Freedman

A freedman is a former slave who was dismissed by a legal act of his previous condition of servitude.

Roman Empire

The freed slave ( servus ) in ancient Rome was Latin libertus after his release ( manumissio ). The freedman was continued in a dependent relationship with his former master, the patronus, he was his client and had to perform certain services, make his Lord every day waiting for and support him in elections. Only the children of the freedmen were full citizens, but carried off the stigma of former slaves in their ancestry.

There were different types of manumission of slaves:

• By testamentum by testamentary disposition in the will
• By vindictam by act before the magistrate
• By censum with entry into the citizen role as a free citizen by the Lord (this was rare and required approval by officials )
• By epistulam by sending a free letter
• Inter amicos, by mensam, by convivium by a simple declaration of intent in front of witnesses.
• Under the ransom was understood buying a slave immediately followed by release.

Officially freedmen had the most civil rights, but they were allowed to engage in any political or military positions and marry any women or men from the senatorial order. In this respect, their status was that of the peregrini ( free men without Roman citizenship ) comparable. In the second, later than the third generation were freedmen equal citizens.

The unofficial release was a slave the freedom to equip him with no political rights.

With the release of the slave took the first name and gentile name of his Lord while he continued the previous slave name as a cognomen. That was the name Tiro, the former slave of Marcus Tullius Cicero, Marcus Tullius Tiro according to the release.

Use

Releases were very common in Rome. Emperor Augustus tried to minimize this behavior by setting set as the minimum age for a freedman of 30 years. But there were exceptions when a freedman wanted to buy out his children. Numerous grave inscriptions that the minimum age was often not respected. The release gave the men several benefits: For one, they could offer their slaves by the prospect of later release an incentive to serve them particularly eager; secondly, the duties of a freedman were against his patron significantly ( especially individually additional services could be fixed ), while the duty of care, which had a gentleman according to the Roman understanding towards his slave, was eliminated with the release. Also the fact that many serfs were given the opportunity to save money to eventually redeem himself, offered the slave owners an additional incentive.

Generally slaves just used in the household had a very good chance of being released if they were old enough. Anders was for slaves in agriculture and mining. Many grave inscriptions prove that the families of urban freedmen and slaves often closely held, so that formerly enslaved family members came together again after their release.

Most slaves gaining freedom between their 30th and 40th year of life. Your previously born children remained unfree, the other hand, already full-fledged Roman citizens were conceived later, and the grandson of a freedman was to be a senator. Since the slaves came from different areas, received the Roman citizenship through freedmen constantly " fresh blood " from other peoples of the empire and its neighboring countries. At the same time the right of citizenship in this way was of course always less exclusive until it eventually Emperor Caracalla 212 all free imperial residents gave ( Constitutio Antoniniana ).

Lives of the freedmen

Regarding the choice of occupation, there were no limitations in principle. For example, there were doctors under both outdoors and under freedmen and slaves. The social status of the freedman depended on the social status of his previous master. The freedman of a poor craftsman was also mostly poor, the freedman of a childless rich with happiness could still be equal to the heirs of a considerable fortune. Some freedmen brought it to almost proverbial wealth as the fictional character Trimalchio in the novel Satyricon of Titus Petronius Arbiter. Narcissus, freedman of the Emperor Claudius, even rose to a kind of minister. A total of imperial freedmen often played an important role in the principality at the imperial court, as they obliged the Emperor to special loyalty and at the same time were completely dependent on his favor because of their social position.

The graves of former slaves often adorned pictures of themselves in civilian dress, the toga over the tunic worn by all. Often also associate were on the pictures, sons, daughters and their spouses. The family was thus united in death. The deceased were often depicted as an apparent busts, but were actually half-body representations. This saw out of a window from the top down to the viewer. The clothing consisted of a tunic and toga as a sign of the state of the outdoors.