How were you bought and sold in Rome?

Answer 1

You would be bought and sold in Rome if you were a slave. Slaves in antiquity were war captives. They were part of the spoils of war gained with victories and were sold as slaves. Most of them were bought by the owners of large landed estates who employed them to work in their fields. The rich bought slaves to works in their detached houses. Some slaves worked in the mines, some were tutors for the children of the rich, some worked for the state as administrators or archivists and some were gladiators.

Slaves for sale were sometimes put naked on revolving stands. Buyers could ask dressed slaves to undress so that they could have a better look. By law the sellers had to state the ethnic origin of their slaves.. Prices varied according to the sex, age, health, physical attributes, skills, education. Educated slaves were priciest and skilled ones were also more expensive. Unskilled ones were the cheapest along this range. Notices hanging from the necks of the slaves detailed these attributes, their ethnicity and their propensity to run away.

Slaves were often manumitted (freed). To free a slave the owner entered him or her in the list of freed slaves (manumissio censu). The freed male slaves acquire full Roman citizenship, except for the right of holding public office. The owners also had to register their slaves in the census which was conducted every five years. The census was a property assessment, besides a head count. Male citizens had to declare had to wife, children, close relatives who were looked after, slaves, property and other assets.

The slave market in Rome was in large area surrounded by walls and buildings called the Graecostadium, between the Roman Forum and the Veblabrum neighbourhood to its west, behind the Basilica. The name means market for Greek slaves. Some of the first large numbers of Roman slaves came from Greece, where Rome fought several wars. Aemilius Paulus, who led the Roman troops in the victories This Macedonian War (171-168 B.C.) the Battle of was said to have taken the sold 150,000 Greeks in Rome. The best slaves were sold to the richest men at the Saepta Julia. This was a massive spare surrounded by building and porticoes conceived by Julius Caesar and completed by Augustus. It was used for the citizen to gather to vote and for other public purposes. It became a popular gathering place and offered entertainments. Later it also hosted a market.