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Freedmen in ancient Rome existed as a distinct social class (liberti or libertini), with former slaves granted freedom and rights through the legal process of manumission. The Roman practice of slavery utilized slaves for both production and domestic labour, overseen by their wealthy masters. Urban and domestic slaves especially could achieve high levels of education, acting as agents and representatives of their masters' affairs and finances. Within Roman law there was a set of practices for freeing trusted slaves, granting them a limited form of Roman citizenship or Latin rights. These freed slaves were known in Latin as liberti (freedmen), and formed a class set apart from freeborn Romans. While freedmen were barred from some forms of social mobility in Roman society, many achieved high levels of wealth and status. Liberti were an important part of the "most economically active and innovative entrepreneurial class" in the Roman Empire. The legal and social status of freedmen remained a point of cultural and legal contention throughout the Republic and Empire.
References
- ↑ Syme 1963, p. 57, citing CIL I2 744) = ILS 5800.
- ↑ Hough 1930, p. 139, n. 30.
- ↑ Carlà-Uhink 2022, p. 85.
- ↑ Syme 1963, p. 57.
- ↑ Garrido 2023, p. 110.
- ↑ Garrido 2023, p. 110, citing Tacitus, Annales 4.17.
- ↑ Garrido 2023, p. 110, citing Gaius, Institutiones 1.32b.