. 213–214, citing Digest ([[Aelius Marcianus|Marcian]]) 47.22.3.2</ref> Most slaves did not have the opportunity to develop a personal relationship with a free person or participate in social networking and were disposed of in mass graves along with "free" people who were destitute.<ref>MacMullen, "The Unromanized in Rome", p. 53.</ref> The Augustan poet [[Horace]], himself the son of a freedman, wrote of "a fellow slave contracted to transport the castaway corpses to narrow rooms on a cheap chest; here lay the common grave of the wretched masses."<ref>MacMullen, "The Unromanized in Rome", p. 53, citing Horace, ''Satire'' 1.8.</ref>

Although slaves were denied the right to make contracts or conduct other legal matters in their own name, it was possible for a master to allow his slave to make less formal arrangements that functioned like a will.<ref>Meyer, "Explaining the Epigraphic Habit", p. 80, citing Pliny, ''Epistle'' 8.16.</ref>

==Slavery and Roman morality==
[[File:Bursa archaeological museum Slave statuette 7643.jpg|thumb|Statuette of a slave from the [[Bursa Archaeological Museum]]]]

Slavery as an institution was practiced within every community of the Greco-Roman world, including Jewish and Christian communities who at times struggled to reconcile the practice within their beliefs. Some Jewish sects, such as the [[Essenes]] and [[Therapeutae]], did articulate anti-slavery principles—which is one of the things that "made them look like fringe utopians" for their time.<ref>{{harvnb|Fuhrmann|2012|at=27, n. 27.}}</ref> Both literary and juristic texts in Latin invoke ''[[humanitas]]'' as a principle in relations with slaves, a virtue that broadly encompasses the quality of living as a fully realized human being,<ref>Stagl, "''Favor libertatis''", pp. 231–232, citing as one example Digest 2823.4 (Paulus libro 17 quaestionum).</ref> and [[Pliny the Younger|Pliny]] asserts that a master whose treatment of slaves is based only on economic considerations is not fully human.<ref>Jacobo Rodríguez Garrido, "Imperial Legislation Concerning Junian Latins: From Tiberius to the Severan Dynasty", in ''Junian Latins'', p. 106.</ref>

The apparent ease of manumission, along with some Roman laws and practices that mitigated slavery, has led some scholars{{who|date=May 2025}} to view Roman slavery as a more benign institution, or at least a more open system, than the race-based [[Atlantic slave trade]].<ref>Wiedemann, "The Regularity of Manumission at Rome", p. 162.</ref> The majority of slaves suffered in grinding toil but are mostly silent and undifferentiated in ancient sources, while the freedmen and imperial slaves who enjoyed social mobility are represented because of their success: "the ideology of slaveowning had been successfully transmitted to those who had once been its victims."<ref>Keith Bradley, "'The Bitter Chain of Slavery': Reflections on Slavery in Ancient Rome", Snowden Lectures, Hellenic Centre of Harvard University (November 2, 2020), https://chs.harvard.edu/curated-article/snowden-lectures-keith-bradley-the-bitter-chain-of-slavery</ref>

The [[Roman virtues|Roman concept of the virtues]] and what it meant to be moral was not founded on the value of an individual life and preserving it, regardless of the social status of that life.<ref>[[Jörg Rüpke]], "You Shall Not Kill: Hierarchies of Norms in Ancient Rome", ''Numen'' 39:1 (1992), p. 62.</ref> In early Rome as the [[Twelve Tables]] were being formulated, murder was regarded as a pollution of the community that had to be expiated.<ref>Rüpke, "You Shall Not Kill", pp. 60–62.</ref> <!-- missing here is that the Twelve Tables also specified a scale of value in which harm to a citizens called for greater penalties than harm to a slave -->Killing an individual was sanctioned when doing so removed a threat from the community, as in war and for capital punishment; homicide was not a statutory offense under Roman law until 80 BC.<ref>Rüpke, "You Shall Not Kill", pp. 59–61.</ref> "'Life', taken as individual existence, is not significant", [[Jörg Rüpke]] has observed of [[mos maiorum|Roman morality]]. "It is important only instrumentally."<ref name="Rüpke p. 62">Rüpke, "You Shall Not Kill", p. 62.</ref>

