Slaves
Enslaved people in ancient Rome were legally dependent on owners, who controlled their labour and much of their lives. Slavery rested on coercion; its prevalence does not demonstrate the justice or efficiency of the social system. War captives, people seized and sold by traders, and children born to enslaved women supplied the enslaved population.
They worked in agriculture, households, crafts, estate administration and other occupations. Living conditions varied greatly, but even skilled workers and trusted managers lacked a citizen’s freedom. Manumission was possible, but depended on circumstances and the owner’s decision.
Roman mosaic with slaves. Dougga,Tunisia. 2nd century AD
Roman mosaic with slave and master. Sousse,Tunisia. 3rd century AD
The slaves are preparing for the festival. Mosaic. Carthage. It is kept in the Louvre Museum. 2nd century ADSlavery in Rome
War, kidnapping, human trafficking and birth to enslaved mothers supplied the enslaved population; their relative importance varied by time and region. Piracy was a particularly serious Mediterranean problem in the late second and early first centuries BCE, before Pompey’s campaign of 67.
Early Roman debt dependency was not identical to the later enslavement of war captives. The lex Poetelia was associated with limiting debt bondage. Particular penalties and special rules could still entail loss of freedom. For example, the Claudian senatus consultum concerning a free woman’s relationship with another person’s slave dates to 52 CE, not a general rule for the whole Republican period.
Slave trading extended across many regions. Taxes on transactions and manumission existed, but rates varied by period and type of payment; there was no universal scale throughout Roman history.
Bas-relief with a woman and her slave. Italy. 1-2 century AD
Bas-relief with a woman and her slave. Italy. 1-2 century AD
A guard with Roman slaves. Found in Izmir,Turkey. Stored in the Ashmolean Museum,England. 2-3 century ADSocial status of slaves
Living conditions differed considerably. A household manager or educated secretary might receive better food and clothing than a mine worker, but material comfort did not remove legal dependency.
Sexual exploitation was one expression of owners’ power. A gold bracelet from the Pompeii area, inscribed “dominus ancillae suae”, has been interpreted as an owner’s gift to an enslaved woman. The inscription is evidence for a relationship of dependency, but does not itself establish the nature of the relationship, consent or mutual affection.
Roman gold serpentine armilla from Pompeii with the inscription "dominus ancillae suae". 1st century ADSlaves were treated as possessions by the Romans, but that didn't mean that slaves were always treated badly. Like other property, they tried to protect the slaves so that they would not fall in value. Slaves could be raised and trained as "deposits" so that they could be resold profitably in the future. Often slaves were forced to wear special signs that testified to their slavery, they wrote the name of the owner with a request to return the slave in case of escape for a reward.
A slave collar. National Roman Museum. 3-4 century AD
Slave's sign. Roman Spain. 2nd century ADEnslaved people worked in farming, construction, transport, mining and numerous urban occupations. Chains and other coercive measures were used in some settings, but conditions were not identical for every worker.
Ordinary recruitment to citizen legions excluded slaves, although the state could arm and free them in emergencies. Gladiators included slaves, condemned people and free volunteers; gladiatorial combat was not an occupation restricted to slaves.
Roman document on the sale of a slave,A.D. 166.
Roman mining equipment,including slave shackles. Spain. 2nd-4th century AD
Slave Shackles,2nd-4th centuries AD,Great CasteronReconstruction
Clothing depended on occupation, working conditions, period and the household’s resources. There was no single compulsory “slave costume”. A simple tunic suited many tasks, but clothing alone often cannot establish the legal status of a depicted person.
Inscribed collars are known chiefly from late Roman finds and relate to preventing or controlling escape. They do not establish that every enslaved person in every period wore a metal collar. Reconstruction should follow specific representations or archaeological examples.
Rab,reconstructionRelated topics
- Tunic
- Balteus
- Sandals
- Subligaculum
- Armillae
- Saccus
- Wallet
- Roman society: orders and social relationships
- Roman citizenship: rights and legal status
Literature and sources
Vasilevsky M. G., Lipovsky A. L., Turaev B. A. Rabstvo // Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additions). - St. Petersburg,1890-1907. Elnitsky L. A. The emergence and development of slavery in Rome in the VIII-III centuries BC Moscow,1964. Slavery in the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire in the first and third centuries. Moscow,1977. Benjamin Constant (1767-1830) Lecture-speech (in French — discours): About freedom among the ancients in its comparison with freedom among modern people-a lecture on the concept of freedom in the Ancient world and its differences from the modern one, about this phenomenon.
Roman slaves build a wall. Fragment of a drawing on the wall. 1st century BC-2nd century ADInterested in Ancient Rome beyond reading? Join Legio X Fretensis or explore our reenactment directions.
