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INTRO TO ANCIENT ROME
Outline for
Lecture 12: Slavery (i)
- immense scale of slavery in Rome
- most extensive in Rome and Italy (1 out of 3 members of
society)
Manumission
- Romans unique in freeing slaves and granting them
citizenship (manumission)
- every Roman citizen had this power
- slave became a freedman (libertus); also a client of
former owner
Urban vs. Rural Slavery
- essential dichotomy: Greek/Eastern (civilized ~ urban)
vs. Western (barbarian ~ rural)
Urban Slavery
- best conditions
- slaves (esp. Greek) of the Roman household held
quasi-professional positions: as secretaries, teachers, and
physicians
- a good domestic slave often allowed contubernium, and
might hope for freedom
- cf. figure of the servus callidus, the clever slave of
Roman Comedy (e.g. Pseudolus)
- Greek slaves imparted Greek culture to Roman society
Abuse of Slaves
- slaves at absolute mercy of owners
- no recourse against torture, mistreatment, even murder
(cf. Vedius Pollio)
- murder by slave of Pedanius Secundus in AD 61; all 400
household slaves executed
Legal Torture
- connection between torture and slaves: physical
punishment and torture institutionalized
- torture practiced almost exclusively on slaves
(citizens could not be tortured)
Rural Slavery
- generally abysmal conditions, poor life expectancy
- e.g. latifundia or mines (cf. gladiator)
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