The value of the life of a slave differed from that of a conquering general in the nature of this [[Instrumental and intrinsic value|instrumentality]]: the murder of a slave—a "speaking tool" ''(instrumentum vocale)'', in the words of Varro<ref>Varro, ''De re rustica'' 1.17.1, as cited by Bradley, "Animalizing the Slave", p. 110.</ref>—under law was property loss to the owner.<ref name="Rüpke p. 62"/> And yet in the ''[[Satyricon]]'', [[Petronius]] has [[Trimalchio]] assert that "slaves too are men. The milk they have drunk is just the same even if an evil fate has oppressed them."<ref>{{cite journal |last=Westermann |first=William Linn |year=1942 |title=Industrial Slavery in Roman Italy |journal=The Journal of Economic History |volume=2 |issue=2 |page=161|doi=10.1017/S0022050700052542 |s2cid=154607039 }}</ref> When the jurists argue for resolution of legal issues in favor of slaves, they draw on a Roman vocabulary of moral duty ''([[pietas]])'', decency ''([[pudor]])'', respect ''(reverentia)'', traditional morals ''([[mos maiorum|mores maiorum]])'', and the need for kindliness ''(benignitas)'' to prevent ''duritia'', a hardening of the heart.<ref>Finkenauer, "''Filii naturales''", pp. 44–46, 64–65.</ref> The many, sometimes inadvertent acknowledgments of the slave's humanity in Roman literature and law; the individual expressions of esteem or affection toward a slave by an owner; and pleas for the humanitarian treatment of slaves particularly among Stoics all produce a dissonance.<ref>{{harvtxt|Westermann, ''The Slave Systems of Greek and Roman Antiquity''|pp= 116}} (citing here too the ''Cena Trimalchionis'' 71.1), 157.</ref> within a moral framework largely dependent on [[utilitarianism]]{{sfn|Bradley, ''Animalizing the Slave''|p=}} or at best "[[enlightened self-interest]]".{{sfn|Westermann, ''The Slave Systems of Greek and Roman Antiquity''|p=76}}

In his book ''Ideas of Slavery from Aristotle to Augustine'', [[Peter Garnsey]] outlines six moral views that express various and inconsistent "anxieties and tensions" inherent in slavery throughout [[Classical antiquity]] in [[Slavery in ancient Greece|Greek]], Roman, [[Jewish views on slavery|Jewish]], and [[Christian views on slavery|Christian]] thought:<ref>Peter Garnsey, ''Ideas of Slavery from Aristotle to Augustine'' (Cambridge University Press, 1996), p. 238 for "anxieties and tensions", as outlined by Keith Bradley, "The Problem of Slavery in Classical Culture" (review article), ''Classical Philology'' 92:3 (1997), p. 277.</ref>

:1. Slavery is natural, a normative view most notoriously expressed by [[Aristotle]].

:2. Slavery can be justified for its utility— culturally, the most "numerous and authoritative" of the views expressed.<ref name="Garnsey, p. 238">Garnsey, ''Ideas of Slavery'', p. 238.</ref>

:3. Slavery is an evil and should be condemned as an institution—"few and isolated" voices<ref name="Garnsey, p. 238"/> not to be construed as an  [[abolitionism|abolitionist]] movement.<ref>Bradley, "The Problem of Slavery", pp. 276–277.</ref>

:4. The institution of slavery can be abused, and these abuses, such as the wrongful enslavement of free people, can be criticized and corrected.<ref>Bradley, "The Problem of Slavery", p. 277.</ref>

:5. Slaves are human beings worthy of humane regard.

