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Posthumous freeing of slaves
#1
I came across something curious over the weekend:

Quote: Scissa was giving a very elegant novendial in memory of her poor old slave, whom she had enfranchised after his death. And I suppose she will have a good round sum to pay to the tax-collectors, for they do tell me the dead man's fortune came to fifty thousand.

Petronius, The Satyricon, 10., emphasis mine

Was there posthumous freeing of slaves? If so, why?

I suppose that this could be a way of honouring the deceased, as is hinted in the text, but I can't really think of any other reason to do so. If the posthumously-freed man had children, would they become free citizens?

I also guess that the ex-slave’s assets are still counted as owned by the lady Scissa, since Trimalcho says she will have to pay the taxes.
David J. Cord
www.davidcord.com
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#2
I will get back to you on this when i return to NL, my books on slavery are there...

Posthumous release was indeed done, not always out of honourable motives, also because of inheritance laws, as a humor thing, and sometimes indeed genuine to make someone free in the afterlife. If the kids lf the deceased slave who was manumitted were freed too i dont know for certain yet because i cannot look it up on my holiday adress.

M.VIB.M.
Bushido wa watashi no shuukyou de gozaru.

Katte Kabuto no O wo shimeyo!

H.J.Vrielink.
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#3
I've recently done a fair bit of research on Roman slavery. As the post above mine mentions, posthumous manumission was occasionally practiced; sometimes it was out of genuine feeling of good will towards ones slave(s), rewarding them for a life of faithful service. Other times though, it was simply at the whim of their owner and can oftentimes be inferred that like the modern wealthy, well-off Romans would (even posthumously!) find ways to avoid taxes.... in this case, by "freeing" some of their slaves, making them no longer technically their "property", but still holding them in a patron-client relationship where the (now former) slave was entirely beholden to the former master (if still alive) or master's family (if he wasn't).

A good book to get you started (if you're curious) is Keith Bradley's Slavery and Society at Rome. With this topic in particular (see: Ch 8: Slavery and Progress), he depressingly notes that "it is difficult to imagine that most slaves ever had the chance to win freedom...or were prepared to that the chance [to take other measures to become free] when and if it arose." Likewise Milton Meltzer notes in his Slavery: A World History that while a few lucky Roman slaves were granted their freedom (whatever the motives of their masters), the vast majority of people who were enslaved would die enslaved. A sort of counterpoint to all this is Peter Temin who made the claim in his article "The Labor Market of the Early Roman Empire" that "frequent manumission was a distinguishing feature of Roman slavery." I could not disagree with the man more, but in all fairness he is an economist and not a historian, so I suppose he sees the world a little bit differently than I (or Meltzer or Bradley) do.

Anyway, hope some of that helped Smile
"...atque ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant."

????? ???? ?\' ?????...(J. Feicht)
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#4
Thanks for the tips. Perhaps my post wasn't clear, but I meant the freeing of a dead slave. I know that dead owners often freed slaves in their wills, but I had never heard of the freeing of a slave after death.
David J. Cord
www.davidcord.com
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#5
Oh, my mistake! Sorry about that :oops:
"...atque ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant."

????? ???? ?\' ?????...(J. Feicht)
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#6
Ave Civitas,

I have a similar or related question.

What happens to a slave whose master, without relatives, died without making any arrangements for the slave?

Thanks.
AKA Tom Chelmowski

Historiae Eruditere (if that is proper Latin)
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#7
(06-11-2021, 11:23 PM)Lothia Wrote: Ave Civitas,

I have a similar or related question.

What happens to a slave whose master, without relatives, died without making any arrangements for the slave?

Thanks.



I would guess that, as part of the inherited property, all slaves became property of the son?
Robert Vermaat
MODERATOR
FECTIO Late Romans
THE CAUSE OF WAR MUST BE JUST
(Maurikios-Strategikon, book VIII.2: Maxim 12)
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#8
(07-26-2021, 10:06 AM)Robert Vermaat Wrote:
(06-11-2021, 11:23 PM)Lothia Wrote: Ave Civitas,

I have a similar or related question.

What happens to a slave whose master, without relatives, died without making any arrangements for the slave?

Thanks.



I would guess that, as part of the inherited property, all slaves became property of the son?

But what if he had no heir? Would the slave then become the property of the state?
aka T*O*N*G*A*R
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#9
I assume this could be the case but what Roman would no heir? I mean there's always family, close or far off.
Robert Vermaat
MODERATOR
FECTIO Late Romans
THE CAUSE OF WAR MUST BE JUST
(Maurikios-Strategikon, book VIII.2: Maxim 12)
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#10
(08-09-2010, 07:37 AM)Epictetus Wrote: I came across something curious over the weekend:

Quote: Scissa was giving a very elegant novendial in memory of her poor old slave, whom she had enfranchised after his death. And I suppose she will have a good round sum to pay to the tax-collectors, for they do tell me the dead man's fortune came to fifty thousand.

Petronius, The Satyricon, 10., emphasis mine

Was there posthumous freeing of slaves? If so, why?

I suppose that this could be a way of honouring the deceased, as is hinted in the text, but I can't really think of any other reason to do so. If the posthumously-freed man had children, would they become free citizens?

I also guess that the ex-slave’s assets are still counted as owned by the lady Scissa, since Trimalcho says she will have to pay the taxes.
The 2% to 5% tax is the emancipation tax (Vicesima libertatis) the owner pays to the state.

 I think your right, to be a citizen you had to be born free,so freeing a person after there death would make the slaves wife ofspring free at birth rather than a slave at birth and avoid macula servitutis.
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