ROMAN SLAVERY

Roman Slavery

Roman Slavery

Introduction

Little is known about the origins of slavery in Rome. However, it was common in ancient societies to keep slaves. The likely origin of Rome as a small village, or collection of villages, lends itself easily to early slavery. It would not have been uncommon for even a small village to maintain a few slaves; captured from another local village or perhaps bought through trade. However, there are a few references to slavery before the third century BC, and those speak of small-scale slavery. Only the extremely rich could afford these slaves, and even then, they could only afford a few slaves. With military victories and expansion, slavery grew at an incredible rate. With victory came money, and with money came more slaves.

Growth of Slavery

In 225 B.C., there were an estimated 600,000 slaves in Roman Italy, but only 194 years later that number grew to approximately two million. This included a growth from 15% to 35% of the total population. These numbers reveal the extent of the institution of slavery in Roman society. In a study of Roman tombstones, nearly three times as many inscriptions memorialized ex-slaves as freeborn citizens. These numbers reveal an astounding number of inhabitants of Rome who were once slaves. As the numbers of slaves rose, so did the number of occupations in which slaves were used. Initially serving only as domestic servants, masters eventually used slaves in virtually every realm of life from brute manual labor to the intellectual tasks of teaching and government office.

Contrary to the American experience, Roman slavery was not primarily an issue of race or ethnicity. However, slaves from abroad often looked different from their Roman masters. In the earlier days of Rome, when the city was less diverse, light-skinned, blue-eyed slaves would stand out, and Romans might easily identify them as slaves. Some ethnicities were used in certain slave occupations more than others. For example, Romans preferred Ethiopians, Egyptians, and Asiatics as personal attendants.



Slave Rights

Most slave owners allowed their slaves some measure of freedom. Slaves could own their own property, though this normally consisted of money. This property was called a peculium. Often masters paid their slaves for their services, though this compensation was normally nominal. While a slave's peculium technically belonged to his or her master, it was uncouth for a master to appropriate his or her slave's holdings. A slave could use his or her money for nearly any purpose; two uses, however, were most common. The first was the purchase of a slave of his or her own. It was possible for slaves to purchase their own slave to either do their work for them or to do any other various tasks they wished. The second common use for a peculium was to purchase one's own freedom. It was not uncommon for a master to free a slave if the slave could pay the master for a replacement.

Despite the large number of educated and skilled slaves coming in from abroad, ...