Roman Empire

====Freedmen====
[[File:DM Tiberius Claudius Chryseros.jpg|thumb|[[Urn#Cremation urns|Cinerary urn]] for the freedman Tiberius Claudius Chryseros and two women, probably his wife and daughter]]
Rome differed from [[Greek city-states]] in allowing freed slaves to become citizens; any future children of a freedman were born free, with full rights of citizenship. After manumission, a slave who had belonged to a Roman citizen enjoyed active political freedom (''libertas''), including the right to vote.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Millar |first=Fergus |title=The Crowd in Rome in the Late Republic |date=2002 |publisher=University of Michigan |isbn=0-472-08878-5 |pages=23, 209 |author-link=Fergus Millar |orig-date=1998}}</ref> His former master became his patron (''[[Patronage in ancient Rome|patronus]]''): the two continued to have customary and legal obligations to each other.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mouritsen |first=Henrik |title=The Freedman in the Roman World |date=2011 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=36}}</ref><ref name="berger">{{Cite book |last=Berger |first=Adolf |chapter=libertus |date=1991 |title=Encyclopedic Dictionary of Roman Law |publisher=American Philological Society |page=564 |orig-date=1953}}</ref> A freedman was not entitled to hold public office or the highest state priesthoods, but could play a [[Augustales|priestly role]]. He could not marry a woman from a senatorial family, nor achieve legitimate senatorial rank himself, but during the early Empire, freedmen held key positions in the government bureaucracy, so much so that [[Hadrian]] limited their participation by law.<ref name=berger/> The rise of successful freedmen—through political influence or wealth—is a characteristic of early Imperial society. The prosperity of a high-achieving group of freedmen is attested by [[:Commons:Category:Liberti and libertae in Ancient Roman inscriptions|inscriptions throughout the Empire]], and by their ownership of some of the most lavish houses at [[Pompeii]].{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}