Browsing idly, I discovered a fascinating (if rather badly-written) article about slavery in Ancient Rome. I thought I’d summarise a few extracts here: it scarcely needs me to add any more for your imaginations to wander as creatively as mine did.
- Emperor Septimus build a special market for the highest quality slaves, known as the “saepta” – and this was a popular meeting spot for Romans.
- So that buyers could check that slaves were healthy, “they were stripped bare of their clothes”. “The buyers could go up to them to take a closer look, to get a sense of what they were buying.”
- “The auctions themselves were complex and, as for any other good, the seller had to guarantee the quality of his stock, declare their origins and state their skills, if they had any.” “Authorities would keep an eye out for a fair auction” and to ensure that the price paid was on a par “with the actual quality of the ‘merchandise’”.
- “Those that were tamed and taught were valued the most and could reach prices up to 12 times higher than the other slaves. There were even closed auction for the rich…”
- If the new owner had any issues with the slave that had not been stated by the trader at the time he purchased her, he had the right to return her.
And then, of course, girls who disappointed their new masters could be whipped.
I especially like the thought of a girl being told by her master to “be co-operative or I’ll return you to the slave market”, knowing the flogging that would inevitably result were she taken back. Having been purchased in the saepta, to work as a slave in a good household, she’d probably also realise that, bearing the marks of the whip, she would probably then be re-sold in a lesser market for use in one of the local brothels…