PR-2237IRE Ancient Rome

TEACHERS
N OTE
Roman Slaves
The Roman writer, Seneca, commenting about the harsh treatment of slaves, said ‘The smallest
noise is beaten back with a stick; the slaves are even beaten for letting slip a cough or a sneeze or a
hiccup. If a slave killed his master as revenge for cruel treatment, all slaves in the household were
executed’.
It was difficult for slaves to escape as some large country estates had small prison buildings where they were
locked away at night. Untrustworthy slaves worked with a chain around their ankles and one has been excavated
still holding the fossilised remains of a slave’s foot.
Well-educated slaves, many of them Greek, often ran businesses or shops for their masters and, if successful,
could earn their freedom. Slaves granted their freedom were often rich but had no voting rights. They were
called ‘freed’ men or women, but not freemen/women, who may have been poor but had voting rights. A slave
could save up money gifts (peculia) given by a master pleased with the slave’s work. This money could then be
used to buy his freedom at a special ceremony. By the fall of the western part of the Empire in the 5th century AD
most slaves had achieved the status of freemen/women.
A temple on an island in the River Tiber was used to house slaves too sick or old to work, for the Emperor
Claudius (AD 41–54) had decreed that such slaves could not be abandoned or executed. They were now free and
in later years the temple became one of the world’s first public hospitals.
Viewing Sample
Activity Suggestion
The children could debate the proposition ‘That the ancient Romans were justified in using the people of
conquered nations as slaves’.
– 22 – Ancient Rome Prim-Ed Publishing www.prim-ed.com