:6. There is an obligation to improve the conditions under which slaves live.

===Stoic philosophy===
The [[Stoicism|Stoic]] affirmation of universal human dignity extended to slaves and women.<ref>[[Martha Nussbaum|Martha C. Nussbaum]], ''The Fragility of Goodness: Luck and Ethics in Greek Tragedy and Philosophy'' (Cambridge University Press, 2001), p. xx.</ref> Cicero, who had some Stoic inclinations, did not think that slaves were by nature inferior.{{sfn|Treggiari, "The Freedmen of Cicero"|pp=195, citing Cicero's ''Paradoxa Stoicorum'' (46 BC),  5.33 ff.}} Because human dignity was inherent, it could not be affected by external circumstances such as enslavement or poverty. The individual's dignity could be damaged, however, by a lack of self-governance. Anger and cruelty damaged the person who felt them, and therefore a slave owner ought to exercise ''[[clementia]]'', mildness or mercy, toward those who were slaves by law. But since emotion-based compassion was likewise a response to external conditions, it was not grounds for political action—true freedom was wisdom, and true slavery the lack thereof. By denying that material and institutional conditions for human flourishing mattered, Stoics had no impulse toward abolition and were limited to seeing the institution of slavery as, in the words of [[Martha Nussbaum]], "no big deal".<ref>Martha Nussbaum, ''The Therapy of Desire: Theory and Practice in Hellenistic Ethics'' (Princeton University Press, 1994), p. 505.</ref> From a philosophical perspective, what mattered was the conduct of the individual owner, not the reform of legal institutions.<ref>C.&nbsp;E. Manning, "Stoicism and Slavery in the Roman Empire", ''Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt'' II.36.3 (1972), p. 1523.</ref>

One of the major Roman-era Stoic philosophers, [[Epictetus]], spent his youth as a slave.<ref>Nussbaum, ''The Therapy of Desire'', pp. 331, 513.</ref>

===Epicurean philosophy===
The [[Epicureanism|Epicureans]] admitted enslaved people to their philosophical circles and, like the Stoics, rejected the Aristotelian view that some people were destined by nature to be slaves. In Epicurean terms, slavery was an ''eventum'', an accident that might befall a person, not a ''coniunctum'', something inseparable from a person's nature.<ref>C.&nbsp;E. Manning, "Stoicism and Slavery in the Roman Empire", ''Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt'' II.36.3 (1972), p. 1522, citing [[Lucretius]] 1.455–458.</ref> But Epicureans never advocated for abolition, and again like the Stoics and other philosophical schools, they spoke of slavery most often as a metaphor, specifically the moral state of "enslavement" to custom or other psychological ills.<ref>[[Ilaria Ramelli]], ''Social Justice and the Legitimacy of Slavery: The Role of Philosophical Asceticism from Ancient Judaism to Late Antiquity'' (Oxford University Press, 2016), pp. 60–61.</ref>

The Epicurean poet and philosopher [[Philodemus]] (1st century BC) wrote a treatise ''On Anger'' in which he admonishes masters not to impede their moral progress by directing violence or inhumane or indecent acts against slaves; he attributes violent rebellion among slaves to the injustices perpetrated by their masters. In the treatise ''On Property Management'', Philodemus proposes that slaves should receive moral instruction, recognizing them as capable of learning and of acting as moral agents.<ref>Ramelli, ''Social Justice and the Legitimacy of Slavery'', p. 61.</ref> A good property manager should show mildness of character, sensitivity, philanthropy, and decency towards slaves and all subordinates,<ref>Voula Tsouna, ''Philodemus, "On Property Management"'' (Society of Biblical Literature, 2012), p. xxx, citing Philodemus, ''On Property Management'' 9.32; 10.15–21; 23.4–5, 20–22.</ref> whereas the wealth-obsessed manager will not refrain from exploiting slave labor in the mines.<ref>Tsouna, ''Philodemus, "On Property Management"'', p. xxxii, citing 23.4–5.</ref> It is not shameful, however, to earn income from property, and that includes slaves if they are employing their skills or arts in ways that are appropriate to them and do not require "excessive toil" from anyone.<ref>Tsouna, ''Philodemus, "On Property Management"'', p. xxxix and xl, citing 23.22.</ref>

