The Economic Relationship Between Patron and Freedman in Italy in the Early Roman Empire
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The Economic Relationship between Patron and Freedman in Italy in the Early Roman Empire by Alex Cushing A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Classics University of Toronto © Copyright by Alex Cushing 2020 The Economic Relationship between Patron and Freedman in Italy in the Early Roman Empire Alex Cushing Doctor of Philosophy Department of Classics University of Toronto 2020 Abstract The Economic Relationship between Patron and Freedman in Italy in the Early Roman Empire explores how economic and productive relationships between patrons and freedmen continued after manumission in Roman Italy during the early Principate. This dissertation surveys a range of ancient sources, including inscriptions, literary sources, alimenta tables, and wax tablets, to show how Roman patrons deployed different social and legal mechanisms to continue to draw on the productive capacities of their former slaves in a range of economic sectors. The techniques employed varied depending on productive context. Freedpersons who had been slaves in domestic familiae were redeployed as agents, not just associated with the urban households from which they originated, but also as agricultural procuratores overseeing the legal administration of rural properties. This indicates a recognition that unique skills and personal connections to their former masters could continue to be exploited after manumission for a variety of purposes. That mid-level domestic slaves were preferred for such posts instead of other, ostensibly better-suited skilled slaves, such as urban dispensatores or rural vilici , indicates a deliberate and concerted organization of both enslaved and freed workforces alongside each other. ii This suggests that practical economic considerations played a role both in the direction of freed labour and in manumission itself. The procuratio , a form of agricultural agency, was also used in Roman banking firms to facilitate flexible representation by freedmen, as evidenced by its repeated use by the Sulpicii from Puteoli. Efforts at patronal control were not necessarily to the detriment of the freed slaves involved, however, and sometimes could provide economic benefits and incentives to the latter. In urban manufacturing, the clustering of freedpersons in productive units enabled patrons to draw on services owed after manumission more efficiently, but also facilitated cost-sharing among skilled liberti and greater flexibility in the day-to-day management of their own businesses. In short, Roman patrons drew from a toolkit of strategies, including operae , personal links, forms of agency particularly suited to the freedman-patron relationship, and other social and legal mechanisms, to continue to draw on the productive capacity of their former slaves. iii Acknowledgments I am deeply grateful to everyone who offered advice and support throughout the course of my PhD. A special and heartfelt thanks to the members of my advisory committee, first and foremost Christer Bruun, who, as supervisor, patiently and knowledgably helped me to navigate the many complications, snafus, and obstacles throughout the PhD. I am truly grateful for his support. I am incredibly indebted to Seth Bernard, who as both committee member and graduate coordinator supplied instructive and detailed feedback and also organized probably the most logistically complicated oral defense in the history of the department in the middle of a global pandemic. I am delighted that Katherine Blouin was on my committee. I was very fortunate to have benefitted from the breadth of her knowledge, her encouragement, and her unfailing consideration and compassion. My thanks also to Andreas Bendlin for his excellent and thought-provoking questions. Finally, I am enormously appreciative that Koen Verboven agreed to serve as external examiner and was able to offer his considerable insight and recommendations for the dissertation and my work going forward. I am deeply obliged to all departmental faculty, but I would like to single out for specific thanks Ben Akrigg, Eph Lytle, and Boris Chrubasik for their particular contributions to my pedagogy and their general advice on finding an equilibrium between teaching and writing. My gratitude also to the departmental support staff, Coral Gavrilovic and Ann Marie Matti, whose ceaseless guidance, assistance, and tenacity in negotiating university bureaucracies and making sure I submitted forms on time is still much appreciated. This dissertation would not have been possible without the strong community and solidarity of other graduate students in the Classics Department at U of T, too many to name. Our mutual support and friendship in the classroom, on the picket line, in the library, and at the bar were always valued and a great comfort to me. In particular, the epigraphic working group of Drew Davis, John Fabiano, David Wallace-Hare, and Jeff Easton provided an excellent opportunity to workshop ideas, arguments, and evidence and to appreciate and enrich each other’s work. My gratitude to Patrick Hadley and Paul Franz for years of friendship and a high tolerance for discussions about mundane specifics along the way to finishing this thesis. iv Thanks to my wife Trish, whom I met and married while finishing this PhD. She believed in me and supported me even when that proved a challenge and I could not have completed this dissertation without her encouragement. This dissertation is dedicated to two incredibly committed teachers who have had an immeasurable impact on my life: Stephen Low and my late mother, Barb Cassells. Steve introduced me to Latin and Ancient Rome as a bewildered high school student looking to fill out a timetable with what seemed, at the time, like a fun elective and has cursed me with a life-long passion. When a group of us wanted to learn Greek and it couldn’t be scheduled in the regular timetable, Steve offered to teach us during lunch hour. I will always aspire to his easy enthusiasm for Ancient languages and to the accessibility and breadth of his teaching. My mother is the reason I am inquisitive, the reason I am eager for answers, the reason I want to explore and explain, the reason I can interrogate myself with clear eyes and persevere. I treasure her memory every day. v Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ........................................................................................................................................... IV TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................................................ VI LIST OF APPENDICES .......................................................................................................................................... VIII CHAPTER 1 .................................................................................................................................................................. 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 FREEDMEN AND THE ECONOMICS OF MANUMISSION .................................................................................. 1 1.2 OPERAE , OBSEQUIUM , AND PROCURATIO ..................................................................................................... 7 1.3 THE PROCURATOR AND THE PROCURATOR LIBERTUS ................................................................................. 12 1.4 DEFINITIONS OF THE PROCURATOR AND THE PROCURATOR LIBERTUS ........................................................ 17 1.5 THE DYNAMIC OF THE FAMILIA AND THE USE OF PROCURATORES LIBERTI ................................................ 21 CHAPTER 2 ................................................................................................................................................................ 24 FREEDMEN AND DOMESTIC OCCUPATIONS .......................................................................................... 24 2.1 THE FAMILIA URBANA AND THEIR PROXIMITY TO THE DOMINUS .................................................................. 24 2.2 THE FAMILIA URBANA AND MANUMISSION ................................................................................................ 29 2.3 WHAT HAPPENED TO LIBERTI DOMESTICI AFTER MANUMISSION ? ............................................................. 36 2.4 DOMESTIC OCCUPATIONAL GROUPS IN THE INSCRIPTIONS ....................................................................... 43 2.5 MANAGERIAL AND SECRETARIAL OCCUPATIONAL GROUPS WITHIN THE DOMESTIC HOUSEHOLD ............ 60 2.6 THE DISPENSATOR AND THE CONTINUED BONDAGE OF UPPER -LEVEL DOMESTIC SLAVES ........................ 64 2.7 THE FAMILIA URBANA AND HORIZONTAL “P ROMOTION ” AFTER MANUMISSION ........................................ 77 CHAPTER 3 ................................................................................................................................................................ 85 FREEDMEN AND ITALIAN AGRICULTURE .............................................................................................. 85 3.1 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................................... 85 3.2 FREEDMEN AGRICULTURAL PROCURATORES : EVIDENCE FROM THE VELEIAN ALIMENTA TABLE ............... 93 3.3 THE USE OF SLAVE MANAGERS IN ITALIAN AGRICULTURE AND THE ROLE