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Ancient Roman Slavery, Definitions, New things - Coggle Diagram

- - - - Masters would tell heir that slave families were to be kept together
  - - - Good slaves deserved freedom
      - Bad slaves did not deserve freedom
    - - All three ratified by the state
    - - Nero (Roman emperor at the time) ruled that the state had no interest in doing so
    - - Another law prohibited slaves under 30 to be freed with some exceptions
      - Legal requirements did not apply for emperor's slaves to be freed
  - - - However, they could hold neighbourhood and local offices entitling them to wear toga praexteta (famous robe from Ancient Rome)
- - - - Pompey credited with eradicating piracy from Mediterranean in 67 BCE
      - Piracy was concern addressed by Roman emperors Augustus and Tiberius
      - Piratical kidnapping contributed to Roman slave supply in later Imperial era, but not major source of slaves
      - Augustine of Hippo lamented wide-scale kidnapping in North Africa in 5th century CE
    - - Primary goal of kidnapping was not enslavement but maximising profit, as relatives of captives were expected to pay ransom
      - If multiple people from the same city were kidnapped and payment couldn't be made, home city might try and pay ransom from public funds, but these too might come up short
      - Captive could then borrow money from profiteering lenders, putting captor in debt bondage to them
      - Selling victim on open market was last but not infrequent resort
      - Rabbis encouraged buying back Jews because inflated ransoms would only motivate Romans to sell more Jews
      - Systematic trafficking was most popular in 2nd century CE, when city of Side in Pamphylia (present-day Turkey) was centre of trade
    - - Warfare was greatest source of slaves during Republican era (509-27 BCE) and accounted for marked increase in number of slaves held by Romans during Middle and Late Republic
      - War captives would be enslaved in the tens of thousands
      - New slaves were bought by wholesale dealers following Roman legions
      - Warfare continued to produce slaves in the Imperial period
      - Less continual warfare of so-called Pax Romona of 1st and 2nd centuries still produced slaves
    - - Children bought into household to be fostered with formal adoption were alumni, meaning 'those who had been nurtured'
      - Foster children
      - Orphans
      - 'Poor relations' with parents
      - Apprentices between age 9 and 14 in prosperous urbanised areas
      - Alumni often became trusted members of the family and had good chance of manumission
      - They are explicitly provided for in wills e.g. trust was left to one young freedman alumnus that was to be administered by the fosterer's friend until he reached the age of 25
      - Arts and crafts were a talent that disadvantaged children could be noticed for and obtain opportunities
    - - Children could begin acquiring work habits as early as 5, when they were developmentally able to carry out small tasks
      - Transitional period from early childhood to functional childhood occurred between ages of 5 and 7
      - Child slaves were regarded as useful enough for trade at age 10
      - Child slave could be an investment for masters as they could be sold for double the price they originally paid if they are properly trained
      - Training for skilled work
        
        Started at 12 to 14 years
        
        Lasted from 6 months to 6 years
        
        Children could work in various jobs
        
        Textile production
        
        Nail-making
        
        Copper-smithing
        
        Mirror-making
        
        Shorthand
        
        Accounting
        
        Music and the arts
        
        Baking
        
        Ornamental gardening
        
        Construction techniques and barbers
        
        Socially active households of Imperial era were trained for serving food, as virginity was thought to confer hygienic benefits
      - Child abandonment
        
        Orphaned children were vulnerable to enslavement
        
        Tradesman might foster abandoned child as alumni and apprentice him
        
        Early Christians grew community by taking in abandoned and orphaned children
        
        Slave traffickers would pray on neglected children who were old enough to be out and about on their own
        
        Child slaves that were kidnapped were especially in danger of becoming prostitutes or gladiators
      - Infant exposure
        
        Families who couldn't afford to raise a child would dispose of the infant by putting it in outdoor conditions that could cause it to die
        
        Healthy infants
        
        Healthy infants who survived exposure (being disposed of) were usually enslaved and were a significant source of slaves
        
        Healthy exposed infant could be taken for fosterage or adoption by family, but this could treat child as investment
        
        Traffickers could also pick up babies and rear them with training as slaves
        
        Likely sites for infant exposures were temples and other religious sites
      - Parental sale
        
        Ancient right of patria potestas (patriarchal power of father in household) were entitled to dispose of descendants as they saw fit
        
        Fathers could sell children like slaves, but father that would sell child was likely impoverished by owning slaves
        
        When father relinquished power over child, it was handed over to a slave master
        
        Law of the Twelve Tables (5th century CE) limited father to how many times children could be sold
        
        Daughters could only be sold once
        
        Sons could be sold three times
        
        Children could be sold as nexum, a temporary obligation as a result of debt which was abolished in 4th century CE
        
        Potestas meant that father would face no legal troubles for selling child
- - - - You've been kidnapped for so long that you've started to trust your kidnappers
      - People who enjoy being servants