===Early Christian attitudes toward slavery===
{{see also|The Bible and slavery|Christianity and slavery}}
Roman Christians preached that slaves were human beings and not things ''(res)'',<ref>n, ''Slavery Systems'', p. 150.</ref> but while slaves were regarded as human beings with souls that needed to be saved, [[Jesus of Nazareth]] said nothing toward abolishing slavery, nor were religionists of the faith admonished against owning slaves in the first two centuries of Christianity's existence.<ref>Western, ''Slave Systems'', p. 150, and especially notes 5–7 for further discussion.</ref> The [[parables of Jesus]] that refer in English translations to "servants" are in fact about slaves (Greek ''douloi''),<ref>Mary Ann Beavis, "Ancient Slavery as an Interpretive Context for the New Testament Servant Parables with Special Reference to the Unjust Steward (Luke 16:1-8)", ''Journal of Biblical Literature'' 111:1 (1992), p. 37.</ref> and the "faithful parabolic slave" is rewarded with greater responsibilities, not manumission.<ref>[[Jennifer Glancy|Jennifer A. Glancy]], "Slaves and Slavery in the Matthean Parables", ''Journal of Biblical Literature'' 119:1 (2000), p. 70.</ref>

There is little evidence that Christian theologians of the Roman Imperial era problematized slavery as morally indefensible.  Certain senior Christian leaders (such as [[Gregory of Nyssa]] and [[John Chrysostom]]) called for good treatment for slaves and condemned slavery, while others supported it.{{Citation needed|date=August 2021}} That Christians might be susceptible to accusations of hypocrisy from outside the faith was anticipated in [[Christian apologetics]], such as [[Lactantius]]'s defense that both slave and free were inherently equal before God.<ref>{{harvtxt|Westermann, ''The Slave Systems of Greek and Roman Antiquity''|p=151}}, citing Lactantius, ''Institutiones divinae'' 5.10.</ref> [[Salvian]], a Christian monk writing polemic for Christian slaveowners in Gaul around AD 440, wrote that kindly treatment could be a more effective way of obtaining obedience than physical punishment, but he still regarded slaves as 'wicked and worthy of our contempt', and he never imagined a social system without slavery.<ref name="chs.harvard.edu">'The Bitter Chain of Slavery': Reflections on Slavery in Ancient Rome. Keith Bradley. Curated studies. Hellenic Centre of Harvard University. https://chs.harvard.edu/curated-article/snowden-lectures-keith-bradley-the-bitter-chain-of-slavery/</ref> [[Augustine of Hippo|Saint Augustine]], who came from an aristocratic background and likely grew up in a home where slave labor was utilized, described slavery as being against God's intention and resulting from sin.<ref>{{cite web|author1=Augustine of Hippo|author-link1=Augustine of Hippo|title=Chapter 15 - Of the Liberty Proper to Man's Nature, And the Servitude Introduced by Sin", ''City of God'' 19|url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/120119.htm|access-date=11 February 2016}}</ref>

