Freed Slaves and Roman Imperial Culture
Social Integration and the Transformation of Values

Argues that freed slaves exerted a profound influence on the transformation of Roman values under the Principate.

Rose MacLean (Author)

9781107142923, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 17 May 2018

216 pages, 10 b/w illus.
23.5 x 15.8 x 1.5 cm, 0.49 kg

During the transition from Republic to Empire, the Roman aristocracy adapted traditional values to accommodate the advent of monarchy. Freed Slaves and Roman Imperial Culture examines the ways in which members of the elite appropriated strategies from freed slaves to negotiate their relationship to the princeps and to redefine measures of individual progress. Primarily through the medium of inscribed burial monuments, Roman freedmen entered a broader conversation about power, honor, virtue, memory, and the nature of the human life course. Through this process, former slaves exerted a profound influence on the transformation of aristocratic values at a critical moment in Roman history.

1. Freed slaves and the Roman elite
2. Achieving immortality under the Principate
3. Cultural exchange in Roman society
4. Imperial freedmen and imperial power
5. Telling life stories
Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Slavery & abolition of slavery [HBTS], Social & cultural history [HBTB], Ancient history: to c 500 CE [HBLA]