Roman Empire

====Slaves and the law====
{{Main|Slavery in ancient Rome}}
At the time of Augustus, as many as 35% of the people in [[Roman Italy]] were slaves,{{Sfnp|Bradley|1994|p=12}} making Rome one of five historical "slave societies" in which slaves constituted at least a fifth of the population and played a major role in the economy.{{Efn|The others are [[Slavery in ancient Greece|ancient Athens]], and in the modern era [[Slavery in Brazil|Brazil]], the [[Slavery in the British and French Caribbean|Caribbean]], and the [[Slavery in the United States|United States]]}}{{Sfnp|Bradley|1994|p=12}} Slavery was a complex institution that supported traditional Roman social structures as well as contributing economic utility.{{Sfnp|Bradley|1994|p=15}} In urban settings, slaves might be professionals such as teachers, physicians, chefs, and accountants; the majority of slaves provided trained or unskilled labour. [[Agriculture in ancient Rome|Agriculture]] and industry, such as milling and mining, relied on the exploitation of slaves. Outside Italy, slaves were on average an estimated 10 to 20% of the population, sparse in [[Roman Egypt]] but more concentrated in some Greek areas. Expanding Roman ownership of arable land and industries affected preexisting practices of slavery in the provinces.<ref>{{Harvp|Harris|1999|pp=62–75}}; {{Cite journal |last=Taylor |first=Timothy |date=2010 |title=Believing the ancients: Quantitative and qualitative dimensions of slavery and the slave trade in later prehistoric Eurasia |journal=World Archaeology |volume=33 |issue=1 |arxiv=0706.4406 |doi=10.1080/00438240120047618 |pages=27–43 |s2cid=162250553}}</ref> Although slavery has often been regarded as waning in the 3rd and 4th centuries, it remained an integral part of Roman society until gradually ceasing in the 6th and 7th centuries with the disintegration of the complex Imperial economy.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Harper |first=Kyle |title=Slavery in the Late Roman World, AD 275–425 |date=2011 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=10–16}}</ref>

[[File:Sarcofago avvocato Valerius Petrnianus-optimized.jpg|thumb|Slave holding writing tablets for his master ([[relief]] from a 4th-century sarcophagus)]]
Laws pertaining to slavery were "extremely intricate".{{Sfnp|Frier|McGinn|2004|p=7}} Slaves were considered property and had no [[Person (law)|legal personhood]]. They could be subjected to forms of corporal punishment not normally exercised on citizens, [[Sexuality in ancient Rome#Master-slave relations|sexual exploitation]], torture, and [[summary execution]]. A slave could not as a matter of law be raped; a slave's rapist had to be prosecuted by the owner for property damage under the [[Lex Aquilia|Aquilian Law]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=McGinn |first=Thomas A.J. |title=Prostitution, Sexuality and the Law in Ancient Rome |date=1998 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-516132-7 |page=314}}; {{Cite book |last=Gardner |first=Jane F. |title=Women in Roman Law and Society |date=1991 |publisher=Indiana University Press |page=119}}</ref> Slaves had no right to the form of legal marriage called ''[[Marriage in ancient Rome|conubium]]'', but their unions were sometimes recognized.{{Sfnp|Frier|McGinn|2004|pp=31–33}} Technically, a slave could not own property,{{Sfnp|Frier|McGinn|2004|p=21}} but a slave who conducted business might be given access to an individual fund (''peculium'') that he could use, depending on the degree of trust and co-operation between owner and slave.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gamauf |first=Richard |date=2009 |title=Slaves doing business: The role of Roman law in the economy of a Roman household |journal=European Review of History |volume=16 |issue=3 |doi=10.1080/13507480902916837 |pages=331–346 |s2cid=145609520}}</ref> Within a household or workplace, a hierarchy of slaves might exist, with one slave acting as the master of others.{{Sfnp|Bradley|1994|pp=2–3}} Talented slaves might accumulate a large enough ''peculium'' to justify their freedom, or be [[Manumission|manumitted]] for services rendered. Manumission had become frequent enough that in 2 BC a law (''[[Lex Fufia Caninia]]'') limited the number of slaves an owner was allowed to free in his will.{{Sfnp|Bradley|1994|p=10}}

