Slaves and the Roman Household

       The concepts of power and property dominated the ancient Roman family. At the head of the family, the father (pater) held absolute control over the 'life or death' of each member of the household. For his wife and children, this authority was defined by the term manus . Slaves, on the other hand, were considered a piece of property, similar to any other animal or non-human possession that the family owned. Therefore, their relationship with the master, dominus , was somewhat different. As long as he was living, or until he decided to relinquish this power through manumission, the father maintained absolute power over his household.

       Depending upon your master's wealth, presitge and location, the experience of a slave varied. Slave whose masters resided in the city, often were trained to perfrom a wide variety of professions. In fact, aside from their legal status and their typical dress, there was no overt difference between free men and slaves. They often worked side by side, whether they worked in the market or worked as a doctor or lawyer. Slaves, however, did not receive any of the benefits of their labor.

       In rural regions, which depended primarily on agriculatural production, slaves served an extremely important role in the operations of the farm, or latifundium . While there were a handful of slaves who were essential to the functions of the farm. They were in charge of harvesting the crops, most commonly grain and olives. In addition, some slaves looked after the ranch and animals. In charge of each farm was the villicus , who ran the entire operation. Unlike the other agricultural slaves, a successful villicus was literate and competent in computation and keeping track of the accounts of the farm. Moreover, contrary to Roman slave law, the villicus was permitted the marry another slave woman. These slaves were the exception. The typical farm needed no more than 10 to 12 workers to funtion efficiently. When they were not in the fields, slaves were often locked up, deprived of any freedom which might lead to resistance or flight.

       To the Roman family, both in the fields and in the city households, the slave was no more than human property. Except, unlike their livestock, slaves were capable of performing those tasks which required human skill and cognition.