Slave labor was a huge
aspect of Roman life, and the republic depended
heavily on free work from human beings who had
no rights, no possessions, and were left at the
whims of their masters to be worked to death, starved,
tortured, and sometimes even killed for the
sake of enjoyment. Sure, you may have seen Russell
Crowe play one in a movie, but chances are you have no idea
just how brutal it really was. Today, we're exploring
what it was really like to be a Roman slave. But before we get started,
be sure to subscribe to the Weird History Channel. Oh, and one more thing-- leave a comment and
let us know what topics you would like to hear about. Now, we Rome. Slaves in ancient
Rome didn't just work as domestic or
agricultural workers. They did pretty much every
single kind of menial job you can imagine. Generally classified
as urban or rural, slaves did everything
from cooking and cleaning to mining for silver. On country estates,
slaves might perform both domestic and non
domestic tasks, even working as smiths, bakers, and guards. Occasionally, urban slaves
would work as accountants and managers for businessmen. If you were a slave
that originated as a prisoner of war, you
might have been sold off to the public and
could have been tasked with fighting fires,
tending to public buildings, and even working
as an executioner. Some Roman slaves lived
their entire lives from birth to death working as the
property of a master. But others who were
able to cough up a little dough and
a luckier fate. The oldest and easiest way
for a slave to achieve freedom was simply being given
freedom by one's master, perhaps in a will, although
some sort of ceremony or payment usually went along with it. Some folks became slaves
by selling themselves into servitude to
repay their debts over a certain amount of time. If that was the case,
you'd be freed as soon as your contract was complete. Slaves could also
accumulate money by giving up peculium,
or [? account ?] that they controlled while
under the authority of a master. This type of wealth could
be land or currency. And although it was
technically still under the control of
the master, slaves could use this as a tool
to purchase their freedom. After buying their
freedom, slaves didn't just magically become
full fledged Roman citizens, though. After the process of
manumission-- a.k.a. buying your freedom--
these former slaves were more like
conditional citizens and became clients of
their former owners. They were also restricted
from taking public office. And if you were
under the age of 30 and wanted to buy your
way out of servitude, you were completely out of luck. According to the
Roman jurist Gaius, slaves under the
age of 30 could not be freed during the
first century CE. Being a slave was
cruel and unbearable during any time period. And the Roman slaves
were no exception. Slaves who were considered
property of the masters were expected to behave. And if they didn't,
the consequences were nightmare fuel. In Menaechmi by Plautus, the
second-century playwright attributes the following
words to Messenio, a slave-- "stripes, fetters, the
mill, weariness, hunger, bitter cold-- fine pay for idleness. That's what I'm
mightily afraid of. Surely, then, it's much better
to be good than to be bad. I don't mind tongue lashings,
but I do hate real floggings." Yikes. Slave owners could beat
and punish slaves harshly, inflicting everything
[? from ?] whippings to chains and fetters. Masters also had free
reign to sell their slaves, execute them by
hanging or crucifixion, and make them do the worst
possible tasks as punishment. And if you tried to run
away, they'd brand you. Ya-ouch. Nothing sounds less appetizing
than limited rations of bread, right? Well, slaves, being the
lowest rung of Roman society, were clearly not
eating like kings. This guy-- Cato the Elder-- who was a soldier
statesman and historian from the third and
second centuries BCE wrote about the daily
needs of agricultural slaves, specifically what they should
receive for food and drink. According to Cato, slaves should
receive wheat to make bread. Although shackled slaves, who
couldn't grind their own grain, were to receive bread itself. When slaves worked the
fields during the summer, more flour was needed
as was additional wine. If we were working in
the hot Roman fields all summer for no money, we'd
be in need of additional wine, too. In addition to bread
and wine, slaves eat would Cato termed relish. This Roman relish, however, was
not exactly what you'd find on a baseball stadium hot dog. Instead of pickles,
it was made of olives. During the first century BCE,
slaves rounded out their diets by gathering wild
fruits and vegetables as well as cultivating
crops on their own. Domestic slaves
got the opportunity to start urban gardens. Of course, they always had
the option of picking up their masters' leftovers. While most slaves functioned
as a coerced unpaid labor pool, some enslaved men
and women got to join the ranks of criminals
and prisoners of war in the gladiator ring. Made up mostly from slaves,
the first gladiatorial contests appeared as early as
the third century BCE. One famous slave--
Spartacus-- was actually trained in one of Rome's
gladiator schools. And if the idea of a gladiator
school sounds cool to you, let's just say these gladiator
training academies weren't exactly sleepaway camps. Gladiators in training
were treated more or less like prisoners but did receive
food, medical attention, and specialized
apparatus training. Treated more like investments
than human beings, these performers weren't
slain very often. They were too valuable,
according to archaeologist Wolfgang Neubauer. Many former slaves also
volunteered to be gladiators. With limited opportunities
