The Freedman in the Roman World

Freedmen occupied a place in Roman society between slaves on the one hand and full citizens on the other. Playing an extremely important role in the economic life of the Roman world, they were also a key instrument for replenishing and even increasing the size of the citizen body; but their position between slave and citizen was of course not unproblematic. Henrik Mouritsen presents an original synthesis of Roman manumission, for the first time covering both Republic and Empire in a single volume. While providing up-to-date discussions of most significant aspects of the phenomenon, the book also offers a new understanding of the practice itself, its role in the organisation of slave labour and the Roman economy, as well as the deep-seated ideological concerns to which it gave rise. It locates the freedman in a broader social and economic context, explaining the remarkable popularity of manumission in the Roman world.

Author: Henrik Mouritsen
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 04/09/2015
Pages: 352
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.04lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.73d
ISBN: 9781107519084

About the Author
Mouritsen, Henrik: - Henrik Mouritsen is Professor of Roman History at King's College London. He has published widely on Roman history, including local politics, Pompeii and Ostia, freedmen, Latin epigraphy, Roman Italy, and Republican politics. His other books include Elections, Magistrates and Municipal Elite: Studies in Pompeian Epigraphy (1988), Italian Unification: A Study in Ancient and Modern Historiography (1998), and Plebs and Politics in the Late Roman Republic (2001).