Following the [[Servile Wars]] of the Republic, legislation under Augustus and his successors shows a driving concern for controlling the threat of rebellions through limiting the size of work groups, and for hunting down fugitive slaves.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fuhrmann |first=C. J. |title=Policing the Roman Empire: Soldiers, Administration, and Public Order |date=2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-973784-0 |pages=21–41}}</ref> Over time slaves gained increased legal protection, including the right to file complaints against their masters. A bill of sale might contain a clause stipulating that the slave could not be employed for prostitution, as [[Prostitution in ancient Rome|prostitutes in ancient Rome]] were often slaves.{{Sfnp|McGinn|1998|pp=288ff}} The burgeoning trade in [[eunuch]]s in the late 1st century prompted legislation that prohibited the [[Sexuality in ancient Rome#Castration and circumcision|castration]] of a slave against his will "for lust or gain".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Abusch |first=Ra'anan |chapter=Circumcision and Castration under Roman Law in the Early Empire |date=2003 |title=The Covenant of Circumcision: New Perspectives on an Ancient Jewish Rite |publisher=Brandeis University Press |pages=77–78}}; {{Cite book |last=Schäfer |first=Peter |title=The History of the Jews in the Greco-Roman World |date=2003 |publisher=Routledge |page=150 |orig-date=1983}}</ref>

Roman slavery was not based on [[Race (human categorization)|race]].<ref>{{Harvp|Frier|McGinn|2004|p=15}}; {{Cite book |last=Goodwin |first=Stefan |title=Africa in Europe: Antiquity into the Age of Global Expansion |date=2009 |publisher=Lexington Books |isbn=978-0739117262 |volume=1 |page=41 |quote=Roman slavery was a nonracist and fluid system}}</ref> Generally, slaves in Italy were indigenous Italians,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Santosuosso |first=Antonio |title=Storming the Heavens: Soldiers, Emperors and Civilians in the Roman Empire |date=2001 |publisher=Westview Press |isbn=0-8133-3523-X |pages=43–44 |author-link=Antonio Santosuosso}}</ref> with a minority of foreigners (including both slaves and freedmen) estimated at 5% of the total in the capital at its peak, where their number was largest. Foreign slaves had higher mortality and lower birth rates than natives, and were sometimes even subjected to mass expulsions.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Noy |first=David |title=Foreigners at Rome: Citizens and Strangers |date=2000 |publisher=Duckworth with the Classical Press of Wales |isbn=978-0-715-62952-9}}</ref> The average recorded age at death for the slaves of the city of Rome was seventeen and a half years (17.2 for males; 17.9 for females).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Harper |first=James |date=1972 |title=Slaves and Freedmen in Imperial Rome |journal=American Journal of Philology |volume=93 |issue=2 |doi=10.2307/293259 |pages=341–342|jstor=293259 }}</ref>

During the period of republican expansionism when slavery had become pervasive, war captives were a main source of slaves. The range of ethnicities among slaves to some extent reflected that of the armies Rome defeated in war, and the [[Greece in the Roman era|conquest of Greece]] brought a number of highly skilled and educated slaves. Slaves were also traded in markets and sometimes sold by [[Cilician pirates|pirates]]. [[Child abandonment|Infant abandonment]] and self-enslavement among the poor were other sources.{{Sfnp|Harris|1999}} ''[[Slavery in ancient Rome#Vernae|Vernae]]'', by contrast, were "homegrown" slaves born to female slaves within the household, estate or farm. Although they had no special legal status, an owner who mistreated or failed to care for his ''vernae'' faced social disapproval, as they were considered part of the family household and in some cases might actually be the children of free males in the family.<ref>{{Harvp|Rawson|1987|pp=186–188, 190}}; {{Harvp|Bradley|1994|pp=34, 48–50}}</ref>