How did slaves live in ancient Rome?

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Without the slave, his work and skill, life in ancient Italy would have come to a standstill. The slave works in agriculture and in craft workshops, he is an actor and gladiator, teacher, doctor, secretary of the master and his assistant in literary and scientific work. As these occupations are varied, so are the way of life and life of these people; it would be a mistake to represent the slave mass as something single and uniform.

Buying a slave in ancient Rome. Contemporary illustration.

Who became slaves in ancient Rome? Until the IV century. BC. some of the slaves were Romans who owed creditors. After the adoption of the so-called "Law of Petelia", in case of bankruptcy, a Roman citizen could lose all property, but retained his freedom. From that time on, the enslavement of Roman citizens was not only prohibited, but also severely punished. Until the fall of the Western Roman Empire, slaves in Rome were persons of foreign origin who did not have Roman citizenship.

Still from the TV series Rome, far left - Caesar's slave and personal secretary.

However, there were two exceptions to this rule. First, it was possible to become a slave voluntarily by signing an appropriate contract with its future owner. So did those who wanted to be hired as a manager of a large farm or as a personal assistant to some noble. The Roman rich believed that it was too risky to entrust control over large sums and personal secrets to an ordinary hired worker, so only slaves were put in such posts.

Public slaves were also involved in cleaning city toilets. Painting by a contemporary artist.

Secondly, a Roman could become a slave by a court order. Such a slave belonged to the category of servi publici (slave intended for public works). As a rule, such a convicted slave was sent to hard labor, for example, to a quarry or mines. The ancient Romans, accustomed to order in everything, divided slaves into several categories. In addition to the two mentioned, there were three more categories: familia rustica (domestic servants), familia urbana (social slaves who did work for the city) and servi privati (all other slaves who were the property of private individuals).

Public slaves are building the road. Contemporary illustration.

Their lifestyles varied greatly. Public slaves were engaged in heavy and dirty work: building, laying roads, cleaning city sewers, etc. But their labor was strictly regulated, they were provided with housing and food, they could not be punished by the personal arbitrariness of the owner, since they belonged not to someone specific, but to the city community. In addition, the city authorities were interested in retaining the workforce and took care of their health.

Ancient agriculture in a painting by a contemporary artist.

The rural slaves were much worse off. But even here there was a huge difference between the life of a slave who belonged to an ordinary Roman peasant, and a slave who worked for a large latifundia. The former were not very different from ordinary rural laborers. Yes, they had to constantly work for their master, but they were treated quite humanly, and again, they tried to keep them healthy and able to work.

Agricultural slave labor. Contemporary illustration.

It was much worse to get to the latifundia, where slaves worked from dawn to dusk in the fields, under the constant supervision of overseers. In one of the texts of Cato, which was not the worst of the Roman slave owners, it is mentioned that 11 of his slaves had 7 trestle beds at their disposal, so they had to sleep in turns. The same Cato writes that the slaves in his household were divided into “untied” and chained, the latter being the majority. Fearing escapes, the owners of the latifundia often kept their slaves in chains, and they lived in the so-called ergastula - deep basements with narrow windows under the very ceiling.

Ancient Roman slaves decorate their mistress. 19th century engraving

City slaves, even those who worked in large workshops, found life much easier. They were not shackled into shackles, and they lived in the barracks, but still not in the punishment cell. Life was even better for those of the slaves who were lucky enough to get into the master's house. The lackeys, servants, and cooks had separate housing for servants in the annex to the master's house, and they ate quite decently. Worse were the domestic slaves of the capricious matrons. Their mistresses often vent their anger or simply impatience on their servants by stabbing them with pins if the process of creating a particularly complex hairstyle or selection of jewelry was delayed.

A teacher in ancient Rome. Contemporary illustration.

A special caste was made up of slaves of intellectual professions, for example, teachers of the Greek language or mathematics. Such a learned person could cost tens and hundreds of times more expensive than an ordinary illiterate slave. They were trusted to teach the children of the owners, these children became attached to them and usually, as adults, released their favorite teachers to freedom.

Prisoners turned into slavery. Contemporary illustration.

Such slaves lived in the master's house and enjoyed a certain freedom of movement, of course, subject to the fulfillment of the tasks for which they were purchased.

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