Slaves in ancient Rome weren’t all laborers working hard under the hot sun as some wicked
slave driver stood behind them with a whip in his hand.
Many of the slaves were domestic servants, some were skilled artisans, others were even
said to be highly educated physicians.
The ones who did generally have a very hard life were those that were doing their time
as property of a Roman as a punishment.
Life for these people was brutal and often very short.
For that reason there were sometimes slave revolts, with the one you all probably know
about being led by the slave Spartacus.
This former gladiator and military leader took part in what are now called The Servile
Wars.
But what about the average joe slaves?
So, as Roman slaves lived such diverse lives, let’s start with the great Spartacus.
The Greek writer Plutarch tells us that Spartacus was “a Thracian by birth, who had once served
as a soldier with the Romans, but had since been a prisoner and sold for a gladiator.”
If he was indeed Thracian, that would mean he came from what we now called Bulgaria,
or possibly Greece or Turkey.
While sources differ, it’s said that Spartacus was first captured by Roman legions and then
trained in gladiatorial school.
If you’ve seen our show on what sometimes went down in the Roman Coliseum, you’ll
know that gladiators didn’t exactly have an easy life.
What do we know about the schools?
Well, these prisoners of war were kept often two to a cell.
They were in fact in prison, but each day they would train outside of their cells in
an arena.
Gladiators had different kinds of skills and training methods, and Thracian gladiators
practiced in the art of swordsmanship.
National Geographic tells us that the slaves were not allowed out of the fortress unless
being taken to the coliseum or another arena.
But while the cells were not exactly a great place to live, it’s said there were heated
floors for winter, baths, an infirmary, and the slaves lived in confines that were equipped
with plumbing.
Historians say these gladiators were highly valued slaves, and so they were kept in good
condition so they could fight well.
These slaves, we are told, would not usually die or even be treated too badly in their
prison.
They occupied a 32-square-foot (3-square-meter) cell, which as we said, was probably shared
with one more person.
They trained day in day out all year round, and trained not as a team but as individuals.
When the time came, they were often taken out of the training school and sent to fight
in an arena somewhere.
So, the life of a gladiator slave?
Probably a much better existence than hard labor, but obviously they could find themselves
in a very bad place being pitted against a starving lion.
That’s likely one of the reasons why Spartacus decided to plot against the Romans and head
for the hills.
It’s believed he was captured and killed, with many of his followers also dying by way
of crucifixion.
But perhaps a fate worse than being trained to fight in an arena was hard labor, after
all, someone had to build those great cities in the ancient empire, mine the precious metals
and plough the fields.
We are told quite often these people would literally be worked to death.
When these people were captured, often by Roman soldiers, they were often taken to the
market where they were sold.
Anyone could buy himself or herself a slave, and it’s said some more wealthy people might
own as many as 400 slaves.
Perhaps the worst kind of work was in the Roman mines, although historians also say
that slave farmers had a very hard job.
Women slaves with less muscle might work in the house as servants, but they might also
be given the job of dressmaking or even hairdresser.
Many other women were sent to work in small factories where they would make handcrafts
and jewelry.
The young boys it’s said were expensive, as it’s not likely many Romans wanted old
men in their employ.
We say employ, but they weren’t paid anything.
They had to do exactly as they were told and any kind of back chat could lead to a serious
beating.
If a slave killed his own master, that would usually end in all the slaves of the household
being killed.
One might have a nice master, but the opposite was of course possible.
As we said before, some slaves gained a certain amount of respect as they were educated.
These slaves would often be appointed the work of teacher for the young Romans.
As one writer tells us, “How a slave was treated depended on the owner.”
If a slave was favored by his owner there was always a chance that this slave could
earn his freedom, perhaps the best thing that could happen to a Roman slave.
On the other hand, get an awful owner and there was every chance you could be beaten,
flogged, branded, maimed and killed.
One historian writes about the slaves of Pompeii, stating that the average household in this
city would have around seven slaves.
He wrote that the work of slaves could be tough, but they were often free to roam about
the streets, grab a bit of rest down at the fountain, or just disappear in the crowd.
The richer Romans didn’t usually walk through the crowded streets, as that would be beneath
them.
Instead, when they went out, they were carried by slaves on what’s called a litter.
They are those boxes on sticks you may have seen in the movies.
What’s surprising, though, according to this historian anyway, is that slaves were
not always identifiable by the clothes they wore.
They often wore tunics, just like anyone else.
Apparently, not many slave owners would wear togas as they were too cumbersome and not
always easy to clean.
As for cleaning, we are told that clothes would often be washed partly with urine.
The reason was that it contained lots of ammonia.
One of the jobs of a slave of course was washing these clothes, so part of their day would
be standing in baths of urine.
This was likely not the most pleasant job in the word, but laundry detergent was a long
way from being invented.
As these slaves were property, if they were damaged in some way, say hit by someone’s
donkey of their way to cleaning duties, the owner of that donkey would have to pay for
the treatment of the slave or at least pay some money to the slave’s owner.
Here we must remember that around one out of five people across the Roman empire were
slaves at one point, and there was no great feeling of injustice at least to the Romans.
Having slaves was as normal as having people that work for low wages in current day factories
or coffee shops.
For the rulers of Rome the inequality was just part of life.
We might also remember that those great Greek philosophers who for the most part were noble
and extremely clever, said a perfect society had to have slaves.
That’s just how it was, and it’s likely that Plato or Aristotle just couldn’t see
it any differently.
Remember in the Roman empire the slaves were often the losers of a battle, or at least
the surviving citizens of a losing army.
The Romans just saw it as their right to take them.
But slaves often came by way of piracy or just plain stealing.
Gangs of people would go into a town and just take the people there, then deliver them by
boats or over land to the markets where the Romans would buy them.
If those slaves had children with a Roman, those children would also be slaves.
One historian tells us that slaves were not allowed to have their own slave families.
Life was work, and that was it.
The more slaves a Roman had was part of his status, and if you had very special slaves
being able to do special things, then that also added to your status.
When in public, Romans would often come out with their slaves, showing them off to other
Romans.
These days people use things, cars, clothes, bling, to do the same thing.
And that’s what we have to remember, that slaves were seen as mere things, albeit things
that could talk.
But again, some slaves, the very special ones, did teach things such as philosophy, so we
would imagine those slaves had a higher value than someone who spent all day down in a mine
digging for gold.
We very much doubt they spent all day chained, like some of the slaves that were found after
Mount Vesuvius erupted in Pompei.
Researchers also said that some of those slaves had been worked so much that their bodies
were all out of shape.
As we said, the best thing that could happen is that you could win your freedom, and this
did happen.
Some Romans used it to make slaves work harder, telling them obedience could pay off.
Some historians also tell us that in spite of occasional slave revolts, it was in the
interest of slave owners to treat their slaves well and so many did.
A well fed slave worked harder, was happier, and would likely not dream all day about sinking
a knife into his or her owner.
We’ll leave you with the words of one writer, “No doubt, some slave owners were more generous
than others and there was, in a few cases, the possibility of earning one's freedom but
the harsh day-to-day reality of the vast majority of Roman slaves was certainly an unenviable
one.”
If you
were a
slave of any sort, what do you think would have been the best position?
Also, be sure to check out our other show Medieval Knights Were NOT Noble, But Cold-Hearted
Killers.
Thanks for watching, and as always, don’t forget to like, share and subscribe.
See you next time.