===Sexual ethics and attitudes===
{{Further|Sexuality in ancient Rome#Master-slave relations}}
Because slaves were regarded as property under Roman law, the slaveholder had license to use them for sex or to hire them out to service other people.<ref>[[Elaine Fantham]], "''Stuprum'': Public Attitudes and Penalties for Sexual Offences in Republican Rome", in ''Roman Readings: Roman Responses to Greek Literature from Plautus to Statius and Quintilian'' (Walter de Gruyter, 2011), pp. 118, 128.</ref> While sexual attitudes differed substantially among the Jewish community, up to the 2nd century AD it was still assumed that male slaveholders would have sexual access to female slaves within their own household, an assumption not subjected to Christian criticism in the [[New Testament]],<ref>Jennifer A. Glancy, "The Sexual Use of Slaves: A Response to Kyle Harper on Jewish and Christian ''Porneia''", ''Journal of Biblical Literature'' 134:1 (2015), pp. 215-229.</ref> though the use of prostitutes was prohibited.<ref>Jennifer A. Glancy, "Obstacles to Slaves' Participation in the Corinthian Church", ''Journal of Biblical Literature'' 117:3 (1998), p. 483.</ref> [[Salvian]] (5th century AD) condemned the immorality of his audience in regarding their female slaves as natural outlets for their sexual appetites, exactly as "pagan" masters had done in the time of [[Martial]].<ref name="chs.harvard.edu"/>

[[Mos maiorum|Traditional Roman morality]] had some moderating influence, and upper-class slaveholders who exploited their ''familia'' for sex were criticized if this use became known as indiscreet or excessive. Social censure was not so much indignation at the owner's abuse of the slave as disdain for his lack of self-mastery.<ref>Neil W. Bernstein, "Adoptees and Exposed Children in Roman Declamation: Commodification, Luxury, and the Threat of Violence", ''Classical Philology'' 104:3 (2009), 338–339.</ref> It reflected poorly on an upper-class male to resort sexually to a female slave of his household, but a right to consent or refuse did not exist for her.<ref>[[Martha Nussbaum|Martha C. Nussbaum]], "The Incomplete Feminism of Musonius Rufus, Platonist, Stoic, and Roman" in ''The Sleep of Reason: Erotic Experience and Sexual Ethics in Ancient Greece and Rome'' (University of Chicago Press, 2002), pp. 307–308</ref><ref>Holt Parker, "Free Women and Male Slaves, or Mandingo meets the Roman Empire", in ''Fear of Slaves—Fear of Enslavement in the Ancient Mediterranean'' (Presses universitaires de Franche-Comté, 2007), p. 286, observing that having sex with one's own slaves was considered "one step up from masturbation".</ref>  The treatment of slaves and their own conduct within the elite ''domus'' contributed to the perception of the household's respectability. The ''materfamilias'' in particular was judged by her female slaves' sexual behavior, which was expected to be moral or at least discreet;{{sfn|Harper, ''Slavery in the Late Roman World, AD 275–425''|pp=294–295}} as ''domina'', she had the right to exercise control over  sexual access to female slaves who were her property.{{efn|Gaca's argument is not primarily based on property rights but on the idea that rape would be an imposition of the military sphere on the ''domus''.{{sfn|Gaca, "Controlling Female Slave Sexuality and Men's War-Driven Sexual Desire"|pp=42, 50, ''et passim''}}}} This decorum may have helped alleviate the sexual exploitation of ''ancillae'' within the household,{{sfn|Harper, ''Slavery in the Late Roman World, AD 275–425''|pp=294–295}} along with men having easy, even ubiquitous access outside the home to legal, inexpensive, and often highly specialized services from professional sex workers.<ref>{{harvtxt|Flemming, "Quae Corpore Quaestum Facit"|p=45}}, and citing [[Andrew Wallace-Hadrill]], "Public Honour and Private Shame: The Urban Texture of Pompeii" in ''Urban Society in Roman Italy'' (1995), 39–62.</ref>

"Not one single surviving legal text refers in any way whatever to sexual abuse of slave children", states legal historian [[Alan Watson (legal scholar)|Alan Watson]]—presumably because no special protections were afforded by law to child slaves.{{sfn|Watson, "Roman Slave Law and Romanist Ideology"|p=56}} Some household staff, such as [[cup-bearer]]s for dinner parties, generally boys, were chosen at a young age for their grace and good looks, qualities that were cultivated, sometimes through formal training, to convey sexual allure and potential use by guests.{{sfn|Laes, "Child Slaves at Work in Roman Antiquity"|pp=253, 255}}

