Slaves played an important role in the running of the Roman house. Often intimately involved with the lives of their masters, they could receive trust and affection and, in turn, feel great loyalty towards their owners. 

However, even the most liberal householder would be willing to punish their slaves if necessary and the inferior position of the enslaved was constantly emphasised — no matter how highly regarded they were by their masters.

The Roles of Slaves

Slaves were employed in a range of domestic work in Roman households. They did the most menial work, cleaning the house, preparing food in the kitchen, weaving cloth and dealing with animals in the stables. Such slaves were largely in the background, although the distribution of domestic implements in houses in Pompeii indicates that their duties could have taken them into public areas of the house, such as the peristyle and atrium.

But certain slaves had specialised roles that brought them into intimate contact with the family. For example, children’s nannies, body servants and trusted secretaries were usually servile. 

Slaves and the Roman Family

In a good household, every slave was part of the wider familia and evidence suggests that slaves could be thought of with great affection by their masters. Children would become very attached to their nannies and house-born slaves, known as verriae, were also great favourites. Verriae were the offspring of two slaves of the house or a master and a slave. They were often held in great affection.

Funerary evidence demonstrates this close relationship and the tomb of Munatius Faustus in Pompeii includes not only his memorial but that of some of his slaves. That these individuals were servile is indicated by their single names, accompanied by their ages, which indicates the slaves were very young children when they died. These children were probably verriae that Faustus particularly favoured.

Slaves and Domestic Roman Religion

Domestic religion was another way slaves were included and bound to their master’s family. It was customary for slaves to join free members of the household worshipping at the household shrine or lararium. This was usually in the atrium, but many houses also included a lararium in the kitchen for the sole use of the slaves.

Inscriptions on some household shrines in Pompeii demonstrate the loyalty and concern slaves felt for their masters. For example, the lararium in the House of Gaius Iulius Polybius is inscribed with a vow by one of Polybius’s slaves and dedicated to his master’s safe return home.

Punishment and Ill-treatment of Slaves

Although life as a domestic slave may have been better than for a manual worker, it could also be harsh. Not all masters were kind. Graffiti on some houses in Pompeii shows that verriae in some households, far from being privileged pets, could be rented out for sexual purposes.

Even a reasonable master would not hesitate to discipline a disobedient or unruly slave. One Pompeian house was found to keep leg irons in a cupboard and some villas often had special cells to punish unruly slaves.

Roman Slaves as Household Objects

No matter how kind the household was, Roman slaves were still not regarded as fully human or equal to their masters. 

Slaves were seen as human tools who did not require privacy or their own space. Houses in Pompeii have no discernable sleeping quarters for slaves, with kitchen slaves probably sleeping where they worked, as did stable slaves. Porters would have bedded down in the tiny cubicles they used to guard the household entrance. Personal servants would have slept in the rooms of their masters or across their thresholds. 

Wall paintings from Pompeii illustrate this attitude towards Roman slaves, showing enslaved servants standing around with basins, towels and lamps while their masters had sex. Romans would not have dreamt of having sex so publically in front of other free people, but it was acceptable to do so in front of slaves because, like lamps or beds, they were household utensils.

The lesser status of slaves continued to be emphasised even after death. Although many slaves had grave markers in or around the tombs of the family they had served, the last resting places for most were marked with just a simple stone stela that did not record their names.

Resources

Cooley, A E and M G L (2004) Pompeii: A Sourcebook. Routledge: London and New York

John J Dobbins and Pedar W Foss. (ed) (2007) The World of Pompeii. Routledge. London and New York.