How were you bought and sold in Rome?
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.
