Roman Everyday Life & Slavery

1. Roman Everyday Life & Slavery

2. Money • No-one was paid for being part of the government—only the rich could afford to be elected. • No police force, no hospitals, no firemen (although rich people could have slaves to serve these purposes). • Patronage: • In return for help, a Roman would agree to do what his patron told him to do—think of it as a paid servant. • Patrons could also command their “servant” to vote for a certain person.

3. Slaves • In Rome and Italy, in the four centuries between 200 BC and 200 AD, perhaps a quarter or even a third of the population was made up of slaves. • Over time millions of men, women, and children lived their lives in a state of legal and social non-existence with no rights of any kind. • Those who fought against Rome knew that they could be sent to the slave-market if taken as a prisoner-of-war. They are often said to have killed themselves rather than face the prospect of enslavement • Romans generally saw the difference between the slave and the freeman as a difference in status, not as a matter of racial or cultural superiority and inferiority.

4. Slavery • Their economic systems became heavily dependent on the widespread existence of slave labour. Slaves laboured in the mines and in the empire's many farms and potteries. The state's public works were largely completed and maintained by slaves. • The abundance of slavery is also seen as having hampered technological advances in many industries, not least agriculture. For with the existence of so plentiful supply of labour at almost no cost, there was little reason to develop any forms of labour saving equipment. • The Romans never tried to abolish slavery as even the poorest family might have had a slave or two to do some work for them.

5. Attributes of slaves • Slaves were all sorts! It all depended on the owner, whether they worked in a home or in the fields and where they were from. • Well educated, and poorly educated • Some became part of their owner’s family • Sometimes treated well, sometime chained • Sometimes paid, sometimes not

6. Slave Rebellions • In 73-71 BC the gladiator Spartacus famously led an uprising of thousands of slaves in central Italy, formed an army that defeated several Roman legions, and at one point threatened Rome itself. • Spartacus himself died in battle, and thousands of his captured followers were crucified. • The Romans always feared another Spartacus. The philosopher Seneca tells of a proposal that was once made in the Roman senate requiring slaves to wear distinctive clothing so that they could be easily recognised. But once the senators realised that the slaves might then become conscious of their strength, and make common cause against their masters, they abandoned the idea.

7. Other forms of Rebellion • At other times, slaves who were unable to tolerate their conditions assaulted their owners. In the mid-first century AD an anonymous slave murdered his master, a high official in the imperial administration, either because the master had reneged on a promise to set the slave free or because the two were rivals in a sexual intrigue. • The aftermath was disastrous. Roman law required a man's slaves to come to his aid if he were attacked, under penalty of death. The law was enforced against those slaves who had not come to the victim's aid in this case, and all the slaves in the household - allegedly 400 of them - were executed, even though most of them could not possibly have known anything about the murder.

8. Even more ways… • There were other ways to alleviate the burdens of slavery. One was to try to escape, either to return to an original homeland or simply to find safe refuge somewhere. • To deal with the problem, the Romans hired professional slave-catchers to hunt down runaways, and posted advertisements in public places giving precise descriptions of fugitives and offering rewards for their capture. Around the necks of slaves who were recovered they also attached iron collars, giving instructions on what to do with the slaves who wore them if they happened to escape again. Examples can still be seen in museums.

9. Yet more ways…get that they weren’t friendly? • Slaves, for example, might steal food or other supplies from the household. Those in positions of responsibility might falsify record books, and embezzle money from their owners. • Ordinary farm labourers might deliberately go slow on the job, or injure the animals they worked with to avoid work - or they might pretend to be ill, destroy equipment, or damage buildings.

10. Freed Slaves • Slaves could be set free by their owners, manumitted. • Once free, they became clients of their owners (patronage) • Freed slaves could become very rich, even richer than their previous owners. • One freedman, owned 4116 slaves.

11. Bookwork • Read pages 31-32 • How would slave owners increase the number of slaves they owned? • What were owners responsible for? • What happened to slave’s babies if they were free? • Why were there more male than female slaves? Think of at least two reasons.