A slave's own expressions of sexuality were closely controlled. An estate owner usually restricted the heterosexual activities of his male slaves to females he also owned; any children born from these unions added to his wealth.{{sfn|Cantarella, ''Bisexuality in the Ancient World''|p=103}} Because home-reared slaves were valued, female slaves on an estate were encouraged to have children with approved male partners. There is little or no evidence that estate owners bought women for the purpose of "breeding", since the useful proportion of male to female slaves was constrained by the fewer number of tasks for which women were employed.{{sfn|Harris, "Towards a Study of the Roman Slave Trade"|pp=120, 135 (n. 36)}}

[[File:Fresco depicting an erotic scene, from the cubiculum of the villa of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, 1st century AD, Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, Rome - 12172004766.jpg|thumb|Two slaves stand by as a bride awakens to sexuality on her wedding night,{{sfn|Clarke, ''Looking at Lovemaking''|pp=99–101}} in a bedroom fresco from the Casa della Farnesina, [[Trastevere]].]]

Despite the controls and restrictions placed on a slave's sexuality, Roman art and literature often perversely portray slaves as lascivious, voyeuristic, and sexually knowing, indicating a deep ambivalence about master-slave relations.{{sfn|Harper, ''Slavery in the Late Roman World, AD 275–425''|pp=203–204}} Roman art connoisseurs did not shy away from displaying explicit sexuality in their collections at home,{{sfn|Clarke, ''Looking at Lovemaking''|p=93}} but when figures identifiable as slaves appear in erotic paintings within a domestic scenario, they are either hovering in the background or performing routine peripheral tasks, not engaging in sex.<ref>Parker, "Free Women and Male Slaves", p. 283.</ref>

However, most prostitutes were slaves{{sfn|Flemming, "Quae Corpore Quaestum Facit"|p=41}} or freedwomen, and paintings found in Roman brothels ''([[lupanar]]ia)'' feature prostitutes performing sex acts.{{citation needed|date=October 2023}} Sexual services were cheap enough that urban male slaves, unlike their rural counterparts,  could frequent brothels to seek gratification, just as upper-class men did, making the ''lupanar'' one of the most egalitarian facilities among men in Roman society.{{sfn|Flemming, "Quae Corpore Quaestum Facit"|p=}}{{page needed|date=February 2025}} Like slavery, prostitution was a legal way to use a human body other than one's own—and in both cases a use that a free person was to resist absolutely in the name of liberty.{{sfn|Flemming, "Quae Corpore Quaestum Facit"|pp=60–61}}

The dynamics of [[Sexuality in ancient Rome#Male sexuality|Roman phallocentric sex]] were such that an adult male was free to enjoy same-sex relations without compromising his perceived virility, but only as an exercise of dominance and not with his adult peers or their underage sons—in effect, he was to limit his [[Sexuality in ancient Rome#Male–male sex|male sexual partners]], whatever the desired age, to prostitutes or slaves. The Imperial poet [[Martial]] describes a specialized market to meet this demand, located at the [[Saepta Julia|Julian Saepta]] in the [[Campus Martius]].{{sfn|Harris, "Towards a Study of the Roman Slave Trade"|p=138, n. 90|ps=citing Martial 9.59.1–6.}} [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]] expressed [[Sexuality in ancient Rome#Stoic sexual morality|Stoic indignation]] that a male slave should be groomed effeminately and used sexually, because a slave's human dignity should not be debased.<ref>Nussbaum, ''The Sleep of Reason'', p. 308, citing Seneca, ''Epistula'' 47</ref><ref>Bernstein, "Adoptees", p. 339, n. 32, citing Seneca, ''Controversia'' 10.4.17 on the cruelty of castrating male slaves to prolong their appeal to [[Pederasty in ancient Rome|pederasts]].</ref> [[Eunuch]]s castrated under the age of ten were rare and as expensive as a skilled artisan.<ref>{{harvtxt|Laes, ''Child Slaves at Work in Roman Antiquity''|p=245}}, citing ''Digest'' 9.2.27.8 and 39.4.16.7; Suetonius, ''Domitian'' 7.1; Pliny, ''Natural History'' 7.129.</ref>  The trade in eunuch slaves during the reign of [[Hadrian]] prompted legislation prohibiting the castration of a slave against his will "for lust or gain".<ref>Ra'anan Abusch, "Circumcision and Castration under Roman Law in the Early Empire", in ''The Covenant of Circumcision: New Perspectives on an Ancient Jewish Rite'' (Brandeis University Press, 2003), pp. 77–78.</ref>

