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Freedom


Trethiwr

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Being freed must have been quite an experience but even a positive change can be scary. Like quitting work and starting your own business.

hen someone was freed they would often remain in the household right?

At the very least they would be clients of their former master?

If they were freed as a result of the death of their master would they have automatically become clients/household members of the new paterfamilias?

What work was there for a freed slave since the work they would be good at would have been the work that other slaves could just as easily do?

Was it really much of a freedom?

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  • 4 weeks later...

Being freed must have been quite an experience but even a positive change can be scary. Like quitting work and starting your own business.

hen someone was freed they would often remain in the household right?

At the very least they would be clients of their former master?

If they were freed as a result of the death of their master would they have automatically become clients/household members of the new paterfamilias?

What work was there for a freed slave since the work they would be good at would have been the work that other slaves could just as easily do?

Was it really much of a freedom?

 

You've asked quite a few related questions here but they really boil down to the status of freed slaves within Roman society and much of what we know about this AFAIK comes from the grave memorials set up by the freedmen (and women) themselves mainly in the first and second centuries.

 

The fact that many of these take part of their former master's names is an indication of close ties between ex-master and freed, while the fact that being able to afford lavish memorials is a strong indication that such freedmen could often be commercially successful.

 

I would point you at Sons, Slaves and Freedmen in Roman Commerce By Aaron Kirschenbaum as possibly a book to provide most of your answers. However one caveat I tried to read this book and found it one of the most turgid (even if 'worthy') books I have come across in a long time so wa never able to finish it. :(

 

There are also numerous Roman laws which specify in what circumstances slaves could be freed and the restrictions that were imposed on them IIRC one of which was that freedwomen could not marry without their ex-masters permission. You may find it useful to check the Theodosian Code (Codex Theodosianus) and the Justinian Code (Corpus Iurus Civilis)there are several volumes in these based on the translations by Theodor Mommsen available in good Classics Libraries.

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One thing to consider: It's tempting to think that freed slaves (on the whole) did quite well for themselves - there's plenty of evidence of freed slaves gaining wealth and gameful employment. They seem on the face of it to be hard working types with the same sort of go=getting spirit you see in the poor unfortunates that find themselves being 'fired' by Lord Sugar / Donald Trump.

 

However, the ones who fail miserably in their new lives wouldn't leave a record behind, so it's hard to say what the spread was on the falure - success spectrum.

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It's wrong to think as freed slaves as being always completely independent. That was often the case of courrse, but many freedmen were still under the patronage of their former masters, often by mutual understanding. Those with such connections probably had a better chance of surviving in freedom, and that is obviously why the feudal system of patronage worked for both parties.

 

We should however be careful in assuming a slave was merely a menial worker. Many slaves had skills and professions that would provide them an income afterward. Some slaves had run businesses under their masters ownership, and thus were well prepared to meet the difficulties of life. Others weren't. I have read of former gladiators returning to the arena after being awarded the rudis, not only because of the reward of fighting in the arena, but because their retirement didn't work out.

 

Look at this another way. Whilst it was a demonstration of generosity and civic beneificence to release slaves to freedom, that same patron might find himself criticised if all he did was inflate the number of people on the corn dole.

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