Whatever happened to Roman prisoners of Cannae?

[alibegoa]

As far as I gather there were about 8000 Roman citizens held prisoner after the battle.

The senate refused to ransom them and apparently banned the men's families from raising the maney privately (though I imagine this ban primarily affected noble families).

So the big question is what happened to those men?

[Primus Pilus]

As far as I gather there were about 8000 Roman citizens held prisoner after the battle.

The senate refused to ransom them and apparently banned the men's families from raising the maney privately (though I imagine this ban primarily affected noble families).

So the big question is what happened to those men?

 

There are a few older threads here discussing the survivors of Carrhae. There is a great deal of speculation that these men ended up living in Parthia or China (Gansu in particular).

 

The following thread is a merging of several different discussions. Some of it may seem disjointed (or links won't work) as a result.

Legionaries in China

[M. Porcius Cato]

PP--Cannae, not Carrhae.

[Primus Pilus]

PP--Cannae, not Carrhae.

 

Umm, well uh, I'm dyslexic?

[M. Porcius Cato]

A nice account is given in Livy here.

[M. Porcius Cato]

Appian tells of Punic cruelty:

Accordingly Sempronius and the two prisoners who accompanied him returned to Hannibal. The latter in his anger sold some of his prisoners, put others to death, and made a bridge of their bodies with which he passed over a stream. The senators and other distinguished prisoners in his hands he compelled to fight with each other, as a spectacle for the Africans, fathers against sons, and brothers against brothers. He omitted no act of disdainful cruelty.

[alibegoa]

So it seems Hannibal had some of the 8000 captives executes and sold the rest into slavery.

But I would like to hear from more knowledgeable people on Appian's reliability of descriptions of executions.

I mean 'built a bride of bodies', 'fathers against sons' etc.

 

But from Plutarch's The Life of Titus Flamininus 13, Flamininus found out as many as 1200 of them in Greece and purchased their freedom and returned them to Italy where they apparently have furnished his triumph with its most glorious feature.

 

Once proud Romans thus being slaves for like 20 years.

[M. Porcius Cato]

From Plutarch:

The Achaeans voted Titus many honours, none of which seemed commensurate with his benefactions except one gift, and this caused him as much satisfaction as all the rest put together. And this was the gift: The Romans who were unhappily taken prisoners in the war with Hannibal had been sold about hither and thither, and were serving as slaves. In Greece there were as many as twelve hundred of them. The change in their lot made them pitiful objects always, but then even more than ever, naturally, when they fell in with sons, or brothers, or familiar friends, as the case might be, slaves with freemen and captives with victors. These men Titus would not take away from their owners, although he was distressed at their condition, but the Achaeans ransomed them all at five minas the man, collected them together, and made a present of them to Titus just as he was about to embark, so that he sailed for home with a glad heart; his noble deeds had brought him a noble recompense, and one befitting a great man who loved his fellow citizens. This appears to have furnished his triumph with its most glorious feature. For these men shaved their heads and wore felt caps, as it is customary for slaves to do when they are set free, and in this habit followed the triumphal car of Titus.

Nice call Alibegoa. Granted, Plutarch says nothing specifically about these slaves being taken from Cannae, but it's a reasonable inference.