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Tana Petko

Crattie

Latin II

1 December 2016

Roman Slavery

Slavery in the ancient world of Rome was essential to the progress of their civilization.

Slaves served in households, agriculture, mines, military, manufacturing, workshop,

construction, and several other services in the city were completed by the large slave population

of Rome. While it was ordinary to see slavery throughout the Mediterranean, it was a vital role in

Romes social system and economy. Slaves were the fabric of roman society; without them

Rome would have not been the Rome we hear of today.

Slavery was the complete mastery of one individual over another. In Rome, slavery was a

common theme and it was not seen as unjust in this situation on the part of the rulers, 1 in 5

people were slaves throughout Rome, therefore slavery almost became invisible to the

population as it was accepted as a part of everyday life. They held the belief that the freedom of

some people was only possible because others were enslaved. Romans never perceived slavery

as an evil thing, especially if the slave was taken from the losers in the battle.

The role of a slave differed from slave to slave. Some had special skills such as cooking

and those were used for that skill and bought for a higher price which meant the slave owner was

more than likely going to treat them better than a regular worker slave. In fact, one of the worst

treated slaves was the agricultural slaves. They were relatively cheap and could easily be

replaced unlike a slave with a special skill set. They would live in poor prison-like conditions

and often kept in chains. Skeletal remains found in Pompeii revealed slaves chained together
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with signs of arthritis and distortion of limbs which could only come from excessive work in

extremely poor conditions. Of course slaves were treated in many different ways depending on

the time period, situations, and the household itself.

The romans had the law that slaves had the ability to gain their freedom, this was called

manumission. There were two ways a slave could gain their freedom. One way was if the owner

granted their freedom after loyal service, this was not popular but it happened every now and

then. Another way a slave could earn their freedom was to buy themselves from the owner, the

slave would have to give their owner the amount they bought them for to earn this freedom.

Since slaves only got meager earnings (if any at all) it was not likely or common to become free

this way either. The castration of slaves was outlawed by the Romans in the late first century AD,

many ignored this law and others turned their heads as if it was legal. Later rules against the

long-distance transfer of sold children or the separation of slave families may not have had much

effect either. There was a roman law that stated that dealers were required to disclose the ethnic

origin of slaves, because some groups were considered more desirable than others.

Purchasing slaves was like going to the store to buy groceries in Rome. There were slave

markets often located in the middle of town showing off the slaves to the potential buyers in the

market. Slaves were displayed on platforms and could be undressed for closer inspection; new

arrivals were marked with chalked feet. Slaves wore play cards that advertised their qualities

around their necks. Some of the information included origin, state of health, and propensity to

run off; if the slave wore a special cap it meant the seller would not offer guarantees. Slave sales

were dominated by individuals in their teens and twenties. Known slave pries are rare to find and

the ones we do have show that prices were highly sensitive to age. It was suggested that real
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slave prices in the first three centuries AD of the order of about 4 tons (+/- 50%) of wheat

equivalent for a young adult slave of moderate skills.

In conclusion, the entire roman state and culture was built on the exploitation of one part

of the population to provide for the other part. Regarded as a commodity, any good treatment a

slave received was largely only to preserve their value as a worker and as an asset in the case of

future sale. Although some slave owners were more generous than others and there was, in a few

cases, the possibility of earning ones freedom but the harsh reality of the vast majority of roman

slaves was certainly an unenviable one

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Works Cited

Mark Cartwright. Slavery in the Roman World, Ancient History Encyclopedia. Last modified
November 01, 2013. http://www.ancient.eu /article/629/.

Scheidel, Walter. The Roman Slave Supply. May 2007. Accessed December 4, 2016.
https://www.princeton.edu/~pswpc/pdfs/scheidel/050704.pdf.

UNRV. Roman Slavery. 2003. Accessed December 8, 2016. http://www.unrv.com/culture/roman-

slavery.php.