Roman Slavery Research Paper

Anna Heldt

Mrs. Behan

Latin 1

April 26, 2017

Slavery in Rome

Romans were very harsh and mistreated their slaves even though they aided them through their daily lives. The slaves were either prisoners of war or sailors captured and sold by pirates. Even though the slaves were important to the Romans, their living conditions were brutal and their lives were short. Only some slaves were privileged with trust from their masters. The slaves unlucky enough to be placed under cruel masters, or were considered untrustworthy lived in chains and shackles. Even though slaves were treated unjustly they were still needed by the wealthy.

The definition of a slave is a person who is the property of another person, and slavery means the keeping of slaves

At dawn a slave began his or her day. If his master lived in a cold area, the first task of the day would be to start the hypocaust. The hypocaust was an area under the house that distributed heat into the floor after it was filled with coal. When his master woke up, the slave would be expected to help dress him. When the day actually began, the whole group of slaves began doing set jobs, such as walking the master's children to school, washing the clothes, weeding and tidying the gardens, cleaning the villa which was a country home that only the wealthy could afford. A group of slaves would work in a kitchen cooking the day’s meals. When a wealthy man and his family took baths at home, slaves would help out by drying them off once they had finished and getting their clothes on for them. When a master moved around the city, slaves would carry him in a litter. A litter was a vehicle without wheels. When a master had guests, slaves would make sure a constant supply of food and drink was always ready. If the guests had to return home and it was night and dark already, a slave would have to walk ahead of them with a lighted torch to show the

“In the care and clothing of the slave household he should have an eye to usefulness rather than appearance, taking care to keep them fortified against wind, cold, and rain, all of which are warded off with long-sleeved leather tunics, garments of patchwork, or hooded cloaks. If this be done, no weather is so unbearable but that some work may be done in the open.” Columella. Not every slave had a sensible master like Columella. “It is creditable to a man to keep within reasonable bounds in his treatment of his slaves. Even in the case of a human chattel one ought to consider, not how much one can torture him with impunity, but how far such treatment is permitted by natural goodness and justice, which prompts us to act kindly towards even prisoners of war and slaves bought for a price (how much more towards free-born, respectable gentlemen?), and not to treat them with scornful brutality as human chattels, but as persons somewhat below ourselves in station, who have been placed under our protection rather than assigned to us as servants. Slaves are allowed to run and take sanctuary at the statue of a god, though the laws allows a slave to be ill-treated to any extent, there are nevertheless some things which the common laws of life forbid us to do to a human being. Who does not hate Vedius Pollio more even than his own slaves did, because he used to fatten his lampreys with human