Slavery in the Roman World Vocabulary

Slavery in the Roman World Vocabulary

These key terms focus on social structure.

Patriarchal

• Roman society was patriarchal

• It was ruled and controlled by men

Paterfamilias

• The male head of a family or household

Family and household

• the household included the family and the slaves and clients of the paterfamilias

• the Roman family included many generations: the oldest couple, their married sons with their wives and children,

  and their unmarried sons and daughters

Multiple Choice

This is the word for the male head of the household

• paterfamilias

• patron

• patriarchal

Patrons

• A protector, sponsor or benefactor of a client.

Patrons were expected to:

• give client legal representation and protection in the courts

• provide loans or cash payments if necessary and sometimes give land

• help client in business deals or marriage.

Client

• Freedmen became clients (liberti).

• Although dependents, they enjoyed some of the privileges of the family.

• They were granted protection from their patron in return for economic and political services.

Clients offered support to patrons

as need be. Expected to:

• support patron’s candidacy for office and vote for them

• support client’s views in the assemblies

• help client in certain economic matters such as dowries for daughters

Clientele

• refers to the relationship between a

  patron and a client in which both have responsibilities to the other

• had a large influence on politics

• a patron could also be a client of a more powerful patron

Open Ended

List 3 things clients were expected to do for their patrons.

Multiple Select

Which statement is not correct?

• A slave was considered a part of the household.

• A slave had the same privileges as the family.

• Some slaves were born within the household.

Multiple Choice

A patron could not also be a client.

• True

• False

manumission

• the process of freeing a slave

freedmen and women (liberti)

• people who had been slaves but who gained their freedom through manumission

servi

• slaves in the Roman republic and empire

Multiple Choice

What is manumission?

• The process of becoming a slave

• The process of buying a slave

• The process of freeing a slave