The significant body of law and legal argumentation pertaining to slavery and prostitution indicates that Romans recognized the moral conflict between their family values and forcing a woman into prostitution.{{sfn|Flemming, "Quae Corpore Quaestum Facit"|p=53}} The contract when a slave was sold might include a ''ne serva prostituatur'' [[covenant (law)|covenant]] that prohibited the employment of the slave as a prostitute. The restriction remained in force for the term of enslavement and throughout subsequent sales, and if it was violated, the illegally prostituted slave was granted freedom, regardless of whether the buyer had known the covenant was originally attached.{{sfn|McGinn, ''Prostitution, Sexuality, and the Law in Ancient Rome''|p=288ff, especially p. 297 on manumission}}

No laws prohibited a Roman from exploiting slaves he owned for sex, but he was not entitled to compel any enslaved person he chose to have sex; doing so might be regarded as a form of theft, since the owner retained the right to his property.{{sfn|Cantarella, ''Bisexuality in the Ancient World''|p=103}} If a free man did force himself on someone else's slave for sex, he could not be charged with rape because the slave lacked legal personhood. But an owner who wanted to press charges against a man who raped someone in his ''familia'' might do so under the ''[[Lex Aquilia]]'', a law that allowed him to seek property damages.{{sfn|McGinn, ''Prostitution, Sexuality, and the Law in Ancient Rome''|p=314}}<ref>Jane F. Gardner, ''Women in Roman Law and Society'' (Indiana University Press, 1991), p. 119.</ref>

==In Latin and Imperial Greek literature==
Slaves appear widely in genres of Roman literature written mostly by or for the elite, including history, letters, drama, satire, and prose narrative. These expressions may have served to navigate master-slave relationships in terms of slaves' behavior and punishment. Literary examples often focus on extreme cases, such as the crucifixion of hundreds of slaves for the murder of their master, and while such instances are exceptional, the underlying problems must have concerned the authors and audiences.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Hopkins |first=Keith |year=1993 |title=Novel Evidence for Roman Slavery |journal=Past & Present |issue=138 |pages=6, 8|doi=10.1093/past/138.1.3 }}</ref>

Lost works thought to have been written by slaves or former slaves include a history of the Sicilian slave rebellions by [[Caecilius of Calacte]] and a biographical collection by [[Hermippos of Berytus]] on slaves celebrated for their learning.<ref>Keith Bradley and Paul Cartledge, introduction to ''The Cambridge World History of Slavery: Volume 1, The Ancient Mediterranean World'' (Cambridge UP, 2011), p. 3.</ref>

===Roman comedy===
[[File:Sousse mosaic theatre.JPG|thumb|250px|Mosaic depicting a scene from a Roman comedy, with the slave in chains (Tunisia, 3rd century AD)]]
[[File:Actor slave Massimo.jpg|thumb|upright=.6|Bronze figurine of an actor wearing a comic mask and portraying a slave (3rd century AD)]]
{{Main|Theatre of ancient Rome}}

Slaves are depicted ubiquitously in the Roman comedies of [[Plautus]] and [[Terence]]. In Roman comedy, ''servi'' or slaves make up the majority of the stock characters, and generally fall into two basic categories: loyal slaves and tricksters. Loyal slaves often help their master in their plan to woo or obtain a lover—the most popular driver of plot in Roman comedy. Slaves are often dim, timid, and worried about what punishments may befall them.

