Slaves played an important role in ancient Rome, making up millions of the population across the Roman Empire. They had no rights and were completely under the control of their owners. Slaves worked in a variety of jobs depending on their skills, from manual labor in mines and quarries to educated roles like tutors. A small number were able to gain freedom or improved conditions. The wealthy patrician class did not work and instead directed their slaves, using their wealth and leisure time for politics, baths, games, and chariot races. They lived in grand homes with central water and heating, eating lavish multi-course meals prepared by slaves.

1. A Slave in Ancient Rome
Slaves were an important partof Ancient Rome. Millions of slaves worked all
over the empire. They had no rights and were completely at the mercy of their
owners. Nobody thoughtslavery was wrong as it was so commonplace.
A person became a slave in a number of ways. Somewereborn into slavery;
others who were captured in battle were also made slaves. Criminals werealso
sometimes made slaves for life as a punishment. Slaves were bought and sold
at slave markets and it was a big industry.
Slaves did a variety of jobs depending on what their owner did. Some slaves
were lucky enough to havekind others who treated them well. The slave was
put to work depending on the skills that he or shehad. Trusted slaves acted as
teachers, cooks, doctors and child minders. Educated Greek scholars acted as
tutors to the children of rich families. The slaves werehad an important skill
were treated well and often had freedoms that other slaves could only wish
for. They were allowed freedomto come and go from the house as they
pleased and would sometimes be granted freedomwhen their masters died.
A special ceremony called manumission was held to mark the freedomof a
slave. They were set free by being touched with a special stick called the
vindicta. They also worea straw cap called the cap of liberty during the
ceremony.
Freedomwas only for the special few however and most suffered terribly at
the hands of their masters. Many had to work extremely hard in quarries and
mines. Slaves who worked in these jobs often died very young as they were
very dangerous.
The slave market was a very busy place. Slaves were bought and sold justlike
cattle are today. Younger and stronger slaves werethe most expensive. Some
slaves would be chosen to fight as gladiators. They were treated better than
normal slaves while they weretraining and fighting. However many died in the
arena during games. Some gladiators were lucky enough to win their freedom
but this was very rare.

2. Patrician
The rich citizens of Rome were known as patricians. Their wealth could be
judged by the amount of slaves that they owned. Patricians did very little work;
instead they directed their slaves to do their work. Patricians did however serve
as politicians and army generals. Patricians had a lot of spare time and spent it
in a number of ways. This included spending time in the public baths and
attending games. The games included going to the colosseum to view gladiator
fights. Here they watched men fighting animals as well as each other. They also
helped in deciding whether or not gladiators lived or died. Another pastime of
the rich was to watch chariot racing in the Circus Maximus.
The home of a patrician was known as a domus. They tended to be a one story
building with several rooms. At the heart of the building was the atrium where
the roof was left open and rainwater was caught in a pond. It also allowed the
house to be cooled. The kitchen and bedrooms were either side of the atrium.
The houses had little furniture but were very well decorated with murals and
mosaics. The rich private houses had their own water supply which was
connected to the aqueduct system. The houses also had an early form of central
heating.
Romans ate only light meals during the day. The rich ate a breakfast of bread
and fruit and would add cheese to these for their lunchtime meal. Patricians
enjoyed their main meal at around five in the evening and it usually had at least
three courses. Starters included olives and oysters while the main meal
consisted of several meat based dishes. They included pig, boar and ostrich.
Desert consisted of honey grapes and dates.
Patricians’ men wore a knee length tunic with a toga over this when they were
outdoors. A toga was a large piece of cloth hung from the shoulder. Rich
woman also wore a tunic. They wore a palla when outside, this was similar to
toga. Both the men and women wore leather sandals.
When a rich persondied they were laid out in the atrium where friends and
relatives came to pay their respects. A coin would be placed in the dead
person’s mouth. This was to pay the ferry man to get across a mystical river
called the Styx. The bodywas either burnt or placed in a sarcophagus. It the
bodywas cremated the ashes were placed in an urn. Rich romans had funeral
processions and had well decorated tombs. All romans had to be buried outside
the city walls.