Significance of Roman Slaves

by: Johnnathan Albrecht

There were numerous slaves in the Roman Empire by the second century AD.
The article I read, “Slaves in Roman Law”, included 2 historical law writings. The 1st being “The Institutes” written in the 2nd century AD, and the next was “The Code of Theodosius”. These were some of the written laws about slavery in the Roman Empire showing the treatment of slaves as it came to freeing them through manumission, and later their treatment by their masters.

The Roman laws governing slaves as of the 2nd century said nothing of their treatment, except for the fact that slaves who were tortured as the result of being questioned about a crime that they were believed to be guilty of lost any hope of becoming Roman citizens, or even Latin’s. This ensured that upon receiving their freedom they would be as close to being slaves as any person in the Roman Empire.
These subjects as they were known by, couldn’t even come within a hundred miles of Rome.

The other slaves who were freed during the 2nd century through manumission became either Roman citizens or Latin’s. Latin’s were lower than Roman citizens in that they could not receive anything by will or make a will, but they could become Roman citizens by marriage and children. The sons of freedmen who were Roman citizens could even serve on city councils.

The fact that these men were able to get there freedom made the rest of the slaves of the Roman empire hopeful that they too may one day get their freedom, and possibly even Roman citizenship. This would have stabilized what was essentially the majority of the labor force in Roman society. These slaves would have been doing everything from working in the house to dying in the mines, Jobs that the plebeians were unwilling to do, being given “bread and circuses” to keep them docile.

This treatment of the Roman slave with the hope of freedom set up some of the same treatment of people in modern time. There are many people who have been brought to the US from other countries illegally with the promise of freedom here once they have worked off their debt to those who brought them. This is kind of a modern day form of the slavery seen in Rome that both use the promise of freedom to keep those they are trying to control in line.

“The Code of Theodosius” stated the treatment of slaves by torture, and the punishment of owners for the deliberate killing of their slaves. I believe that this came about because of the loss of slave base in the 5th century when the empire had long since stopped expanding. These 1st sets of laws laid a foundation that kept Roman life alive long enough for it to shape the world we know today through the treatment of those we think are beneath us.