Free At Last!: The Impact of Freed Slaves on the Roman Empire

Description

How did freed slaves reinvent themselves after the shackles of slavery had been lifted? How were they reintegrated into society, and what was their social position and status? What contributions did they make to the society that had once – sometimes brutally – repressed them? This collection builds on recent dynamic work on Roman freedmen, the contributors drawing upon a rich and varied body of evidence – visual, literary, epigraphic and archaeological – to elucidate the impact of freed slaves on Roman society and culture amid the shadow of their former servitude. The contributions span the period between the first century BC and the early third century AD and survey the territories of the Roman Republic and Empire, while focusing on Italy and Rome. Cover Contents List of Contributors List of Illustrations Abbreviations Acknowledgments Introduction 1. The Face of the Social Climber: Roman Freedmen and Elite Ideology 2. Locating the Grapevine in the Late Republic: Freedmen and Communication 3. ‘Reading’ the Freed Slave in the Cena Trimalchionis 4. The Freedman Economy of Roman Italy 5. Deciphering Freedwomen in the Roman Empire 6. Feasting the Dead Together: Household Burials and the Social Strategies of Slaves and Freed Persons in the Early Principate 7. ‘Saintly Souls’: White Teachers’ Advocacy and Instruction of Greek and Latin to African American Freedmen 8. Response Essay: What has Pliny to Say? Index A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T V W Z