chapter 7 Flashcards
Antonine Constitution
212 AD (under Caracalla)
-roman citizenship for all free people in the empire
Slaves
-completely owned by someone else
-“talking tools”
-no property or family
libertus(male), liberta(female)
freed slaves
patronus
master becomes patron
obsequium
deference, allegiance, compliance
operae
work
imperial freedman
slaves freed by the emperor
freedmen names
-praenomen and nomen from master
-salve name at the end
how to gain citizenship or raise status
-manumission
-grants of citizenship to groups (ex. take nomen of general or emperor who granted freedom)
-hold elected office in your own city(provinces)
-army service(auxiliaries)
-wealth
class and status made visible
-toga (citizenship)
-stripes on toga (senator, equestrian)
-gold rings (equestrian)
-seating at theatre or colosseum
chattel slavery
• People as property
• No rights
•Law doesn’t recognize any family relations
•Can’t own property
• Not even your own body
•”Socially dead”
slave holding society
• Slaves are 20% or more of population
•Their presence strongly impacts economy and family life.
difficulty of studying roman slavery
-slave accounts are few
-not many sources
-few statistics
-little to go off of, often just have the slave owner’s perspectives and freed slave tombstones
sources of slaves
• Warfare
• Piracy
• Children of slaves
• Exposed children
• Legal punishment
deracination
removed from your roots
•Law does not recognize family ties of a slave
• Owner gives a new name
• Multiple sales
vernae
home born slaves, been a slave from birth
-prized by roman’s
-assumed someone born a slave will be accustomed to it
peculium
allowance for slaves
contubernium
slave marriage
-marriage like union with another slave
-not recognized by law
slaves and the law
Slaves are property
• More harsh punishments such as flogging and crucifixion
• Slaves must be tortured to give evidence in a law court
• All slaves in a household executed if master is murdered
Gradual change in laws: Claudius (mid 1st c CE)
•Claudius: Cannot abandon old or sick slaves on Tiber island to die
•Slaves abandoned like this will be freed
Hadrian (early 2nd c. CE)
•Can’t kill slaves without trial
• Restricts sales for prostitution or gladiatorial school
• Limitations on punishment for murdered master
Late 4th c. CE (Theodosius)
• Slave families must remain together
• Note that Christian writers don’t take a stand against slavery
• Though slaves can become Christian
manumission
freeing a slave
Why free slaves?
• Improve your reputation
• Reward for service and obedience
• Inspire other slaves to work hard
•To marry or adopt the slave
Augustan laws on manumission
• Lex Fufia Caninia (2 BCE)
Restrictions on freeing slaves in will
Augustan laws on manumission
• Lex Aelia Sentia (AD 4)
• Min. age 30 for freed slave
• Master must be 20
Augustan laws on manumission
• Lex Junia (early 1st c CE)
Penalties for slaves not freed properly
nutrix
wet nurse, cared for children and infants
paedagogus
slave teacher for children
-teach reading and writing to wealthy children
magister
teacher