after buying their freedom-- a.k.a. manumission-- they essentially
gave themselves back to servitude, swearing
a gladiatorial oath to be burned by fire,
bound by chains, to be beaten to
die by the sword. OK. For an oath, we've got
to admit the gladiator oath is pretty hardcore. But you've got to
imagine conditions for freed slaves had
to be pretty terrible if they were
earnestly volunteering to fight to the death. One thing that urban and
rural slaves had in common was that they both
lived in rooms that were typically far
removed from their masters and overseers. Domestic servants still lived
in their master's house, sometimes even sleeping
close enough to tend to his or her needs overnight. But there was a
decided effort to keep slaves separate from
free men and women. Typically, a slave's
quarters would be located near
storage facilities and were usually shared
with other slaves. Imagine a bunk bed next
to a garage, but Roman. If you were a Roman
slave, chances are your style game
wasn't exactly on point. Slaves were forced to
wear simple clothing, not much different than garments
worn by the poor free men and women. Masters provided a tunic of
3 feet and a half and a cloak once in two years. If you had a long torso, seems
like you'd be out of luck. Also, once in two years,
good shoes should be given. Imagine only getting one pair
of shoes every two years. And this is during a time
when duct tape didn't exist. To add insult to
injury, male slaves weren't allowed to wear the one
quintessential Roman fashion garment-- togas. Female slaves were
also forbidden from wearing stolas, a
dress worn over their tunic. According to Seneca,
the Roman senate once considered instituting
a uniform for slaves to more clearly distinguish
them in society. They ultimately
decided against it to prevent slaves from knowing
just how many of their ranks existed. Bone chilling. Why would the Roman
senate be concerned that the slaves knew how
many of them there were? Well, because there
were a lot of them-- I mean, a lot. The sheer number of
slaves in Roman society resulted in tension and
fears of out revolt. Romans had a right
to be worried. Slave tensions were rising
in the Roman Empire. And it was only a matter of
time before large scale revolts began to bubble up. Aside from minor
skirmishes, there was one famous large
scale slave rebellion that truly posed a
risk to Roman society. Remember Spartacus who we talked
about earlier, the slave who was sent to train
at gladiator school? Well, that same guy grew up
to lead a slave revolt that included around 70,000 slaves
and supporters fighting the Roman army. Now those are some
serious numbers. Spartacus and his forces
fought against the Roman military several times
from 73 to 71 BCE, defeating them three
times before being slain. According to sources,
Spartacus fought valiantly to the end, wounded by a
spear thrust in the thigh but went down on one knee,
held a shield in front of them, and fought off his
attackers until he and a great number
of his followers were encircled and fell. While Spartacus and his army
may have lost in the end, their fight didn't
amount to nothing. Concerns over future uprisings
prompted some legal action to ensure or at least encourage
better treatment of slaves. Unlike other historical
forms of slavery, Roman slavery was not dependent
upon race or ethnicity. And the number of slaves
varied at any given time. After the Punic Wars during the
third and second centuries BCE, thousands of men and women
were enslaved, many of whom served as artisans, craftsmen,
and agricultural laborers. As the empire
expanded, Rome took more and more prisoners of
war and tons of non-Romans were enslaved, including
individuals from Greece, Egypt, North Africa, Gaul
and Asia Minor. Apparently, Rome was an equal
opportunity slave nation, I guess. Female slaves were not
exempt from manual labor. But they often performed
personal duties under the auspices of elite
and wealthy Roman women. Slaves could be trained to
apply cosmetics and do hair, kind of like a glam squad
that's forced to be there and doesn't get paid. Other female slaves even
served as wet nurses for wealthy Roman women. That is one bad boob job. [RIMSHOT] Ha, ha, ha, ha. Empress Livia Augustus's wife--
had more than 1,000 attendants, many of whom were female
and male slaves alike. Female slaves were also
vulnerable to the whims of male masters and could
end up as the unfortunate victims of sexual
abuse, sometimes with the masters charging
a fee for the male slaves to engage in these heinous acts. Surrounded by all this
pain and suffering, it's no wonder female
and male slaves alike were itching to jump
into the gladiator ring. Slavery was pervasive
and fundamental to the Roman economy. But there were
different opinions on how slaves should be
viewed in Roman society. Stoics-- most notably
Seneca the Younger-- wrote about the relationship
between slave and master, emphasizing the
humanity of the former alongside the
responsibility of the latter to be kind and paternalistic. According to Seneca, a slave
sprang from the same stock is smiled upon by the same
skies and on equal terms with yourself breathes,
lives, and dies. Former slave Epectitus lived
and taught in Rome, also calling for the fair treatment
of slaves by masters. Epectitus found
slaves to be noble. But is nobility the
same as freedom? Hm, not exactly. One thing's for
certain-- any society that depends on
slave labor is not a sustainable and just culture. Good thing slavery fell
along with the Roman Empire in 476 CE. What do you think
of the hardships faced by Roman slaves? Let us know in the
comments below. And while you're at it, check
out some of these other videos from our weird history.
