{"id":6335,"date":"2021-10-13T09:35:00","date_gmt":"2021-10-13T07:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/?p=30735"},"modified":"2021-10-13T13:31:08","modified_gmt":"2021-10-13T11:31:08","slug":"could-roman-slaves-buy-their-own-freedom","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/rss_feed\/could-roman-slaves-buy-their-own-freedom\/","title":{"rendered":"Could Roman slaves buy their own freedom?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Ellie Cawthorne\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 13 October 2021 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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Yes, it was common for enslaved people in Rome to \u2018earn\u2019 a little money. This was often in the form of tips but, as Gaius, a Roman jurist, wrote in the second century AD, \u201cwhatever property is acquired by a slave is acquired by his master\u201d \u2013 whether the slave kept his or her \u2018earnings\u2019 seems to have been at the master\u2019s discretion.<\/p>\n

If enslaved people saved that money, they could use it to buy their freedom for a sum agreed by their master. The Romans<\/a> had an official system for freeing slaves that was unique in the ancient world.<\/p>\n

Called \u2018manumission\u2019, from manumissio<\/em>, (\u2018release from the hand\u2019 of power), it came in several forms: the most formal involved a magistrate, and gave the freed slave not only his freedom, but also the right to trade and make his own living, as well as to make and to benefit from a will.<\/p>\n

Lifelong obedience and services (obsequium et operae<\/em>) towards the former owner were part of the deal, and a freedman (libertus<\/em>) remained part of the familia, the ex-owner\u2019s extended household. Less formal forms of manumissio even meant that when the freed slave died, everything he had reverted to his former owner.<\/p>\n