Trickster slaves are more numerous and often use their masters' unfortunate situation to create a "topsy-turvy" world in which they are the masters and their masters are subservient to them. The master will often ask the slave for a favor and the slave only complies once the master has made it clear that the slave is in charge, beseeching him and calling him lord, sometimes even a god.<ref name="Segal">Segal, Erich. ''Roman Laughter: The Comedy of Plautus.'' New York: Oxford University Press, 1968. (99–169).</ref> These slaves are threatened with numerous punishments for their treachery, but always escape the fulfillment of these threats through their wit.<ref name="Segal"/>

Plautus' plays represent slavery "as a complex institution that raised perplexing problems in human relationships involving masters and slaves".{{sfn|Stewart, ''Plautus and Roman Slavery''|p=}}{{page missing|date=May 2025}}

Terence added a new element to how slaves were portrayed in his plays, due to his personal background as a former slave. In the work ''[[Andria (comedy)|Andria]]'', slaves are central to the plot. Many times throughout the play, slaves are allowed to engage in activity, such as the inner and personal lives of their owners, that would not normally be seen with slaves in every day society. This is a form of satire by Terence due to the unrealistic nature of events that occurs between slaves and citizens in his plays.{{sfn|Terence, ''Andria''|p=}}{{page needed|date=May 2025}}

==See also==
* [[Slavery in ancient Greece]]
* [[Slavery in antiquity]]
* [[History of slavery]]
* [[Slavery in the Byzantine Empire|Slavery in the Eastern Roman Empire]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist|21em}}

===Works cited===
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===General references===
* {{Cite book|last1=Bowman|first1=Alan K.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mhNUGgG2eacC|title=The Cambridge Ancient History XI: The High Empire, A.D. 70–192|last2=Garnsey|first2=Peter|last3=Rathbone|first3=Dominic|date=1982|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-26335-1}}
* {{cite book |last=Santosuosso |first=Antonio |year=2001 |title=Storming the Heavens |publisher=Westview Press |isbn=978-0-8133-3523-0 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/stormingheavenss00sant_0 |ref={{harvid|Santosuosso, ''Storming the Heavens''}}}}

==Further reading==
* Fitzgerald, William. 2000. ''Slavery and the Roman Literary Imagination.'' Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
* Hunt, Peter. 2018. ''Ancient Greek and Roman Slavery.'' Chichester, UK: Wiley Blackwell.
* {{cite book | last=Garrido | first=Jacobo Rodríguez | title=Emperadores y esclavos <!-- | location=Besançon -->| date=2023 | publisher=Presses universitaires de Franche-Comté | isbn=978-2-84867-961-7 | language=es}}
* {{cite book | last=Sayın | first=Baha Yigit | title=Roma'da Köle ve Hukuku <!-- | location=İstanbul: Oniki Levha -->| date=2020 | publisher=XII Levha Yayınevi | isbn= 978-625-7899-42-0 | language=tr}}
* {{Cite book|last=Yavetz|first=Zvi|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V3w3dqCYyT0C|title=Slaves and Slavery in Ancient Rome|date=1988-01-01|publisher=Transaction Publishers|isbn=978-1-4128-3413-1}}

== External links ==
{{commons category|Slavery in ancient Rome}}
{{Library resources box |by=no |onlinebooks=yes |others=yes |about=yes |label=Slavery in ancient Rome
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{{Ancient Rome topics}}

[[Category:Slavery in ancient Rome| ]]
[[Category:Social class in ancient Rome]]
[[Category:Economy of ancient Rome]]